Chapter 6
"Are you scared?" Sola asked as she sat on the sick bay bed staring at Samael. Samael paused and turned to look at her, she always made him uneasy, if he wasn't a doctor he would probably have wanted nothing to do with her, but as a doctor he had to tolerate it.
It had only been a few days since she had woken, by now he would have expected her to still be sleeping as her body recovered from the stress of the freezing, but in just 3 days she had recovered to a stage he wouldn't have expected for atleast 1 month. Actually, he had been surprised at how quickly she had gotten up. On just the first day she was able to stand and talk normally. He would be lying if he said that her recovery rate wasn't in the least bit frightening, but he didn't think it was bad enough to make him scared. "Scared? What could I possible be scared of?" he asked with a smile flicking a needle which he injected into her arm.
"You disobeyed your commanders, now you are having to run for your safety. You're afraid that you'll be caught, that you'll never see your family again. Sometimes you regret not leaving when you had the chance." The coldness of her words seemed amplified by her regularly emotionless way of speaking.
"How did you know that? Did the Captain tell you?" Samael said forcing himself to smile, it felt almost like the girl was able to read his thoughts, the feeling of defencelessness to the girl was enough to scare any man.
It was some time before Sola spoke again, choosing not to answer the earlier question she sat silently while Samael ran more tests. There was nothing strange about her body as far as the tests could tell, but Samael did notice her brain seemed to be overly active. It was not usual for a human and he figured this might be the reason for her behaviour, but still the fact she didn't seem different in any other way, didn't explain how she was able to recover so quickly. "You are confused." Sola stated, "Are my tests unusual?"
Samael put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair, "No, quite the opposite. You look fine, in fact your recovery seems amazing. I don't think it will be long before you can leave the sick bay."
Sola looked at him coldly, she often looked at him this way and Samael had become some what used to the chill that ran down his spine every time she did.
"You know, for a kid you don't seem to be very happy." Samael said with a sigh as he sat down in the chair facing her. "Do you never feel like laughing? Even a friendly smile would be nice."
Sola looked at him, her expression still didn't change, her eyes still drooped slightly and her mouth showed neither a smile or frown. "Is it unusual to not know how to smile?" She replied as her eyes looked out the window at the open space flying past outside. "I am sorry, it seems that I was never taught how to do what you speak of. I was only taught what was necessary."
Samael couldn't help feeling pity for Sola, it seemed she was pretty intelligent, but when it came to communication it seemed she was lacking in both experience and knowledge.
"Did you ever have a friend, Sola?" Samael asked, he decided that now he finally had her speaking, he might as well find out a bit more about her. "How about your parents, were they both scientists?"
Sola just looked at Samael, the pause seemed to drag on for hours though it was probably no more than a couple of minutes before Sola finally responded. "We do not have any parents." She turned her eyes out of the window once more as she spoke. "We were born together, though we never met. From then on we were alone." Samael stared at her confused, he had often assumed that she was probably subject to some sort of testing, after all her ears and hair were not normal, but he had never suspected that she had been experimented on since she was born. "When you say we, does that mean you had a sibling?"
Sola suddenly looked angry, the sudden show of emotion caught Samael by surprise, he had to double take just to make sure he wasn't imagining it. "Odium is still alive, we must find her, she..." Sola suddenly stopped and shook her head. "I must not say any more." her face had suddenly returned to normal and her voice was once more the emotionless tone it had before. "I promised her I wouldn't, Odium is Sola and Sola is Odium, we are two halves of one whole, we must not betray each other, we must protect each other." The last line it seemed was not aimed at Samael but more as a reminder to herself. Though Samael was curious to know more, no matter how many questions he asked, Sola would say no more.
"Sir, don't you think it's odd." Samael whispered to Toms when they met in the cafeteria, having just finished reporting what had happened earlier that day. "I think we should be careful, it seems she knows something, but she doesn't seem to want to tell us. I'm not comfortable with the way she seems to start telling me something, but then changes her mind."
Toms nodded, as he munched on a carrot from his plate. "I also think there is something strange about her." Toms replied as he finished his meal. "But, we don't know what happened to her on Déu. Her personality seems odd, but as you told me before, it seems she's just a normal girl."
"Yes sir, from what she told me it seems she was experimented on from an early age, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it other than the appearance and abnormal brain activity." Samael replied rubbing his temples, he had been too busy explaining the events that he hadn't touched his meal and now found himself lacking the hunger required to eat it.
Toms sat and thought for a minute. "Hey Sameal, have you noticed how the girl seems to know what ever you're thinking? It seems too accurate for just guess work, I wonder..." he trailed off as he decided it was probably best not to mention it in case Samael acted like Gin and laughed at him. One officer thinking he was mad was enough.
"You're wondering if she can read your mind?" Samael said seriously as he prodded a pea around the plate with a fork. "I can't say I don't blame you, it sometimes think the same myself. It would also explain the strange mind activity, but then it seems that it isn't the case." He gave up and placed his fork back on the plate and stared at Toms seriously again. "I tested her earlier, although her guess rate was a little above the normal, there were many she didn't get right. If she could truly read minds I would expect her to have been able to tell me every card without seeing them."
Toms sighed and sat back in his chair looking out at the mountains of Mars which was now being displayed in the window screens to give the impression of being in a mountain cafe. "For now I guess we should keep an eye on her. She may be a child but from what you told me, she was able to access my room without the password, while the cameras still showed her being in sick bay the entire time. Unless you think I'm mad, I don't know what to make of it. Let's keep her locked in the isolation chamber when you're not there and we'll find out more when we get to Domum. Right now we have to focus on getting there before command catches us." With that the two men shook hands, saluted and returned to their cabins, content with their decision, preparing themselves for another long day tomorrow.