Rogalia talked Jennifer into continuing their lesson after they had taken Myra to the hospital. They had sedated her, and she wouldn’t be awake for hours. It took some convincing, but Jennifer finally agreed as long as she would be back before Myra woke up.
They found an empty conference room a couple floors down. The lesson didn’t go very well, but did serve to pass the time. Jennifer, who was normally the best student, was understandably distracted. She barely noticed when John screwed up all the words he was suppose to have learned by now.
When the lesson was over, John and Michael excused themselves. Rogalia accompanied Jennifer back up to see Myra. She wanted to say good-bye. Jennifer thought Rogalia had become unusually attached to Myra, but could find no other reason for her be this close. Finally she decided it was just the Velarian way.
Jennifer entered Myra’s room, but it was empty. She looked around, including in the bathroom, and found nothing. Fear gripped her heart, but she forced herself to stay calm. She went to the nearest nursing station and got the attention of the women there.
“Excuse me,” she said. “My daughter is missing. Can you tell me if she was moved someplace else? Is she getting a test or something?”
“What is her name?” the nurse asked.
“Myra Stone,” Jennifer replied.
The nurse typed something on the computer behind the desk. She stared at the screen for a few seconds. She shook her head, “Nope, she is suppose to be in her room resting. Are you sure she wasn’t in the bathroom? Maybe you got the wrong room?”
Jennifer was stunned by fear. She couldn’t answer. Rogalia spoke up from behind her, “We had the right room, and we checked the bathroom.”
“Well,” the nurse said. “Maybe she just got up to walk around a bit. You should wait a few minutes and see if she doesn’t return.”
“Can you notify security to be on the look out for her anyways?” Jennifer asked.
“Sure,” the nurse replied.
Jennifer turned to Rogalia. “We should split up and look for her,” she said. Rogalia nodded. Jennifer went down the hall, and Rogalia went the opposite direction. Jennifer checked the room one more time to be sure, but still found nothing.
She went inside the bathroom to see if she could find some kind of clue. She opened the door and found an IV stand, with the IV bag still attached. Her eyes followed the hose down to the needle. The liquid inside the IV was dripping out of the needle, mixing with a small amount of blood, and dripping down onto a hospital gown.
Jennifer’s heart sank. She rushed over to where Myra’s clothes were supposed to be, and found nothing. The only reason Myra had for changing back into her clothes was to leave the hospital. Did she go alone, or was she forced to leave?
Jennifer sat down, leaning against the door to the bathroom and began to cry. She hated herself for leaving Myra’s side. It’s just another failure at being a mother.
Myra walked down the street. The painkillers were starting to wear off, and the cuts in her chest and hand started to burn. Worse then that, the stitches were begging to itch underneath her shirt. She cursed at herself for ever loosing control and doing such a stupid thing. I may be insane, but I’m not crazy, she kept telling herself.
She was still very tired from the sedatives she had been given. That was one of many reasons she had left. She needed to figure out what was happening to her before she did go crazy in addition to being insane. Besides, the doctor’s couldn’t help her, nor could her mother or any of the others. Staying would just mean a bigger burden on them, and no help for her.
She concentrated on taking slow steady steps forward, while her twin hopped along beside her and whistling a happy tune. Myra swore her twin was so cheery just to annoy her.
“Have you decided on where you are going yet?” her twin asked. Myra ignored her. “Oh come on, don’t be that way. We can work this out together, you and I.”
Myra considered her words. How can she trust her? She didn’t know who this twin of hers was. Was she something implanted by the aliens inside of her, or was it a piece of herself, or perhaps a combination of both? She decided she had nothing to loose by asking.
She stopped and stared directly at her twin. “Who are you really?” she asked. “Are you something they put inside of me, or are you really some piece of my subconscious?” She was aware of the people staring at her, as if she was insane. She paid them no attention. She was insane after all.
“How would I know?” she replied.
Myra thought for a moment. “Who was the first boy I kissed?”
“Ken Johnson,” she replied. “He was cute and you wanted to know what a kiss felt like. He had a very boring name, but I guess if he was cute, that is ok.”
Myra continued walking down the street. “Well did I get it right?” her twin yelled as she ran to catch up.
“Yes, plus bonus points,” Myra said. “I was just thinking he had a very boring name. I guess we share thoughts. So at least we have that in common. I mean besides looking exactly alike.”
“So do I win anything?” she asked.
“You win the right to help me figure this out,” Myra said stopping again and staring at her twin. “I need to find out who exactly you are. Any ideas?”
Her twin lifted her finger to her chin and stared off into space for several seconds. “Nope,” she said. “I don’t have anything, sorry. I guess we will need to ask someone else.”
“Like who?” Myra asked. “My mother doesn’t know anything, nor do the others. There is Rogalia, but she obviously doesn’t know. So I’ve just exhausted the entire list of people that would have a chance of at least understanding this.”
Myra went through all the people that she knew, looking for someone that could help her. Suddenly an image of a women popped into her mind. She smiled at her twin, and her twin smiled back. “I’ve got it!” they yelled at each other at the same time.
Myra walked into the psychiatrist office. It was her fourth visit over the last two weeks, so she knew exactly were she was going. She was a couple minutes early, so she sat down and picked up a magazine at random. She wasn’t going to read it, but it helped keep her eyes focused on something other than her twin. She had a habit of distracting Myra at the most in opportune moments.
Dr. Kitchner specialized in hypnosis. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped Myra all that much yet. Part of the problem was getting hypnotized. Her twin was just too distracting. She seemed to have a condition that forced her to speak every thought that popped into her head. It was very annoying.
Even the couple of times she was hypnotized, she couldn’t conjure up the women she wanted. Whenever she tried, she would wind up in some other women’s body from ancient history, and not human history either. Dr. Kitchner seemed to think it was past lives. Obviously that wasn’t true. How could Myra have lived on other planets light-years from Earth? She didn’t say anything to the doctor of course. It was more convenient for her to believe the past life story.
This time would be different however. She managed to score a hallucinogen. It supposedly was made from sodium pentothal. She may have been a goody two shoes during her high school years, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know anybody that wasn’t. She was glad her mother wasn’t hear to see her.
The doctor opened the door and beckend her forward. As soon as she turned around, Myra swallowed the tiny pills. At first she didn’t feel anything. She was just sitting down on the couch when they hit. She lost control of her body and practically fell down on the couch. She burst out laughing at herself, but stopped when she saw the look on the doctor’s face. Concentrate, she told herself.
“Sorry,” she said.
“It’s ok,” the doctor replied. “Are we ready to begin?” Myra nodded and relaxed on the couch.
The doctor took out her crystal that she used to hypnotize people. She began swinging it in front of Myra’s eyes. Myra’s eyes immediately glossed over, even though her twin was continuesly chatting in the background. She found it easy to ignore her twin this time.
“Can you hear me Myra?” the doctor said.
“Yes,” Myra replied.
“You said you wanted to remember a women you know from your past,” the doctor said. “Can you picture this women in your mind?”
Myra conjured up the image of the women from the interrogation room. “There are other people in the room with us,” Myra said. “There bad people. I need to get away.” She began squirming.
“It’s ok Myra,” the doctor said. “Those people aren’t in the room anymore. It’s just you and the women.”
Myra forced the images of the people out of her mind, and concentrated solely on the women. “I can see the women, but she isn’t saying anything,” Myra said.
“Have you seen this women in another place, sometime before now?” the doctor asked.
“Yes,” Myra replied. “At a library I think.”
“Can you go to that place?” the doctor asked. “Can you see her there?”
“Yes,” Myra said.
“Can you describe the room your in?” the doctor asked.
“It’s an office,” Myra said. “There are animals there. They are running around. It is a bright day. The sun is shining through the windows behind the desk. The wall is filled with books. The woman is reading one.”
“Can you tell me what the book is?” the doctor asked.
“It’s me,” Myra replied. “It has my name on it.” The doctor was silent for a long moment, so Myra continued, “She is smiling at me. She has something planned for me, I can tell. I’m frightened.”
“Don’t be Myra,” the doctor and the strange woman in her mind said at the same time. “She won’t hurt you,” the doctor said, while the woman said, “I won’t hurt you.”
Myra found the two conversations dizzying. She concentrated on the woman in her vision.
“What are you doing to my book?” Myra asked the woman.
“I’m helping in the only way I’m allowed,” she said. “I’m sorry for the pain it has caused you, but it was the only way we could think of to stop this nonsense.”
Questions swam in Myra’s mind. She decided on one, the most important one, “Who are you?” she asked.
The woman smiled at her. “We are friends, friends of all 4 races,” she replied. “We have come to stop the fighting before irrevocable damage is done. It is the reason why we have done what we have done.”
“What did you do?” Myra asked.
“We knew Ziazi would not be satisfied until she ruled over all the races,” he woman replied. “So we took the 4 of you. We enhanced your DNA, and put you on the Biaz ship. We hoped it would put you in the position to lead your race against the invasion.”
Myra considered her words for a moment. “You didn’t just change my DNA did you?” she asked. “You put something inside of me. Something that I see as my twin.”
The woman gave Myra a sad look. “Yes,” she said. “For you, we also gave you knowledge of the languages and cultures of the other races. We also implanted this recording, to act as a warning.”
Myra was curious about the warning, but there was something she needed to know first. “Why do I see a twin? Who is she? Did you put her inside of me?”
“No,” the women replied. “It was unexpected development. The knowledge was placed in your subconscious where you could access it when it was needed. Your ordeal caused your subconscious to split. Your twin represents that part of you with the knowledge.”
Myra considered this for a minute. Knowing that would at least make it easier to deal with her twin. She decided to take it up with her twin, when she had more time. “You spoke of a warning,” Myra said. “What warning?”
The woman smiled again. She started flipping through the book, the book that was also Myra. She found the page that she was looking for and put the book in front of Myra’s face. It contained a picture of the words Myra had written on her room wall when she was locked up. The blood that made up the words was smeared, but she could still make out the words as if they appeared in print.
“You didn’t know what these words meant then, but you can read them now,” the woman said.
Myra looked at the words. She did recognize them. They said, “The holy quartet must survive.” Myra looked up at the woman. “What do they mean?” she asked.
“Ziazi does not act alone,” the woman said. “She has been corrupted by another ancient force, who is also our enemy. It is a force you must eventually confront as well. All of your races must stand united if you are to have any chance of winning. If one of you refuses to sand with the others, or falls before the time comes, I fear none of you will survive.”
“I need to know more,” Myra said. “What can you tell me?”
“All that you need to know is in the books behind me,” the woman said. “It is the knowledge we have given you. You can access them anytime you wish. You just need to concentrate.”
Myra looked at the large wall filled with books to the ceiling. Suddenly everything began to shake. Was it an earthquake? It shook again. Myra realized it was her that was shaking, or more precisely someone was shaking her.
She opened her eyes to find the doctor was shaking her and calling her name.
“Myra,” she said. “Are you ok? You kept talking about ancient races and something about the holy quartet.”
Myra smiled. She jumped up from the couch and hugged the doctor. “Thank you so much,” she said. “I couldn’t have found the answer without you.” She jumped up and rushed for the door, but fell flat on her face after one step. Oh right, I’m still drugged, she thought to herself. She got up, and with a bit more concentration managed to make it out of the door.
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