Results tagged “yukari” from City Eternal

I flew through the hallways of headquarters, finally reaching the camp side. I burst through the entrance to the stairs, and climbed as fast as I could. What floor was he on? I couldn't remember. I checked every floor starting at 100. Finally, breathlessly, I burst through the door where the culture festival had occurred. The area had changed rapidly since then; most of the decorations and booths were now gone. But the one building that mattered most still sat there. I ran up to the entrance, when I noticed it was dark inside. There was a note pinned to the frame of the entrance. I looked at it, and saw it was addressed to us, everyone who had visited that day. It read as follows:

I regret that I must leave, but I have overstayed my welcome. I hope that our talk was fruitful, and that you all find what you are looking for. If you are reading this it means you must have realized that everything I said was the truth. My intent was not to deceive. Hopefully my motivations might become clear at a later time, but for now all I can do is wish you all luck. I wish that we might meet again, but I hope that we do not.

I will leave you with one last piece of advice: do not trust your past experiences. The basis by which we live our lives now is a farce. I hope the truth will become evident in your travels. I am sorry I cannot explain further, but I pray you will understand soon enough.

Fisher

P.S.: Please keep watch over Anna.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? I ripped the note from the frame and stuffed it in my pocket. Michael needed to see this.

I sat on a bench outside the restaurant, and gave my poor legs a chance to recover. After a few minutes, I fell asleep. I was rudely awakened hours later by a phone call. It was Michael.

"Yukari, we're almost finished down here, you need to start packing. We leave in four hours."

"I found a note at Mr. Fisher's place. You need to hear what he said."

"Bring the note with you when you come down. I'll read it then."

"Okay, I will. Can't believe we're leaving so soon."

"I know, seems like we were just finally settling back into routine around here. Welcome to the RDF," he chuckled.

"See you soon," I said.

"Make it quick," he replied, hanging up.

Four hours later, I was in the docking area, baggage in hand. I saw Anna and Sienna sitting against the wall at the back of the dock. I walked over to meet them.

"Hey Yuki!" Anna greeted me, jumping up and hugging.

"Ready for your trip?" I asked.

"Yep! Mikey and Jon are getting the boat."

"Gotcha. Where's Tobias? Is he not coming?"

"No, he's going to be our contact while we're traveling, keeping track of our route and keeping a close eye on us," Sienna answered.

I pulled Anna off of me, and we sat down next to Sienna. We talked about Anna's schoolwork, Sienna's job, and the task ahead. For once I felt excited, instead of scared. We were going to travel to someplace new, somewhere no one around has gone. It was hard not to be excited.

An alert played over the PA system, announcing the docking of a ship. We looked to the docking bay door, and saw a large ship approaching.

"That's it! That's our ship!" Anna called out.

"What? That big thing? No way," I said exasperated.

"Yes it is! I can feel Mikey and Jon!"

"A little overkill, isn't it?" I asked.

"Jon practically begged the general to allow us to use it. That's all I know," Sienna replied.

"Great," I rolled my eyes.

The ship sailed in, narrowly avoiding the top of the giant gateway. It was a mammoth in comparison to the other small boats in the docking area. It featured a single TURING cannon on the rear of the ship, but also had the distinctive extended railings of all the City Eternal military ships. No doubt they were mad about missing this one. Also near the back was the second navigation pod. Besides that, the only other thing that came off the deck was the large room in the center, which I assumed led under the deck. The whole ship was a dark metallic color, but this room actually had windows. Windows were a rare sight, most ships didn't have any at all, for added protection. I immediately recognized that this ship was indeed special, even among other ships of its size.

As the landing gear took the weight of the ship, the docking bay grew quiet. I hadn't realized, but the ship's lift system was actually audible. A testament to its size and weight, for sure. A steep stairway extended from the side to the ground, and Jon peaked his head out from inside.

"Well, you guys going to just sit there or are you going to check it out?" he called.

Anna took off like a bolt. Sienna and I followed her, actually interested in this new toy of theirs. It had a majestic feel to it, something truly epic. We climbed up the steep stairs into the cabin. Inside it was far more spacious than I imagined. Pipes and machinery ran along the ceiling and various walls, but much of the cabin itself was open. The stairs led up directly into a bathroom with a shower. Beyond that was a kitchen. The oven was small but functional, and there was a large sink and a microwave as well. Cabinets lined the walls wherever they could be placed, while soft lighting gave it a surprisingly homey feel.

Immediately next to that, with an open counter separating them, was the living area, with wrap-around couch circling a low table. It had enough room to seat all of us comfortably. Past it was the stairwell, which went both up on deck, as well as below deck. The ceiling above the living area and stairwell was raised, providing space for the only windows on the ship. It let in a lot of light, and really made it feel less cramped. It was amazing how large the ship felt from the inside.

Along the opposite side of the kitchen, there was a simple pantry closet. Next to it was the navigation room. That room had many monitors and controls, and also contained the various computer devices needed to run the ship. The engine and lift systems were further below deck, but this room was still loud. Luckily it had a thick door to keep the noise out of the living area.

Michael lead us down the stairwell, to the next floor. The ceiling was lower here, to the point that Michael had to duck his head down to avoid banging his head on various pipes and cables running along it. There were five rooms total down here. Michael explained that him and Jonathan would share a bedroom, as he didn't sleep. The other three bedrooms were for us girls, which I was happy about. The final room was originally two rooms by the look of it, but were merged into one large living area, much like the one above.

Before we headed back up, Michael pointed out that the stairs continued downwards. Below the bedrooms was the engine room, where the jet engine and lift system was held. He mentioned that Anna was the only one who could actually stand upright in there, as the bottom deck was short and cramped.

Just before we headed back up, Jonathan and a couple of dock workers came down from above, carrying our luggage. I thanked them for the help, and we settled into our respective bedrooms. Once we were unpacked, Michael called from above over the intercom, informing us that we were about to get underway. I hurried out of my room up the stairs to the surface deck, and joined the others in saying goodbye to the refugee camp.

Anna waved vigorously to the crew on the ground, and we began to float out of the hangar. Michael handled the navigation this time, instead of allowing the autopilot the honors. Tobias also arrived at the last second to see us off.

"I'll be in constant contact, and monitoring your progress! You guys be careful!" he called out to us over the hum of the lift system.

"If we get lost, it's your fault!" Jonathan yelled back, laughing.

The ship emerged from the hangar, and proceeded to unroll the sails. It unfurled a magnificent main sail, which looked far larger than I thought possible. Once it had opened and grasped the wind, a headsail also began to open near the front of the ship, displaying the RDF insignia. It wasn't the first time I'd seen it, but I hadn't really paid attention to it before. The insignia featured three men placing a flag on top of some rubble. Michael walked up next to me, as I continued to look at the sail.

"That insignia came from an old photograph, from before the apocalyptic event. We're not sure when it was taken, but it was very inspirational. The RDF protects what we've built from the ashes and dust of the old world. It's fitting, don't you think?"

I nodded.

Michael walked back to the ship controls, and received final clearance for departure from the camp. The sails caught a strong gust, and the ship lurched forward out of the camp. I looked back at the camp one last time. My gut wrenched; it felt like this was the last time I'd see the camp. I could only hope I was wrong.

Weeks went by without much excitement after we made it back. Sienna was able to pull the glass shards out of my hands, and they were feeling much better now. Jonathan though, spent much of his time in and out of the hospital, recovering from his injuries. Michael was able to repair his batteries to working order. Once Michael was better, Tobias joined him in helping the RDF analyze the data we retrieved from the dome. Sienna herself was fine, of course, but she was so busy I barely had a moment to chat with her.

That left Anna, who had returned to school. She was far beyond her age in intelligence, so she was placed in the high school. It was challenging for her, which was good, because it kept her mind off of our recent mission. She enjoyed it though, and that made me happy to see. She was growing up rapidly, and I wanted her to enjoy as much of her childhood as she could.

It seemed though, that I was alone. Everyone else had a job to do. I did my best to keep tabs on everyone, and to check in on Jonathan's progress each day. I tried to help the RDF where I could, but I was just in the way. I eventually decided to head topside and do some walking, to clear my mind.

I walked out of the hangar doors, and ran out away from the hustle and bustle of the RDF's various nightly activities. Moments later I reached a rocky hill on the outskirts of the camp, and plopped down. Looking up into the ink-black sky, I imagined I was looking at the stars. It was the one thing I missed from the dome; at night, the false ceiling displayed a beautiful rendition of Earth's old night sky. I couldn't believe that at one time, hundreds of years ago, this rocky cold desert was once a great city. I'd long since forgotten the name, but the dome's name, City Eternal, was certainly a tribute to the majesty of what had been. I continued to lay there, but I wasn't able to sit still. I was restless, so much was running through my mind.

Who would have thought it would have turned out like this?

I fiddled with my new running shoes, tightening the strings. The shoes were specially designed for me. At the speeds I could run at, the average shoe couldn't withstand the impact. More importantly, it tore my feet up terribly. So I had two pairs created. The running shoes I had with me, which had less traction (if the shoes had too much traction, I couldn't slide, and trying to stop at 60 miles per hour without sliding was a painful and long endeavour) and more support were perfect for high speed. The other pair was for more parkour-style running. They had better grip, especially in the toes, where the sole contained a special no-slip grip that allowed me to travel up walls and slick surfaces much easier than I could otherwise.

I pulled myself to my feet, and took off running, full out. Without a real destination in mind, I decided to make a large loop around the outskirts of the camp. The wind whipped through my hair, and pounded my chest, as I forced myself to go as fast as I could manage. I felt like an animal that was finally released from its cage, given the opportunity to run free without restraint. It was the first time I was truly allowed to run in the open air, without be scared or angry. Just peaceful.

My sprint around the camp was short lived, it only took me about ten minutes to reach exhaustion. But when I finally collapsed to the dirt again, I felt happy, for the first time in a long time. Too tired and too uninterested in heading back, I pulled my jacket closed, and watched the dark clouds roll by once more, as I drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, I wasn't sure just how long, my phone began to ring. It startled me awake, and I quickly pulled it from my pocket.

"Jon, what's wrong?" I said breathlessly.

"I should ask you the same! It's 3AM, where are you?"

"Outside, taking a nap."

"Outside? Are you crazy? It's dangerous to just leisure about up there!"

"Seems pretty safe to me," I replied, confused.

"Will you get your butt back inside before Michael has a heart attack? He's practically ready to form a search party for you!" Jonathan said exasperated.

"Okay, okay! I'll be down in a few minutes."

Hanging up, I let out a deep sigh. It seemed my peace had run out for the day. Still, I came away from the time feeling refreshed, and I thanked God I had the chance.

Another month passed. Jon's injuries had finally healed, and the RDF's researchers had finished analyzing the disk. Jon, Sienna, and myself were called down to meet Tobias and Michael in the war room to discuss the findings. Jon and I were official members of the RDF now, complete with our own badges, so obtaining access to the war room was uneventful. Once we arrived, Michael had us take a seat at the table, while he turned on the projector. The table already had many other officers of the RDF seated. General Ratkins walked in moments later, with Tobias and Sienna directly behind. Tobias joined Michael at the front of the room, while Ratkins and Sienna joined us at the table.

"To begin, our research team has finished their work on the data disk obtained from City Eternal. We've processed every last bit, and unfortunately, what we found was sparse. It seems we were had."

"What do you mean, 'had'? We pulled that straight from their stupid computer!" I yelled, angry at the wasted effort, the pain and suffering we endured.

"It seems that the information contained within the CARMEL system was not quite what we expected. Very little of the military's documents and data existed in the system," Michael informed us.

"Then we went in there for no reason, what a crock of shit!" Jon yelled.

"Don't get too excited. We were able to obtain one small interesting piece of information. This was pulled from their dock itinerary of the past month," Michael said, pressing a button to advance the presentation.

On the screen was an activity list for City Eternal's external docks. Anything that went in or out of the city was listed there.

"We were most interested in this section," Michael added, highlighting a small part of the log.

The log seemed to talk about various military equipment coming in through the docks.

"This record shows an incredible amount of military equipment, far more than we ever speculated existed. Not great news. However, this log also had one other bit of detail to reveal to us," Michael spoke curiously. He eliminated the rest of the log, and zoomed in on a specific area of the military equipment record.

The record said, "Wisconsin Dome".

"Wisconsin Dome? What does that mean?" an officer in the back asked.

"That record reveals the origins of the equipment coming from the docks. This equipment here came from a place called the Wisconsin Dome, possibly the location of some military exercise. The research team was puzzled by the name, so they looked into it. Wisconsin, it seems, was a name of one of the 50 states of America, this country. Wisconsin's borders are far east of here, beyond the Appalachian Divide," Tobias explained.

"We're not sure what to make of this, but the research team seems to believe, and I concur, that this Wisconsin Dome is another dome, just like City Eternal's. We've heard much speculation about the existence of other domes, but City Eternal has had plenty of time to modify historical record, so it's not surprising that they could keep this a secret."

"So what if this is another dome, what does that mean for us?" another officer asked.

"Well, it could either be another area City Eternal controls, and uses for their military. Or, more likely, it's a dome that City Eternal is fighting," Tobias replied.

"If they're fighting City Eternal, then we could use their help," Jon said.

"Right you are, which is why I want to send a ship out to investigate," General Ratkins said, as he rose from his seat. "We've been lucky so far. Based on these records, City Eternal has more than enough firepower to destroy us without a second thought. But if they are at war, then it would explain their general disinterest in our various activities. And if they are at war, we need to talk to this Wisconsin Dome, if City Eternal hasn't already obliterated it. Michael, I want you to organize a small team to travel out east and find this Wisconsin Dome. If they're friendly, organize an alliance, and if they're not, report back immediately."

"I've already started preparations, I hope to leave tonight."

"Good. Take whatever supplies and equipment you deem necessary. This could be the breakthrough we've been waiting for," General Ratkins smiled.

"Okay, everyone, meeting's over. I'll be talking to each of you later to discuss our plans. Don't go too far," Michael instructed.

I couldn't believe what I had seen. Everyone else had begun returning to their stations throughout headquarters, but I was still planted in my seat. How could another dome go unnoticed for so long? And then I was reminded of Mr. Fisher. He said something during our meeting months ago, about the possible existence of other domes. Did he know something we didn't? I had to find out.

"Michael, I'll be back in a little bit. I need to look into something," I said anxiously, and took off for the door.

I kept fussing with the sword as much as I could, trying to break the window.

Then unexpectedly there was a massive explosion above me. I looked up and saw a fireball rising into the air off of the roof I had just jumped from. As I watched the explosion, I saw what looked like rotor blades falling from the sky. I realized then that the helicopter those soldiers arrived in had just exploded.

I didn't need much time to figure out why it exploded, as I was greeted second later to the call of my name from the other helicopter that had been bearing down toward me. I turned my head around to look at the helicopter, and saw something I never expected: Sienna waving her hands at me.

Afraid to really let a hand off the sword to wave back, I just nodded vigorously and smiled back at her. It was then I saw what looked to be Tobias and Michael in the pilot and co-pilot's chair, respectively. They lowered the helicopter below me a few feet, and moved as close to the building as they could manage.

I then turned my body around to face the helicopter, placed my legs on the building behind me, and kicked off, leaving the wakizashi behind. I hit the deck of the helicopter with my legs dangling off the edge. Sienna and Jon grabbed my arms and pulled me inside, and we shut the door. The helicopter then tilted dramatically forward and we took off down the street and slowly moved above the buildings.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Anna cried, hugging me tightly at the waist.

I winced, as my back had seen better days, but smiled and ran my hand through her hair. I looked over at Jon, who smiled back at me.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?" Sienna asked.

I showed her my left hand which was still bleeding, and told her about my backside.

She carefully pulled the glove off my left hand, and placed her hand over the wound. Already the pain was subsiding, but then she stopped.

"There's glass inside. I can't close the wound like that, it'll get infected. It's going to hurt for a while until we get back to the camp and get that shard removed. I did stop the bleeding, however." she informed me.

She handed my bloodied glove to Jonathan who proceeded to fix the tear and remove the blood. She then had me spin around so she could look at my back. She lifted up the back of my shirt and began to feel around it.

I spied Jonathan taking particular interest in this, which immediately pissed me off.

"Keep staring Jon and the next thing you'll see is the pavement below, pervert!"

"What! All I can see is your back, I'm not looking!"

"If you aren't looking then how do you know that?"

He shut right up and continued to work on my glove. Sienna finally placed her hands on my lower back, where most of the pain was situated.

"It's just a few bruises near your spine. I can take care of that."

Once again the pain was alleviated. I could feel the warmth emanating from her hands, slowly dissipating the bruises. It was a wonderful feeling, comparable to having an incredible massage. I wanted that feeling to last, but only a few short seconds later she was done and pulling my shirt back down.

"Well, your back should be fine, but try to avoid using that left hand as much as possible," Sienna told me.

Jonathan tapped me on the shoulder, and I spun around to face him and Sienna. He returned my glove, all clean and repaired.

"I added some padding to the palm to lessen the impact on the wound."

I quickly got over his actions before and thanked him. I pulled the glove back on, wincing as it slid over the palm area, but once it was on it felt fine.

Now that my immediate health issues were taken care of, I turned my attention to where we were and what we were doing.

"So how the hell did you guys make it out, much less steal a helicopter?" I asked.

"It's a long story, I'll fill you in when we get back to the camp," Michael replied.

Without warning Michael yanked the joystick and the helicopter rolled drastically to the left. I fell over, Sienna and Anna shrieked, and Jonathan had to grab the wall to stabilize himself. Before I could ask what the hell he was doing, I saw a rocket zip past our right side.

"Hold on!" Tobias yelled, pressing a couple buttons on the dash. The helicopter rapidly lost altitude, dropping back down among the buildings.

"Are you crazy? We're going to crash flying like this!" Jonathan yelled back.

"They can't fire rockets at us when we're near the buildings, they wouldn't risk the casualties," Tobias explained.

Even so, I felt we were in even more danger now. Tobias navigated the helicopter through the city streets, while Michael kept tabs on our pursuers. I had no idea where we were going, or what the plan was once we reached our destination, all I could think about was my stomach as we were tossed and turned to dodge gunfire.

"We've got to do something about that damn helicopter, we're not going to get away at this rate," Tobias said to Michael anxiously.

"There is one rocket left. If we're quick, and lucky, we can ambush them around a corner and get a shot off." Michael suggested.

"Okay everybody, strap yourselves in tight, this is going to get ugly!" Tobias called back to us.

Of course Tobias failed to notice the fact that the seats in the back did not have straps, but I held on tight regardless. Anna sat in-between Sienna and I, and we did our best to hold her in her seat. Jonathan seemed preoccupied with making something, although I couldn't tell what.

Once we went around the bend, Michael and Tobias slammed hard on the rudder pedal, and the helicopter did an abrupt about-face. They pushed forward on the stick, cancelling out on the backward momentum and Tobias held us in place. Michael flicked a couple switches on the dash and rested his finger over another button.

Finally our pursuers came barreling around the corner, and Michael pressed the button. I heard a loud wooshing sound, and then saw a rocket from our left side fly out straight for the other helicopter. The rocket impacted the side of the helicopter, and the entire thing exploded in front of our eyes. Our helicopter rocked from the shockwave, and then there was the sound of something colliding with something behind us.

Suddenly alarms were blaring within the cockpit of the helicopter, and it began to shudder violently.

"Shit! A piece of debris pierced our fuel tank!" Tobias cried.

"Jonathan, parachutes! We need parachutes!" Michael yelled.

Jonathan frantically pulled out the emergency parachutes. However, there were only two! Jon tossed one to me and one to Sienna. Tobias unstrapped himself from the pilot's seat, and helped us get them on.

"Sienna, you and Anna go first," Jonathan ordered. He opened the door and Sienna reluctantly jumped out, with Anna attached in her arms.

I walked up to the door next, while Jonathan quickly went to work on the seats, apparently forming them into new parachutes for the rest of them.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" I asked worried.

"Don't have time to worry about that. Go!" he demanded.

The helicopter shuddered again, and began to lose altitude.

"You better hurry up! It's running on fumes now, I can't hold her steady much longer!" Michael yelled from the cockpit.

"You need to get your ass back here too!" Jonathan said.

"Not until everyone else is off, I can't let the helicopter lose control!"

I finally worked up the nerve, and jumped. As soon as I was clear of the helicopter, I pulled the cord, and the parachute thankfully opened. While I floated, I looked down and spotted Sienna and Anna safely touching down on the sidewalk below.

I continued to float, only a couple hundred feet above the ground now. I then noticed that I was rapidly approaching a building. I didn't realize until that moment that I had no idea how to control my descent. I grabbed the cords for the parachute, tugging left and right, panicking. Finally I yanked hard on the left cord, and I veered to the left, but it was not in time. I braced for impact, and my right shoulder slammed into the building, cracking the glass.

Pain rushed down my arm. My shoulder was on fire, and I clenched my teeth tightly. I couldn't move my right arm; it felt almost completely dead, except for the searing pain. After a few more dreadful seconds of hell, I finally landed, tumbling to the concrete. I yelled out to Sienna for help, who came rushing over to me.

"Your shoulder, it's dislocated," she informed me, able to see what had happened before she even began to examine me.

She then grabbed my shoulder, and with one swift movement, popped it back into place, without so much as a warning. I screamed aloud as the pain grew even more intense, before subsiding somewhat. She then rolled up my sleeve, and placed her hands on my arm, moving them up and down.

"Mmm, you've got a couple torn ligaments in the elbow also, and a fractured bone. I should be able to take care of this."

She went to work, and my arm immediately felt better. As she worked her magic, I looked up, expecting to see Michael and Jonathan coming down. At this point Tobias landed about a half block down the road from us. He disconnected his crudely fashioned parachute courtesy of Jon, and came over towards us. Jonathan was about halfway down himself, and Michael had just jumped. The helicopter was spinning out of control now, and swung wildly towards a building across the street.

It then impacted the building, and unexpectedly exploded. The explosion caught Michael, trashing his parachute. He began to plummet. At the same time, a portion of a rotor blade flew out past the explosion, catching part of Jonathan's parachute.

I screamed again, the second time that day. Sienna had felt the explosion, and upon hearing me scream, looked up.

"Oh God!" she cried.

Jonathan's parachute held together, but with a part of it flapping in the wind. He began to descend much more rapidly. Michael was not so lucky. He fell right past Michael, and only seconds later hit the sidewalk across the street, with a thunderous boom. I sat there for a moment, holding onto Sienna. I waited, stared intently at Michael, where he had landed. But he wasn't moving.

"That didn't sound good…" Tobias said. I certainly didn't need to have him tell me to know that, though.

Horrible thoughts began to run through my mind. Even a machine couldn't survive a fall like that, could it? As I got up to run over to Michael, I remembered Jonathan, and looked back up. The helicopter's shell had lodged itself inside the building, so there was no threat of it crashing on us. Jonathan himself was doing his best to try and slow his descent, but he was still falling dangerously fast. He was near the ground now.

"He's coming down too fast!" I yelled at Sienna.

"There's nothing we can do, just hope for the best," she said nervously. Tobias put his hand on my left shoulder, and looked up with us.

At that moment, he collided with the ground.

"There has to be brakes, how else would it stop?" Jon said nervously.

"No, I'm serious! There's no stop, no brakes, nothing!" Michael said furiously.

Jonathan and Michael went into a panic, which in turn put the rest of us in a panic. They combed through the control panel as fast and carefully as they could, looking for any reason why the brakes wouldn't be working.

"If we can't stop we'll have to jump off," Tobias said.

"Are you crazy?" I replied. "Look at the speed we're going at!"

"It's better than reaching the end of the rail and crashing into a wall!"

At this point we all broke out into an argument over the best way to deal with this increasingly dangerous situation. I wasn't sure myself how long we had until we reached the end of the rail, but I did know we were rapidly approaching our destination. For a moment I thought I heard Anna say something, but I ignored it, continuing to argue with Jon about how idiotic he must be to forget something so important. But then she yelled louder and there was no mistake.

"HEY!" she screamed.

We all fell silent for a second and looked at her.

"Can't we just put the tram in reverse?"

Jon and Michael looked at each other for a moment before it dawned on them. They both turned around and poked a few things on the control panel before the tram lurched again and began to slow down.

"You mean to tell me neither of you thought of something so simple?!" Sienna exclaimed, her hands at her hips. The two just hung their heads in shame.

I unzipped my hoodie and threw it off. It wasn't any warmer out, but I was sweating terribly. Up ahead I could see the next platform, which I assumed was our destination. There didn't appear to be an open stairwell to this one, however. Instead was just a small staircase which leads up to a large outcropping on the surface ceiling. My legs were already sighing in relief. I was not looking forward to climbing all those stairs back to the surface.

"Alright everyone, up ahead is our stop. We'll be heading up those stairs about two floors and once inside that building, we'll be very close to the CARMEL. From here on out there is a strong chance we'll be encountering security systems so be careful and keep your eyes on me in case I stumble upon something." Tobias laid out for us.

The arrival was hardly as smooth and quiet as Tobias had originally hoped for, with the tram jumping and rocking viciously the last couple hundred feet. When it did finally come to a rest, we all stepped off, and I took the time to stretch out again after being tossed around like a ragdoll.

"That was scary!" Anna said.

"Without a doubt, Anna." I agreed, glaring at Jonathan.

Once we were all composed, we headed up the stairs, Tobias once again taking the leader position. He continued to refer to his notebook. Once we reached the surface building, he looked at some signs on the wall and held the notebook up next to them.

Tobias then ushered us to follow. We climbed another couple flights of stairs until he put his hand up to stop us.

He then approached a grate on the wall. He indicated for Jon to come forward.

"Can you get this grate out of here, without triggering the pressure alarm behind it?" he asked.

"I can try," Jonathan offered.

He stepped forward and once again placed his hands on the grate. Slowly but carefully he melted the grate to a pile of molten steel. He was careful to leave the frame of the grate intact, so as not to trigger the alarm. He then reached inside, and also melted two large metal bars that were obstructing the path.

"That should do it."

Tobias thanked Jon and told him to take the front position, in case there were any other obstructions inside that would need to be taken care of.

Following Jon, Tobias said "Once we're inside we need to be silent. While they don't use audio sensors this deep inside the compound, there is staff inside at all hours. We can't risk them discovering us."

This was the most nerve-wracking part of the journey thus far. We no longer had plausible deniability to protect us from any curious police officers. If we were discovered now, we'd be forced to fight, and it was a long way back home.

For some reason I was stuck with taking up the rear this time. At this point I was glad I had worn my climbing gloves. The vent was ice cold, and although the gloves were open fingered, it was nice to be able to use the palms of my hands without freezing solid.

We climbed through the vent for at least ten straight minutes, taking various zigzagging paths that had me lost almost immediately. Tobias was continuing to follow his notebook, and nudged Jon to take a right turn here, and a left turn there. I was growing evermore curious to where that notebook came from and how he managed to scrounge up all this information, but now was hardly the time to be asking such questions.

Just when I was really wondering if this vent ever did end, we all stopped. I tried to look ahead to see what was going on, but Sienna's ridiculously flowery skirt was blocking my path. Don't ask me why her skirt jumped out at me so, it was just so … loud that I couldn't possibly ignore it.

Anyway, we started moving again, and finally I noticed that we had reached the end, as everyone began to climb out. The vent terminated under the floor of the CARMEL's datacenter, so Jonathan had disassembled the grate slowly rather than making an obvious melted gap. After we all had climbed out of the ventilation system, Tobias had us gather in a close huddle.

"Okay, this is it. Michael is going to break into the CARMEL's systems. Our job will be to give him as much time as he needs to get the data. You all know what you have to do. Just keep quiet and be on the watch for anything suspicious." Tobias said.

We nodded, and Michael rushed off to the main computer terminal in the room. He immediately went to work, his hands becoming a blur on the keyboard as they coaxed the computer into giving him what he wanted.

Anna took a seat and concentrated on locating the presence of others inside the datacenter.

"There are fourteen people around us. None of them seem to know we're here." She said, confirming our successful infiltration of the datacenter.

"Good work, Anna, now let us know if any of them get close to this room," I said. Sienna and I then took a seat at the far entrance to the room. Jonathan and Tobias sat at the other door.

Michael kept us informed on how he was doing, but it was obvious that this was going to take some time. I knew the longer we stayed here the better the possibility of us being discovered, so I was desperately trying not to chew my nails.

Sienna glanced at me, and held my hand.

"It's alright, Yukari, they're not going to catch us. We'll make it out of here just fine." she said trying to calm my nerves.

"No, it's okay, I'm not worried," I lied.

After a few close calls, and nearly an hour of waiting, Michael finally gave us a soft cry of victory.

"I've got it!" he said excitedly, holding up a disk case.

He then tossed it to me for safekeeping. I put it in the messenger bag I was carrying. It was understood that I had the best chance of escaping the city if something happened, and the data was too valuable to lose.

We all had gathered around the vent where we had entered at this point, and I was more than happy to get the hell out of there. But then, without warning, Anna suddenly cried out, "They're coming!"

"What? How many?" Tobias asked.

"…at least twenty!"

"How close?"

"Really close!" she cried.

"We need to get out of here, no-" I started to say when there was a loud bang at one of the doors.

Not seconds later they surrounded us, weapons raised. It was the military, special forces. I looked at Tobias, waiting for the signal. Luckily we had planned for this situation. I was to take off with the data, while the others fought their way out. This way their forces would be split between trying to recover the data and to capture us.

"You are all under arrest for breaking and entering into a government facility, and for stealing top secret government data." The commander informed us.

A couple men then moved forward to handcuff us, when Tobias coughed, giving me the signal.

I gripped the messenger bag tightly, and took off as fast as I could over the rack of servers next to me. Tobias was correct, they wouldn't dare shoot in this room for fear of damaging CARMEL.

"What the hell? You two, with me, we're following her. The rest of you, cuff these guys and take them back to HQ." I heard the commander yell from behind me.

I burst through the door they came from, and started the brutal climb up the stairs. Finally I reached the surface level, and ran outside. Bad idea. Outside were three squads waiting for me. I dashed back inside, dodging gunfire that destroyed the glass windows and the door. I headed for the stairs again, planning to head for the roof, when I heard the elevator doors chime. Inside were the three from below.

Since I wasn't able to make it to the stairs themselves, I ran full out toward the wall, and ran up the wall. I only had a short distance to build up speed, so I just barely was able to jump off and reach the second level railing. I pulled myself up and over, and the men below began firing again, while running up the stairs.

They didn't have a chance now. I sprinted across the lobby's second floor to the other side where the stairs resumed, and climbed as fast as I could. Skipping four or five stairs at a time, and bouncing off the walls at each turn, I made it up the thirty six floors to the top, bursting through the door there to reach the roof.

I took a moment to look around, and found a good path to get out of there. Once again I ran full tilt, this time toward a neighboring building. Jumping off at the edge, I grabbed the fire escape on the side of the neighboring building. I heard the sound of a helicopter nearby, so I decided to go down a flight on the fire escape and break into the building through a window.

It was an empty office full of cubicles. I didn't bother to take in the scenery, and took off toward the other side of the building. With our cover blown, I had no reason to avoid using weapons, so I pulled out my pistol and fired at the window ahead. As the glass shattered, I threw myself out of it toward the building across the street.

Not having any time to regret my decision, I feverishly pulled the trigger at the oncoming glass wall approaching me. The glass shattered, and I landed in a roll inside the building. Doing my best to ignore the glass shards embedded in my backside, I kept running. At this point I had no clue as to where I was running to, but I had to do my best to keep my momentum up and lose that helicopter.

I took a right turn in this building, and shot out more glass. Leaping through, I then realized the building on the other side was not one of the newer buildings, instead featuring the older concrete design. With no way to simply blast my way through, I braced myself for impact with the wall.

I slammed into the wall, and couldn't avoid bouncing off of it. As I fell, I twisted myself around as quickly as possible, and managed to grab a ledge on the building with my fingertips. I wasn't able to hold on, but it gave me enough leverage to swing my legs back in and break through the window below.

After narrowly avoiding a fall, I shook the glass off of me and took a second to catch my breath and look for the helicopter. I could still hear it but I couldn't find it in the sky. I decided to the next building over, which looked to be at least a hundred stories tall. A new construction, it featured the new mirror glass design, rather than the old concrete.

I kicked out the window facing the building, and took a few steps back. And then a few more. And a few more. I did not want to miss this jump. When I felt satisfied I could get the necessary speed, I took off. Jumping through the window, I noticed that over the course of the past few jumps, I had lost a lot of altitude. I was only about five stories above the ground now.

This wasn't the best time to be making such observations, however, as I was flying through the air toward the oncoming building. I pulled out my pistol, fired off the last couple shots in the clip, and watched the glass slowly fall away. It was at this point as I fell toward the imploding window that I may have misjudged. Inside, it was suddenly apparent that I was about to fall into an open lobby, not an office floor. This was not going to be a good landing.

In an effort to not become a splat upon the marble floor inside the lobby, I grabbed the bottom edge of the broken glass window, dropping the empty pistol. A large piece of broken glass cut its way through my left hand, causing me to scream in pain and let go, while my right hand held on and left me hanging on the inside of this lobby, three stories above the ground.

Below was a security officer already on the radio, and I could see the lights from police and military coming down the street. I let go of the edge of the window, and slid partway down the glass wall, before kicking off and doing a roll. The security officer let go of his radio and pointed his gun at me.

"Put your hands in the air!" he ordered.

"Yeah right," I thought to myself. "Like I'm hanging around here to get captured."

I jumped into action, drawing the only sword I was able to carry without being too bulky, my wakizashi. He fired a couple shots at me, but I was already moving too fast for him to make contact. I cut his outstretched arm, causing him to drop the gun, and kneed him in the gut. He crumpled to the floor in pain. Satisfied, I took off for the elevators. No way in hell I was about to run up the hundred or so floors this building stood at.

Even though the elevator was one of those turbo lifts that rapidly brought people to the top of the building, the ride still felt like an eternity. Once I reached the top floor the elevator serviced, I ran out and climbed the stairs. Only two more floors up and I made it to the roof. I kicked the door open, only to be greeted by the sight of a helicopter and the commander from before stepping out.

"Drop the weapon, Yukari! We know who you are now!" He yelled over the sound of the helicopter engine. "You have nowhere to run, we have the entire building surrounded!"

I took a moment to consider my options. I doubt I could make it back down the building the way I came, the place was probably swimming with soldiers and policemen. Taking on the commander and a squad of soldiers onboard the helicopter was beyond even my superhuman ability.

I decided to drop my sword.

"Good, now show us the disk," the commander demanded.

I pulled out the disk case from my messenger bag and showed it to him. He slowly approached me and took it from my hand. Once he put it in his suit pocket and was about to bring out the handcuffs, I kicked him square in the chest, and grabbed my sword. I took off to the left as fast as I could toward the downward slanting part of the roof. He ran after me, the squad right behind him. I jumped over the edge and began to slide down the inclined glass roofing.

The commander reached the edge of the flat roof, and yelled down at me laughing, "You forgot your disk, Yukari!" He waved the disk case above his head as if to mock me.

As I slid down the roof with increasing speed, I pulled the disk out of my messenger bag that I had cleverly taken out of its case. I waved it above my head, and looked back at the commander with a grin.

His face went immediately from a victorious one to an angry one, and he ordered the squad to fire at me. The glass started shattering all around me, as I swerved left and right as best I could. The end of the incline was rapidly approaching, so I slipped the disk back in the messenger bag, and braced myself for a big jump.

As soon as I hit the ledge I pushed off the building towards the one across the street. It hit me as I was flying through the air that I had to be insane. I was diving from a rooftop, running blind, and nearly a thousand feet in the air. One false move and I was done for. It also occurred to me that I did a lot of thinking in midair for some reason and that if I didn't want to die I should probably keep my mind on where the hell I was headed.

But in hindsight it probably wouldn't have mattered in this case. As I was falling down across the street, I noticed the building across from me was the new glass type. Without my pistol to blast out the window I couldn't jump in. My only other option was to use my wakizashi and hope that it punctures the glass.

I put the sword in front of me, with both hands on the hilt, and braced for impact. I collided with the building, and thankfully the force was great enough for the sword to puncture the glass, but it did not shatter like I thought it would have. Instead the sword lodged itself in the glass, and I nearly lost my grip on the sword.

Once the shock of the collision faded, I looked around for any possible ledges to grab onto, but the wall was flat, all glass. I tried to move the sword in and out, attempting to make the glass open up so I could break my way in. Also no luck. Then I heard a dreaded sound of a helicopter. I looked down the road, and sure enough, it was barreling towards me.

"I have to get out of here before that helicopter reaches me, or I am a goner," I said to myself.

We talked for quite a while about the change, and what it meant for me. Sienna promised to do her best to teach me how to be more feminine. I promised to do my best, although I admittedly still was uncomfortable wearing the basics, much less being dressy and cute. I wasn't sure if it was because I simply hadn't had the chance, from living inside the genetic farm all that time, or if my male mindset was still holding me.

I was just starting to regain composure when I heard the door to Jonathan's bedroom open. Out he stepped, eyes squinted shut, as he stretched and yawned.

"Yaaahh… oh, hey Sienna, and g'mornin' Yuki." Jonathan said, rubbing his eyes.

"You! Out! Now!" Sienna suddenly yelled.

"Woh, hey, wha-"

"No talking, get out!" She interrupted.

"Uhm, okay? I guess I'll grab some breakfast at the cafeteria…" Jonathan said, puzzled.

"You do that," Sienna replied.

Jonathan grabbed a robe, threw on some slippers, and left the apartment.

"You know, Sienna, that wasn't necessary," I explained.

"We're not finished talking. I was thinking, maybe you shouldn't be staying here in the same apartment as Jonathan." She asked.

"I… well… I never really gave it a thought. We've been through so much together already as it is…" I replied.

"Yes, and you can't even so much as hold his hand. Don't you see the contradiction in that?" She pointed out.

"It's not like we're sleeping in the same bed or even the same room!" I cried.

"Yukari, listen. You're still seeing this from a guy's perspective. You've made it pretty clear that you see Jonathan as merely a friend. You see him more as a buddy, one of the guys, but you're not a guy anymore. Frankly, I'm not all that surprised he acted as he did, you're giving off incredibly mixed signals." She explained, thoroughly.

"Mixed signals? I'm not giving off any signals!" I said exasperated.

"So you don't find him attractive at all," She stated.

"Well, I mean, he's a nice guy and all, but I am a-"

"-A what, Yukari? A guy?"

I was caught off-guard by that, and sat still.

"I am not saying you should be looking for a relationship. You have plenty of time to decide on that. But you need to keep in mind that although you may feel, and even act masculine at times, you are a woman now. That is how people see you." She said.

After all this time I would've thought it would've hit me, but it hadn't. Whether I felt like a girl or not, everyone else saw me as one. I needed to be more aware of how others felt.

"What Jonathan did, was a mistake. But it was an honest one. He didn't know your feelings, because you hide them so much. Talk to him, explain how you feel, that you enjoy his friendship, but that is all you can offer right now. He is a nice guy, as you said. He'll understand." She explained.

"Alright, I guess I can do that," I replied, defeated.

"You do agree, right? I think he deserves at least a little bit of an explanation."

"I'll explain my feelings, but right now, my gender crisis is a secret, okay?" I clarified.

"I won't tell a soul," she assured me. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"I don't know, but Jonathan better bring back something good or he's sleeping outside tonight," I replied jokingly.

We both laughed.

"You know what? How about I help you put on something nice today. And maybe we can go shopping as well, for some better outfits." Sienna offered.

I accepted her offer readily, if for any reason then because it sounded normal, and that was something I really needed. Normality. I had to savor the usual, the typical, for I knew there wouldn't be many chances to do so.

The next morning, Sienna came by to visit. She had heard about the incident last night and wanted to see if I was alright. I reassured her that everything was fine, telling her that I was just not ready for anything right now, that I'm still under a lot of stress.

Unfortunately she didn't buy my story.

"There's more to it than that. Look, you've had a rough time, maybe you should go see the counselor." She suggested.

"A counselor? Oh come on, that's not necessary!" I pouted.

"Really, Yukari. I just feel like you haven't quite come to terms with what has happened, what is happening. I mean, come on Yukari, you bit at Jon for trying to hold your hand."

"I am not going to see a counselor. Jon just didn't know my boundaries. Now he knows. Everything is fine. Got it?"

"Yukari, are you sure? I mean, I'm worried about you. It's not even last night, so much as everything. You've always seemed a little stressed, unaware, and detached." Sienna said.

"Unaware? Detached? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Well, ever since the first time we met, you often neglected yourself. I'm not trying to come down on you or anything, but you don't really dress the part of a woman. Take now, for instance."

"What? What's wrong with how I dress?" I demanded to know.

"You're answering the door in a nightgown, Yukari," she pointed out.

I looked down, and realized I hadn't even given a thought to my clothes before answering the door.

"Okay, so I have some modesty issues. I'm not a perfect girl. Apologies for shaming the gender."

"That's more of my point, Yukari. It's almost as if you've never cared about anything feminine. To be honest, I was shocked you wore that kimono yesterday." She said.

This wasn't going down a path I was comfortable with. She was right about what she said, but it didn't mean I wanted to hear it.

"You know what? I don't care, okay? I don't need to be worrying about stupid stuff such as how my hair looks or if some guy is going to try and snap a revealing picture of me. I've got enough problems as it is."

Sienna, rather than responding, just put her arms on her waist, and looked at me intently. I stood there and glared right back at her for what seemed like forever. Finally, I sighed, accepting that she was right.

"Sienna… alright! Alright! I have things I need to talk to someone about. But I don't want to talk to just anyone." I finally admitted.

"Then talk to me. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?" Sienna offered.

"I… fine. I guess you might as well come in." I said, and gestured her inside. "I'll go throw something on."

She sat down on the couch, while I closed the bedroom door and grabbed a t-shirt and pants. As I dressed, I thought about what I was going to tell her. I had been keeping these feelings secret, bottled-up for so long, I wasn't sure I could. After I finished, I sat on my bed a moment, still trying to find the confidence to go through with it. I reasoned to myself, that if I didn't tell someone, it might come out some other way. I knew I wanted to be the one to reveal the truth.

I finally took a deep breath, pushed the ever-increasing nervous stomach cramps to the back of my mind, and walked back out to the couch.

"Yukari? Are you okay? You're crying." Sienna asked concerned.

I hadn't even noticed that I was crying before. I nodded, and sat down at the other end of the couch. She pulled out a tissue from her purse, and handed it to me. As I wiped the tears out of my eyes, she asked the loaded question.

"What happened to you, back at the lab?"

I sat there quietly for a moment, looking down at my hands. Hands that, for many months, I refused to admit were my own. I finally gulped down the last bit of uneasiness in my throat, and began to tell her everything.

Three years ago, I was taken by the government to be placed in the experimental genetics laboratory. They refused to tell me what I was doing there, or what they planning. After sitting inside a cell for a few weeks, only seeing guards and food service, I was taken by the scientists to their operating room. There, they forcefully drugged me and put me to sleep.

From what I remember, the operation lasted 16 hours. I however did not wake up until four days later. I was able to open my eyes, and speak, although I was still extremely confused and unaware of what was going on. At that time I didn't notice what had happened to me. The scientists informed me then that I had been subjected to a DNA adjustment operation, in hopes of enhancing various parts of me, including my speed.

It wasn't until the next time I woke up that they told me that I had reacted strongly to the adjustment, and as such my body's DNA had corrupted itself. Apparently this was a common occurrence among their patients, but the results are always different. In my case, they told me, my DNA had reformed to that of a female.

The second time I had awoken, I was still a bit hazy, so I hadn't noticed anything wrong. I hadn't spoken a word yet, nor bothered to summon the energy to sit up. Well, after hearing those words, the haze immediately left me, and I sat straight up. I looked at myself. My chest hadn't yet developed, but there was certainly something missing down below. I immediately screamed hysterically, pulling at my restraints and demanding that they change me back.

It was no use, however. Not only were they unconcerned with the side effects of the modifications, but they saw this as an opportunity to retrieve data on other uses of the DNA adjustments that they had not considered. My situation was hopeless, and I felt as if my life had come to an abrupt end.

Sienna, who had been intently listening to what I was telling her, suddenly spoke up after hearing this. I lowered my head in shame, waiting for her reaction.

"Oh my God, Yukari! I didn't… I didn't know!" she said tearfully.

I nodded, still looking down at my lap.

"I was too ashamed to tell anyone. Hell, I still am. But these feelings were much stronger then." I said sniffling.

I wiped my eyes again, intent on finishing my story before I became too choked up to do so.

After a few days of constant checkups and lots of sleeping, they finally released me into the testing center, where I would spend the rest of my time at the facility. That first night was hell. Jonathan, who at the time was in the neighboring cell, attempted to talk to me, to calm me down, but I couldn't. I finally stopped crying, but I had not come to terms with what had happened to me.

All I could think about is how shameful it was, how embarrassing it was, how perverted it was for me, a man, to be living in a female body such as this. It seemed unreal, as if I would just wake up and be back to myself again. I couldn't take it. I attempted to kill myself. I took a sheet from my bed, tied it to the lamp in the ceiling, and tied it around my neck. I then jumped off the bed.

Fortunately, I only passed out, and the knot came undone. The guards found me the next morning, and had me put on a suicide watch for a month. That didn't stop me from trying again, the very next night. I had stolen a razor from the bathrooms, and smuggled it back to my cell. I held it close to my wrists for what seemed like hours, but I couldn't do it. The guards finally found me, still clenching the razor, and had me restrained to my bed for the night.

Ironically, it was that night that I consider to be the worst night of my life. Unable to sleep, I was forced to come to terms with the events that had occurred the past week. Without suicide, there seemed to be no way out. I just kept dreaming about how I would live my life, if I were to continue on as a woman.

"Those thoughts that night still haunts me today," I told Sienna.

She sat still for a while, looking at me with a concerned, sad, and even analytical expression. She seemed to think for quite a while about what I had told her. I just sat there quietly, not sure how to continue. She soon spoke up, however.

"I think I can see how you feel, and having to suddenly live your life as a woman, after living as a man for so many years… but what I don't get is… it isn't that bad, being a woman, don't you think?" She asked carefully.

"In a matter of speaking, no. But I cannot control these feelings of intense embarrassment over what is essentially daily life for women. I take a shower, and I feel like a pervert. I get dressed, and I feel like a cross dresser. I feel so vulnerable all the time, so weak, it scares me." I said, opening my soul to her.

"Yukari… there is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed for. You did live your life as a man for a full 17 years. But you are a woman now. You didn't choose to be a woman. It was forced upon you. Anyone could understand that. No one could seriously expect you to behave any other way." She explained, as she grabbed my hand.

"It still feels as if I am somehow… dishonoring, or making a fool out of the gender. I don't know what I'm doing. I've learned the absolute necessities through brute force. I don't even understand what my body is trying to tell me sometimes. And it just brings back the whole feeling of vulnerability."

"And how would you know? Do you think that if I were suddenly to become male tomorrow, that I would know everything men need to worry about? You'll learn! It'll take some time, but I'll help you in whatever way I can. Okay?" She reassured me.

I nodded.

"I don't know how to explain it really, so that you can understand. It's… scary being female."

"Scary? I guess I don't understand. What is scary about being female? It couldn't be your period, you've gone through plenty of those by now for sure! What else is there to be scared of?" She pressed.

"Like I said earlier, I think it's this overwhelming feeling of weakness." I said, attempting to put my deepest thoughts into words.

"Weakness? Wait, you mean physically! I think I get it now! You're not used to being so delicate and short! Having gone from a tall, presumptuously strong man… it must be hard to deal with." she said.

"I… I guess so."

"Cheer up then, Yukari! We women aren't so terribly frail as you make us out to be! We can do anything a guy can, given time and effort." she said with vigor.

I sighed. I had figured that another woman might better understand what I was going through, but Sienna still didn't quite get… it. Perhaps it was just something that was me, something unrelated to gender, that I couldn't expect someone else to understand.

Sienna looked at me for a moment. She seemed to realize that she wasn't quite on target.

"I'm sorry Yuki, it's just… this isn't the kind of conversation someone has on a regular basis. I am trying to sympathize, but it's hard to try and imagine how you really feel. You must be terribly confused, with male and female thoughts conflicting all the time, right?"

She did have that much correct. I didn't even know exactly how to describe what I was feeling, as many of my feelings were new to me. Especially now, having escaped that wretched farm, I found myself opening up to feelings I had blocked out.

"It's not just physical weakness," I said to her in a sudden realization. "It's mental, too. The new feelings scare me. I don't know when I will just suddenly break down, or get angry."

"Yukari, our emotions and feelings, especially our awareness, understanding, and acceptance of them… I feel that is what makes us female. Men have a terrible time understanding how we feel. Perhaps you're just realizing that. After all, women are simply more in-touch with who they are. Men, well, let's just say they aren't always with it." She said grinning.

I smiled a little. "You might not want to try the 'Girls Rule, Boys Drool' speech. I was a guy for the better part of my life, remember." I said, chuckling to myself.

"Maybe not," she replied. "But it did get you to laugh!"

It was then at that moment, that I realized I might actually be able to do this. To make it in this horrible, unfair world. To live the rest of my days, in femininity. I was still unsure of myself, greatly so. Sienna was the first step towards accepting my situation, and a major step it was. However, for now, I was going to give it a shot. For years now I had merely survived as a woman. Now, I could learn to live as one.