Wildlight : Origins

by Tammy Tanaka Saiko

Where do I begin? It all happened so fast... almost like a dream. In fact, at several places, I would have sworn it was a dream, or a nightmare.

(1) Christi (more on her later) tells me that it really started when a scientist and software programmer, Janwa Martin, decided to steal a prototype (more on that later too!) from the company where she worked. Despite the fact that this prototype suit was top secret, and under some major security protection, she managed to get around the computer systems and somehow keep the gaurds from searching her on the way out. I guess the fact that she's knows her way around computers helped with the first obsticle, though I'm not sure how she got through the guards.

The day after, January 8, 2047, started just like any other for me. (2) I went to school, and got talked down to by my teach. He's been chewing me out for some time. Fact was, I didn't care about him, or his class. I hated school. And, I still do. At any rate, the only reason I go most of the time is to meet up with my friends. (3) Heather and I were leaving school when we saw a punk getting beat up. I didn't know who he was at the time, but I knew I seen him around more than once talking about God this and God that. Where I come from, talking about God tends to get a few peeps peeved at you. Anyway, Heather and I walked away before we got too much attention to our ourselves.

After school, walking home alone, I saw some guy fighting with an old lady over something. She looked like Heather's grandma, so I decided to help out. Yeah, I know. I'm don't look like a figher. Most people are taller than me. But growing up in Stomka while being a Squint, you learn a few moves. (4) The guy was big, but I was able to knock the wind outta him. It turned out that the old lady wasn't Heather's grandma, but she was shaken up all the same. So, I walked her home.

(6) She lived in a modest apartment on the southwestern corner of town. While I tried to relax a little, she started ranting about how she just wasn't strong enough. Oh, and something about cockroaches. I started to feel a bit uncomfortable, (7) especially when she started talking about God. I believe in God. Always had. My mother taught me enough to make me believe in Him. But there was no love lost between the Almighty and myself, and her conversation was reminding me of things I'd rather forget. She was putting me on the very spot I was trying to avoid. Just when I thought I had managed to get her to drop the subject, it happened.

(8) I felt something jump on my neck, like a spider! And before I knew it, I was in pain like I never felt before!! I didn't know what it was at the time. All I could tell anyone is that I knew it hurt like hell! I almost passed out from the shear pain alone. It felt like something entered through the back of my neck and shot down my spine. Before I could react, I felt so dizzy and even a bit disoriented. Janwa gave me some discs, and put me in a taxi that took me home.

(9) Even though the taxi ride was not long, I started feeling better. Whatever Janwa had done to me was fading fast. When I got home, my Dad was waiting. We had another falling out, and I ended up crying myself asleep for the third time that week.

(11) When I woke up, I noticed a thick silver necklace strapped around my neck. I say 'strapped' because it was right against my skin, and I could not take it off. Desite the fact that it was so tight around my neck, it didn't choke me in the least. It seemed to move with me, even expanding a little when I swallowed. Dad wasn't around (Thank goodness!), and it was Saturday, so I took a walk out to the graveyard to clear my head a bit. While there, I was surprised by a trio of strangers. One of them shot me with some sort of tranquelizer.

(12) While I was 'sleeping,' I could swear I was having a conversation with God, or an angel. After getting into a shouting match with Him, I woke up in a glass case. I could see Janwa, and some guy, talking, but I couldn't hear a word. They didn't look like they were getting along. The guy walked up to me, and talked into a mic so I could hear him. He knew my Father (appearently they worked together before). However, it was when he started talking about an 'extraction' that he was performing on me that had me afraid. He said that it was going to hurt. Alot. To say I was scared was an understatement.

(13) As I screamed in fear, I saw Janwa break away froma guard that was holding her. She grabbed the mic and spoke to me in my glass prison. The guard caught her and threw her against the wall... hard. Somehow, she knew about the church my mother took me too when I was young. She told me to say the words that were on church bulletin outside many years ago. Don't ask me how, but I remembered what those words. (maybe because I asked my mom to explain it to me). And when I said, "Let there be Love, Let there be light," something startling happpened, and would never be the same!

(14) My body froze up, each muscle a tight as it could get. A blinding pain went through me, but I could not yell. Somehow, the glass around me shattered. And when I opened my eyes, I was not only free of my prison, but I was was in a suit. It was pitch black, with silver stripes. The whole thing felt warm. It surrounded me, and guided my movements.

When the security guard attacked me, the suit quickly moved me out of the way. Then, without any thought, I fought back, and kicked him in the stomach. I used such force, that it knocked him out. I never felt stronger, or better, in my life!

I ran to Janwa, but she was pale. Her neck was bent at an odd angle, and she could hardly talk. She was obviously dying. I said something, and when I repeated it, the suit reacted. I don't know how to explain it, but the suit moved me. And before I knew what happened, I was running out of the building faster than anything else.

(15) When the suit finally stopped, I found myself in the slums of Old Orlando. As I tried to rest, a kid tripped over me. He was running from a bunch of Raka' sha fantics. Next thing I knew, I was between the two parties. (16) I couldn't stand by and see a 9 year old kid get beat up, so I decided to fight all three or four of them. I did pretty good too until the last one dropped me with a modded tazer.

(17) While I was 'out,' I had another dream, with God as the narrator. I got into another argument with Him, and when He asked me why I haated Him so much, I returned the question back to Him. I asked why did my life turn out so bad. My mother left me. My brother was with her. I didn't know where either one of them were at. And my father didn't care anymore. Why was the happiness of my childhood stolen from me?

(18) I woke up in one of the outcasts tents. I seen them before, but I had never been in one. The kid somehow got me into their tent, and his mom, Gwen, took care of me. Somehow, I managed to tick her off, and she left. As I reflected on the silver cross the kid had given me, I got a huge suprise. (20) A holographic girl by the name of CHRISTI came out of nowhere. She told me that she was the Computer's Holographic Researchable Intelligence and Strategical Tactical Interface, or C.H.R.I.S.T.I. for short. As the artificial intelligence for the suit that I was wearing, she was pretty impressive - Over 43 TB of pure data alone. (Just never tell her that I said that. I forgot to mention she's got an ego!) Amoung other things, she mentioned that Janwa made the thing, and was doing some serious investigation recently on some key people. CHRISTI also told me how to deactivate the system, which was nearly as painful as activating it!

(21) One of the worst things about the suit, I found out, is that I couldn't do certain things (even if it was in 'passive' mode). For one, I couldn't smoke. After all the stress I had been through, I needed a smoke bad. That discovery alone was enough for me to try to find a way to get the system out of me (Without going through that painful 'extraction' method that other guy mentioned.) CHRISTI told me that if I could find some passcode, I could deactivate the suit without losing my skin. She, however, did not have this 'passcode.' (How could she know so damn much and not know thist one little thing?). So, I decided to check out Janwa's pad in the small hope that I could find something there.

(22) I 'let myself in' to Janwa's place. Unfortunately, I was not the first one there. Some mutate woman thing came out of nowhere and attacked me in the dark. (23) She knocked me on my back a couple of times. I activated the suit. After I did so, I generated a light blast that was able to blind her long enough for me to get the upper hand. Good thing I speat some time on the way there going over basic self defense with CHRISTI. After I chased big bad and hairy woman away, I looked around.

(24) As I suspected, Janwa kept a bunch of notes in a Bible I spotted earlier next to her chair. In it I found several notes. Some of them opened files inside of CHRISTI. I was in playing one of those files that I discovered that the guy who was going to pull the extraction on me earlier, "Maximillian," was planning to murder a Senetor. And I had a good idea where.

(25) Of course, I wasn't planning on stopping him. After all, I cared little for politicians and their games. The fact that the Senator involved was a supporter of the religeous zealot cause made me like him even less. And, CHRISTI explained to me that this Max guy had a power suit of his own. However, it did mean that I could catch Max off guard, and use that to open a conversation between him and myself. I wanted to get rid of the suit. I didn't care for having something in me that controlled my actions, causing great pain on the occasion, and attracting unwanted attention from woman with folicle challenges. I still didn't have the 'extraction code.' However, I was sure that if I talked with this Max guy, we could find a way to get him what he wanted (the suit) without killing me in the process.

(26) I ran into New Knights College. Using the suit, I was able to use a hologram to look like the Senator, which allowed me into the back hallways. There, I ran into Max - Literally. (27) Actually, he called himself Max Domain. Without asking me, he started talking... almost like he wanted to convince me of what he was doing. He went on about religeon, and how it caused wars, pain and suffering over man's history. I could not argue that (nor would I try), but then that he mentioned something about my family. I asked what he knew, since my own memories of what happened back then seemed almost incomplete.

He told me that my mother upset my father with religeous talk, and because of that, they separated. He went on that the zealots on a whole stood on the brink of separating the world into a war like my mother separated our house. He wanted me to join him in this vision. As he walked away, however, all I could think about was Mom, Dad and William... my brother. And for a moment, I was going to join him. (28) After all, Mom felt that her religeon, Christianity, was more important than our family. It's why she left. Or was it?

At that moment, my mind was flooded with a memory... or a vision. I was watching a replay of that night when Mom left with William. But, this time, I was seeing it from different eyes that were not my own. Dad came home, appearently drunk. He had a rough day, and Mom tried to calm him. I know enough about drinking now to know that if you get that drunk, and your still upset, nothing will calm you down! And that was the case here! Mom told William to take me into my room.

Mom kept trying to make Dad feel better, even offering to pray for him. He snapped. He hit her. I could see William, standing behind a wall, watching the whole thing. The next thing I saw, was William taking a bat, and hitting dad on the head from behind. My dad was lying on the floor, and William dropped that bat. Mom's face was pale, and for a moment, there was silence. Suddently, she told him that they were leaving. While my Dad had never hit us the way he hit mom that night, I think she was worried that if he found out what William did, he may start. So I watched, through distant eyes, as she took William, and a few things, and ran off into the night.

Up until that moment, I had blamed their disappearence on mom's love for this God. After all, she and dad were always arguing about God this and God that. I never saw, though, what happened that night. I remember her kissing me in bed, and I thought I saw a tear. But, it was the last time I saw or her from her. For years, the thought that she loved God more than me or our family, And I always believed it was that love that caused her to leave. But now, with that knowledge that she left to protect William, I felt different.

Filled with that emotion, I knew what I had to do. (29) Mom would want me to stop Max Domain, so I asked CHRISTI to help me come up with a plan to do that. Lucky for me, CHRISTI knew the ins and outs of Max's armor system, which was an older model of the one I now have. (30) We had a huge fight, and even tore up part of the school. As I said before, I had been in a few scraps, but nothing like this! I had lazers coming out of my hands!! Finally, I was able to take him down. The senator and his bodyguard returned, and took Max into custody. Later, I emailed the senator the files I unlocked. I was sure that he would find something in there to lock Max away for a long time.

On the way home, I spoke with CHRISTI. Knowing the truth about the past made me feel a lot better, though I knew that sooner or later I'd have to talk to Dad about all of this too. I felt good about stopping Max, and making a difference. For the last 10 years, I felt powerless about what was going on in my life. Yet, in making the decision that I did about Max, and stopping him from killing Senator McMullan, I felt like I had control over myself and my destiny. I even felt a little better about God. Just a little!

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Recap of Next Story: "A Place In This World" (Coming Soon)