Qīyuè 4th 250X

A month after the initial appointment, Sirka and Akeem were once again taking the elevator to the sixteenth floor of the Nu zone Medical Centre. Today it was for her fourth round of Panacea injections.

So far, Sirka hadn't experienced any negative side effects and thankfully the nausea from the initial boosters had subsided. Despite Akeem's frustration over the seemingly minimal results, Medic Poulter kept assuring them that everything was progressing according to schedule.

Chase had been at two out of three of the drug administering appointments, his mouth curved in an easy smile and his genetically engineered pale eyes reflecting the clinical overhead strip lighting of the laboratories.

Both Sirka and, perhaps more surprisingly Iskra, had warmed to the ex-Genie turned Polis Medic. He told Sirka jokes and stories from his time working in the darker underbelly of the city and he didn't seem to mind her sudden outbursts of confused or panicked ramblings.

The dark-haired boy had been moved from the treatment room where Sirka first saw him and she hadn't been able to find him again since, despite Iskra's continuing insistence that they look for him.

The idea of having five extra strands of DNA both terrified and intrigued Sirka, only having three had made life difficult enough for her as it was.

She knew that some helixed who only possessed one ring were still able to function, however the side effects attached to each new strand were cumulative in their progressive difficulties. As a three ringed helixed, it set Sirka a very long way from a one-ringed sufferer.

"Good morning Sirka," Medic Poulter nodded to her as they entered the lab, "how are we feeling today?"

"Much better," Sirka replied, glancing to her right and monitoring for her father's reaction. The Panacea was her last chance. If Sirka didn't convince them of her improvement on this course of medication, then she'd never be allowed to live a semblance of the life that she would choose for herself.

"Been seeing much of Iskra around?" Chase asked with a thoughtful look as he crossed the room towards them, drying his just washed hands on a lab towel.

"Not since the second round of injections," Sirka lied easily. She'd been practising the words over and over again to herself within the confines of her bedroom. "That's great news," Chase beamed as Medic Poulter gave her father a pointedly triumphant look.

"Let's just get on with the fourth round shall we?" Akeem said with a slight huff, but he was wearing a distinctly hopeful expression.

"Okay Sirka, I'm going to hook you up to the cerebral scanners after this injection," Medic Poulter began, "and we'll monitor you for a couple of hours today."

One hour later, Sirka hopped down from the reclining medical chair where she had been lying patiently. There was a fresh strip of gauze on her arm and there were neon orange wireless monitoring patches stuck to her forehead and temples.

Her father had gone downstairs to get some coffee with Medic Poulter and Chase had disappeared with an armful of paperwork soon after the injections had been administered.

"Just try to lie still and relax," Medic Poulter had instructed. However it had been some time already now and Sirka was feeling restless.

The room kept seeming to tip, as if floating on water, and the walls appeared to be shifting inwards. Of course such hallucinated disturbances were meant to be cancelled out by the Panacea formula currently flowing through Sirka's system. She could only hope that perhaps she just needed a few more rounds of the drug before she felt the difference.

Sirka padded towards the inter-laboratory door that her father had gone through the first time they were there. She pressed lightly against the control button and the door clicked open. Sirka wandered quietly through, drawing it nearly closed behind her as the lights flickered on overhead.

The room was a simple, sparsely furnished office that probably belonged to Medic Poulter or one of his research assistants. Sirka didn't think it could be Chase's, he seemed more like the kind of person to have charts and notes stuck up all over the walls, maybe even some personal photos.

Suddenly, Sirka heard a noise from the room beyond the one she was currently in. She tiptoed over to the far door, sliding it open and to her surprise, found herself face to face with the dark haired boy.

"He's here," Iskra announced in an urgent whisper beside Sirka as the two of them stepped cautiously into the room.

"Hello," the boy said uncertainly, shifting his position from where he was sat on the flimsy looking camp bed. "Hello," Sirka replied, letting the door close behind her, "you're Alex aren't you?"

The boy looked surprised for a moment before nodding, "My full name's Alexei."

"Yes I know," Sirka said, going to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the bed, "Medic Reed, Chase, I mean, he told me your name was Alexei Sokolov."

Sirka paused, "Was your surname given to you by an orphanage or the Asylum?" It wasn't uncommon for orphans to not have a surname. However, a last name was required for the Polis-mandatory I.D. chipping process, therefore children would often be issued with a standardised or lottery-picked surname by the institution that was responsible for them.

Alex shook his head shyly, "It really is my name. The person who dropped me off at the orphanage as a baby wrote it on the paperwork, so it must have belonged to my family."

"So you were originally in a Polis orphanage?" Sirka asked, frowning as Iskra crept over to sit on the bed beside Alex, staring at him with an awe-struck expression.

"Not for long," Alex gave her a sad smile, "I think it's where the person who delivered me there wanted me to be, otherwise they would have taken me straight to the Asylum. But when the carers saw how many rings I had - they moved me the next day. They were probably scared," he added.

"They were scared of me too," Sirka whispered, reaching out her hand towards the younger boy. Alex looked at it surprised for a moment before mirroring her movements.

Their fingertips touched lightly and Sirka felt a buzz of electric sparks ricochet down her spine, making her mouth drop open in shock. A second later and the door to the room slammed open to reveal a furious looking Akeem, Medic Poulter and Chase following closely behind him.

"Sirka!" Akeem snapped, causing her to gasp and jump to her feet, breaking the connection with Alex. There was a smash from the other side of the room, making everybody flinch and turn to look.

"He made the water jar levitate!" Chase exclaimed. "Seb did you see that?"

Medic Poulter nodded slowly with a narrowed look at Alex who cowered back against the wall with a terrified expression. Sirka's throat clenched uncomfortably, she wanted to reach out and reassure the younger boy but the look on her father's face made her freeze in her tracks.

Sirka was led back into the laboratory a moment later, whilst Chase and Medic Poulter talked excitedly behind her. "Akeem do you realise how long we've been trying to get the boy to show any signs that his powers are usable?"

"I am aware," Akeem replied stonily, still not taking his eyes off of Sirka, "I'm the one that reads your damn reports."

"We've barely been able to coax him beyond a colour card test so far!" Chase chimed in enthusiastically, although his smile was somewhat dampened by Akeem's responding expression.

"This is a real breakthrough," Medic Poulter hissed, "we've tried having him interact with other helixed before - to see if we can use a 'contact catalyst' to activate his abilities. However none of the experiments yielded any significant results, at least not like this! Damn it Akeem did you see how he responded to Sirka?"

"I saw," Akeem replied, finally turning to look at Medic Poulter, his mouth set in a grim line.

"We've never had him meet a helixed with more than two rings before," Chase added, gesturing to Sirka, "it was considered potentially too..."

"Dangerous," Akeem finished with a sigh, "especially with someone like Sirka." He gave Medic Poulter a hard look.

"Sirka's condition has improved greatly Sir," Chase supplied, "the Panacea injections seem to be having a real effect on her cerebral functions. You can take a look at the readings..."

"I don't want to look at the damn readings!" Akeem snapped. "That's your job!"

"Akeem," Medic Poulter interrupted, holding his hands up between the two men, "I think you really need to stop and consider this development for what it is and what it could mean for the entire programme."

"I am thinking about what it could mean," Akeem replied, "for my daughter. I won't have you using her like some kind of chemical in a bottle - she's not a 'catalyst' as you so put it."

"I didn't..." Chase began but was silenced by Akeem's glare. "We're barely hanging on as it is," Akeem hissed, "and now you want to use Sirka to help a five-ringed helixed to display his abilities. Abilities it's highly doubtful he'll even be able to control."

"Alex has never shown any signs of mental or physical instability," Medic Poulter insisted loudly before Akeem could continue, "at least certainly not in comparison to other helixed with half his number of strands." His eyes flicked for a moment to Sirka, "That's why he's so special."

"He's a ticking time bomb," Akeem huffed, bringing his hand up to run it down his face.

"He's a missile launcher," Medic Poulter replied sharply, "and we can point him in any direction we choose."

"You have to get him to work first," Akeem bit back as Medic Poulter shrugged and nodded to Sirka. "With the right tools Commander, with the right tools."

"We'll discuss this later," Akeem stated firmly, "Medic Reed can you please escort my daughter downstairs, I'll be along shortly."

Chase looked anxiously between Medic Poulter and Sirka's father before nodding in acquiescence and gesturing for Sirka to follow him.

"I want to see Alex again," Sirka said as soon as the door to the elevator slid shut in front of them.

"He talked to you?" Chase asked with a renewed enthusiastic vigour, now that they were out of earshot of Akeem. "Yes," Sirka nodded, "does he not normally talk?"

"He's very quiet," Chase laughed, "Alex lived in the Asylum for fourteen years, so I suppose a wariness of people in medical uniforms is to be expected. He's quite skittish as well - nervous disposition. He doesn't like loud noises or anything sticky for some strange reason. He's manifested symptoms of social anxiety along with obsessive compulsive disorder but not..." Chase swallowed.

"Not like me," Sirka supplied with a small smile, glancing up at where Iskra stood in the corner of the elevator, humming an old nursery rhyme that Sirka had learned in the orphanage.

"Not like any helixed case we've ever come across before," Chase concluded as the elevator dinged open on the ground floor. "His cerebral readings are all so...stable. It's just incredible and it's simply mind-boggling to try and theorise what he could potentially do without the hindrances caused by, or the limitations imposed by the normal helixed problems."

"Five rings..." Sirka whispered thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Chase replied, "it's almost too much to imagine what he could be capable of, and yet..and yet he hasn't given us anything substantial until today."

"I want to see him again," Sirka repeated.

"That would be ideal," Chase nodded, "but the Commander really didn't seem happy with you being in such close proximity to another helixed, especially not one with so many strands. I can understand - there's a lot of unknown quantities regarding Alex especially."

"Broken toys can fix each other!" Iskra shouted suddenly, moving to position her face right in front of Sirka's and making her wince. "You can wind him up - make him sing and then you can dance! They'll all laugh and clap and you can be the ballerina in the music box...Ouch!" Iskra suddenly yelped, jumping back and sucking on her finger. "They snapped it shut!" she exclaimed with an indignant expression.

"Please," Sirka said, trying to ignore her fractal as she turned back to Chase, "please talk to my father. I want to see the boy again."

"Oh believe me we'll try," Chase smiled at her before glancing out of the large glass doors that led down to the street from the Medical Centre. "Hey - it's raining again, I'll just go get you a silica sheet or you'll be covered in the slick before you make it back to Epsilon zone."

Sirka nodded thankfully at him before turning to look back out of the doors. "I like the rain," Iskra announced beside her, her thin fingers pinching at the fabric of her white dress. "You would," Sirka sighed.