File 5.10 - Gift of the Departed

It took a day for the doctors to agree to let her leave. The numerous cuts aside, she felt fine. However, they insisted on monitoring her after the trauma. They even sent her psychologists to talk to her. It was more of a nuisance to her. She just wanted to be free. It had painful reminders for her, ones best forgotten, stored away and lost. It was only sadness and she couldn’t have its weight on her.

Shizuka stood in the hangar housing the Freya and Od. Machine crews and engineers ran around working on the incomplete machines. She was still convinced. It was a thing of war. She approached the one designated ‘Freya’, her machine. A mystery even exposed.

“When you step into that chair you’ll understand, Shizuka. It’ll all make sense to you.” The last words she heard from Karen echoed her mind. She would never know what more she had to tell her.

She rode up to the shoulders using the spare lift. The shoulder seemed to invite her. The head remained open with the cockpit visible and the chair waiting for its pilot. Shizuka stepped out onto the machine. It called to her. She was curious.

The invitation to sit was too much to bear for her. She accepted. Her hands rested on the side panels of the chair. All of the systems were off. She played her fingers over the buttons feeling out the machine. A strange feeling of awe washed over her. It seemed to suck her in. She rested her hands on the sticks. Shizuka looked forward at the machine. ‘What do you want to tell me?’ Nothing. She figured as much.

Shizuka stepped out and returned to the ground. She looked down for a moment retrieving something. Pulling her hair back, she gathered it all up and tied it off. The hair tie was a little dirty and stood out with the strictness of her uniform, but Shizuka didn’t care. She added it to herself. She tilted her head back to the unfinished face of Freya. Her eyes narrowed in determination. ‘I’ll find out what you wanted to tell me. I’ll expose all of their secrets!’