[TheRaisin]

Thank you Silversnow. Please, don't lose interest anybody! I'm trying to get on with the plot, but I've just gotta get it started first. Soon certain things will be revealed, the first exposition will be complete, and Lyra and Ian's sinister past will be revealed. Also, I've been making an attempt at some art, and amazingly enough I think I'm getting slightly better (I really suck at drawing). Maybe, by some stroke of luck, I'll actually get good enough eventually that I'll be able to post some and help you get a better view of some stuff. But don't hold your breath.

Ian

As the adrenaline wore off, and it's effects stopped clouding my mind, I saw what this place truly was. The fences were over twenty feet tall, and topped with curls of razor-wire, and the only side of the enclosure without a fence was the side hemmed in by the towering wall of the building behind it. There were no gates; the only way in or out was the door we had come through, which could easily be locked.
>Like a prison, isn't it?< Lyra said.
>Exactly what I was thinking,< I said. It looked exactly like a low-security prison exercise yard.
The door swung open and Ms. Fletcher stood there. Grabbing the harness rope, I quickly rappeled back down the climbing wall, and we followed her back inside.
"I don't want you to over-exert yourselves, so I think we'll call it a day," she said, leading us back to our rooms, which now felt like prison cells rather than sanctuaries. Walking in, I noticed the room had been changed dramatically. A large bookcase, as tall as me and equally long, stood against one wall, filled with books. There was also a large desk on which sat a computer and a Link system. Closing the door behind me, I randomly grabbed a book from the bookcase and sat on the bed.
>Lyra,< I thought, >pick up a book and pretend to read.< I knew they would have added the same stuff in her room.
>Good idea. It would look suspicious if we just sat and stared off into space when we teletalk.<
>This is serious. They don't want us to look around. There's something they really don't want us to find.<
>Then we have to find it,< she replied, using a kind of inverse logic.
>Damn right,< I thought back.
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".... What's going on here?" Ms. Fletcher asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, ma'am," said the technician. "They're just reading."
"Please. It doesn't take one of them that long to read a page. And they're obviously focusing on something we can't see."
"Well.... I admit they don't really seem to be focusing on the books," said the tech.
"Activate sensor mode in the chips. Set parameters to linguistic thoughts," she said.
The tech tapped some keys in a flurry of flashes from his black leather gloves, shining in the flourescent light. A holo-display came up, showing two sets of thought waves. Ms. Fletcher studied them for a moment.
"The thought waves are corresponding. Run the data through an interpreter and link it to a sound modulator."
A few seconds and keystrokes later, a robotic voice began speaking.
".... need to find a way to avoid the cameras."
"If we could get ahold of a camera, we could take a snapshot and...."
Ms. Fletcher slammed a fist down on the control panel, without bothering to listen to the rest of the conversation. Then, calming herself, she switched on the commlink and set it to a special channel.
"Prisoner Detainment Unit 1 to rooms 290 and 291. Bring them to the training center."
A low, flat synthetic voice replied "Affirmative" and Ms. Fletcher closed the channel.
"Are they ready for that, ma'am?" the tech asked.
"It doesn't matter now," she said. "If they're not ready, we'll make them ready. It's too late to boost the control level on the chips if they're already using telepathy and planning on how to evade the cameras. We're doing a rush job."
The tech said nothing.
God, I hope those kids are tough, he thought, and muttered a prayer under his breath.
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Ian

The door swung open and smashed against the doorstop. Two black mostrosities barreled through, and before I could react they had grabbed my arms and legs and hauled me out the door. The metal they were made of had some quality that made it swallow light, so they were completely black, like the center of a black hole. Their upper bodies were built like mutant gorillas, with thin waists slightly above the two acute-triangle tread sets and huge broad shoulders. Each had two powerful arms, with three-fingered claw-like hands. A large compartment on each back gave them a hunched appearance. They had forward-slung heads with practically no neck, situated at the top of the chest between the shoulders. Where the eyes should have been was a visor that went from one edge of the head to the other, giving it a field of vision that must have been almost 360 degrees, and for mouths they had small speakers.
As I struggled I caught a glimpse of Lyra being unceremoniously dragged away in a similar fashion, twisting and kicking and fighting and spitting and cursing like a caged lion that knows it's beat but continues to fight anyway. Finally, the robots trying to capture her got annoyed, as much as a robot can get annoyed anyway. They held her down while others streamed in to help from out of my field of vision. A small thin arm appeared from the compartment on one of them with a needle attached to the end. It began to whir towards her with a horrible sense of malice.
"NO!" I shouted, and wrenched myself free. I got one step towards her before the robots recaptured me. The needle sunk sickeningly into her flesh and emptied it's contents into her blood before withdrawing. I hardly noticed the sudden prick of pain on my own arm. I was concious long enough to see Lyra pass out before the drugs reached my brain and knocked me out as well.


Hint: next part will be called "Powers That Be". It's gonna be off da heezy.