Rising Shards

Caeda sighed, tired of waiting for the tech that took her blood to return. She’d been selected for a study on Cani who traveled to the void at the moment their fangs came in. Well, she volunteered herself for the study, but the scientists at the Taramin Laboratories still picked her out of probably a lot of candidates. When she saw the application, she signed up thinking it sounded like something important, like they’d test her and find she was a one-of-a-kind Cani that would change the world.  

Instead, each appointment involved a blood test, a bite test, a power test, a tail floof-ification test, a questionnaire about any further void activity, and then a whole lot of waiting. All around her, scientists and lab techs were hard at work, crunching numbers, pouring vials of dubious substances, observing test subjects, all in a very sterile environment that probably could give someone eye strain if they stared at the blank white walls too long.

“Alright, we got your sample in, and all that data collected,” The tech said when he returned. “Thank you for your continued help with our research.”

All Caeda wanted was to be important. To be the kind of person everyone cared about. And sitting forever in a lab on a college campus not even that far from her own school just to be told “Thanks for your continued help with our research,” every time did not feel like it was helping her reach her goal.

The lab tech stopped as he turned around as a middle-aged woman entered. She didn’t seem to even notice him, walking right past without reacting even as he dropped a clipboard. In fact, everyone around watched the woman with various shocked expressions.

She seemed important. Just her appearance got everyone in the lab looking her way.

That’s how it should be when I arrive anywhere.

“Who is that?” Caeda asked. The lab tech blinked for a second, coming back to reality with Caeda’s words.

“She’s a legend,” the lab tech said. “I…I’m a bit stunned she’s here, admittedly. Like, stunned in a 'I never thought I’d see her in person' sort of way.”

“How come?” Caeda asked.

“She hasn’t been in the office in years, but she has been researching all sorts of things with Cani and the void. If she’s actually in person with us, that means big data, or even a big breakthrough.”

“Oh…” Caeda said.

The lab tech was so distracted by this mysterious woman that he didn’t even do the usual deal where Caeda got escorted out. Sensing an opportunity for her grander mission, Caeda tried to act casual as she followed the woman to her office. Acting casual was easier said than done when you had a giant lilac squirrel tail.

“Everything’s just as you left it,” Another tech told the woman. Caeda was equal parts impressed and intimidated by the woman’s stone cold, almost soullessly blank expression. After setting a briefcase aside, she sat down at her desk, frowning slightly at the console in front of her. “Well, the monitor’s new. And we did upgrade our systems, but none of your files were touched. Obviously. Heh.” The woman stared at the tech until they fled, also too enamored with this woman’s aura to notice Caeda.

Now’s my chance, Caeda thought, feeling like destiny herself called out to her.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Caeda said.

“I’m busy.” The woman said, not even bothering to look up.

“My name is Caeda Firae.” She couldn’t give up now.

“And I’m still busy.”

Caeda studied the woman to see if her appearance had any clues that could be to Caeda’s advantage. In TV shows about super geniuses, they’d always look over the person’s clothes and fingernails and such and figure out their whole deal from that. Caeda fancied herself a super genius in the waiting, so this was her chance.

The woman was middle-aged, had fair skin, short hair, and piercing blue eyes. She had a casual jacket on. There was nothing of note on her desk, just folders next to a computer. No nameplate or anything that said the woman's name. Frustratingly, there were two framed photos, but they were both turned in the opposite direction, and Caeda couldn't exactly peek over to look at them without being really weird and awkward.

Dang. Analyzing people like that is hard. Maybe if I could see her hands up close, I’d see scuffs from a fight or something.

“Why are you still here?” The woman asked. If Caeda played her cards right, this could be her moment. If she did the opposite, she’d probably be getting escorted out by security, or fried by this lady’s secret laser vision power.

“Well, ma’am, I’m…” Caeda said. “I’m supposed to be.”

The woman raised her brow.

“Hear me out!” Caeda said. “All my life, all I ever wanted was to be important. It’s like I have this calling that I know I have to follow. When I picture myself in the future, it’s someone like you, ma’am. Someone who gets everyone in the room to drop everything when I show up. I don’t know you, obviously, or what you do, but it’s clear you did something right to be important. And I’d like to…if it wouldn’t be much trouble…to learn from you? Perhaps?”

“You want me to mentor you?” The woman asked.

“Something like that, yeah…” Caeda said.

“You’re going to have to pitch this better than just nebulous delusions of importance, Caeda.” The woman said.

“I can do that!” Caeda said. “That was just…the broad pitch. I could do a more detailed one. If you’d give me just a minute or two.”

“The last time I mentored someone around your age, it was a group that proved fairly useless outside of data collection. What do you have that sets you apart?”

“Uh, gumption, maybe?” Caeda said.

Caeda expected at least a slight smile at that, a chuckle in a best-case scenario. The woman’s eyes were on her now, and being directly in her attention was almost worse than getting ignored earlier.

“If importance is what you’re after, you have ended up in the right place,” The woman said. “The work done here is the most important in the entire world. My work is the most important across every dimension in the void.”

“Wow.” Caeda said.

“That said, I know nothing about you. You could be worthless in power, rebellious, weak-spirited, any of the above. You have ‘gumption,’ sure, but where does gumption get you with the work I do?”

“It could motivate me to be the mentee you’ve been looking for all your life,” Caeda said. She was winging it with the idea that this woman was looking for someone to mentor, but she did mention being a teacher to a group in the past, so it wasn’t a completely baseless form of winging it.

“You’re being tested, correct?” The woman asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll need to look at what you’re being tested for, and your information,” The woman said. “The next time you’re in the lab, I expect you to bring a transcript from your school.”

Caeda’s eyes widened. “You mean you’ll actually mentor me?”

“I make no promises,” The woman said. “I may have to decline based on your powers, your mental aptitude, and so on and so forth, but I find something about your attitude refreshing. Especially compared to many I’ve been in contact with recently.”

“Well I will make one promise,” Caeda said. “I promise you that you won’t regret this.”

Caeda knew she just said the line that’d win her a smile from this lady. But alas, still no change in her expression.

I should just take this as a win though. A major win in the battle for my destiny. Caeda felt giddy just at how well this had gone. All the boring tests were maybe worth something after all!

“I have a lot of work to do,” The woman said, not so casually dismissing Caeda for sure this time. “Please call the secretary to confirm when you’ll be back, and I’ll see to it that I’m there at that time.”

“Right,” Caeda said. “Um, thank you! Again! Thank you a ton! A million!” She froze in the doorway. “Before I go, could I, er, I should probably get your name, yes?”

The woman looked to the side, as though she were debating giving out her name. Finally, she answered.

“Octa Kathron.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Kathron.” Caeda said.