Chapter 4 third chapter

Carly closed the door of the brig and noticed Handel coming down the hall.Handel was wearing his usual outfit of black trousers and a black thermal long-sleeve shirt. Handel was tall, a little over 1.83 meters.The neck, chest, and arms were thick, and the beard was trimmed neatly above and below the mouth, covering the chin and upper lip, but the cheeks were clean.His hair was a little rusty, and his name clearly indicated his Scandinavian ancestry.However, his dark complexion and family name Mitra hint at his mixed ancestry when he was actually born on the outskirts of New Calcutta, one of the wealthiest areas in the world.

Carly felt that his parents still lived there, although his parents were no longer a part of her life.Her relationship with her father Grism was not very good, but it was not comparable to Handel's relationship with her parents.He hadn't spoken to his parents in twenty years; not since they abandoned him, dumping him in a "biological adaptation and training" program when he was a teenager. The openness of the "biological adaptation and training" program and the sublimation program is completely opposite. The sublimation program has the support of Grism College, while the "biological adaptation and training" program is carried out in the alliance's most secret military research institute, and finally ended in disastrous failure.The people behind the project wanted the "Biological Adaptation and Training" program to be carried out without interference from their families, so they went out of their way to convince parents that biotics were dangerous.They make parents feel ashamed and even afraid of their children, hoping to drive a divide between students and families.As far as Handel was concerned, they did it quite successfully.

Handel walked quickly, with obvious purpose, taking big and fast steps.He ignored the curious eyes cast by the children in the passing room, but frowned tightly, letting himself look at the floor intentionally. Someone here is walking like a soldier now, she thought. "Hi!" Carly exclaimed in surprise, as Handel passed swiftly by, seemingly ignoring her. "Look where you're going!" "Huh?" he said, stopping suddenly and looking back.That's when he noticed her. "Sorry, I was in a hurry." "I'll go with you," she suggested. Handel picked up his pace again, and Carly was another big step behind him.Carly had to trot every few steps to keep up.

"Did you go to see Nick just now?" he asked. "He's angry," Carly replied. "He thinks you're being unfair to him." "He was lucky," said Handel in a low voice. "In my day, he would have taken a blow to the head so hard that his ears would bleed. Now all we have is confinement and preaching. So now these half The big kids are all awesome, and the brats are like punks." "I think they're just teenagers, not biological powers," Carly reminded him with a faint smile.Handel's tone was always tough, but she knew that Handel would never let anything hurt the children at his work.

"Someone needs to toughen up the kids," Handel warns, "or he'll be one of those guys who goes to a bar and picks up other women, then knocks them out with biotics when he starts fighting." "He'll think it's just a big joke ... until someone else in the bar gets pissed off and knocks his head out with a bottle when he's not looking." Carly likes Handel, but this is an example of his sombre outlook on life.Part of what he said was true, of course—there were a few psychics who acted as if they themselves were gifted with invincibility.But their talents are limited, they need time to create a mass effect field, they need to concentrate and concentrate.After an eye-opening display or two of a creature's powers, fatigue sets in quickly, and they'll be debilitated, like everyone else.

Several boxes of documents are cases of biological supernatural beings showing off their superpowers: some people make thousands in casino roulette or craps; some people change the trajectory of the ball flying in the air during a basketball game; Even joking with other people in daily life, pulling the stool from under their ass.The consequences of their actions are often severe.According to the cases that have been investigated, angry bandits will attack and even kill the psychics for these small offenses-when they become ignorant and fearful, they take extreme actions. "That's not going to happen to Nick," she assured him. "He'll learn his lesson. We'll show him eventually."

"Maybe a teacher should hit him with a shocker," he said deadpan. "Don't look at me," Carly smiled, but disagreed.She hurried two more steps to avoid being thrown away. "I never wear a shocker." Shocker - a small electric shock weapon produced by Aldrin's laboratory, which can knock students unconscious - standard equipment for all personnel in the sublimation project, used to prevent a student from doing serious biological damage to project staff or classmates Ability attack.By law, all non-biological staff members are supposed to carry a shocker with them at work, but Carly has publicly objected to this rule.She hates shockers.The shocker has the potential to return all parties to the "biological adaptation and training" program where mutual distrust and great fear are involved.Moreover, in the many years of the implementation of the sublimation project, no staff has ever needed to use the jar.

Hopefully, God forbid, no one will ever use a shocker, she thought.She asked loudly, "Then where are we going in such a hurry?" "Look at Gillian." "Can you wait a minute?" Carly asked. "Jiro is reading her data." Handel raised his eyes, full of doubts. "Aren't you watching?" "He knows what he's doing." For some reason, Handel was never very warm to Jiro.Probably the age difference - Jiro is one of the youngest members of the staff.It could also be a clash of personalities - Jiro is a happy-go-lucky, jovial, extroverted, talkative man, while Handel is, in a word, an ascetic.

"I have nothing against Jiro," he reassured her, though she knew that wasn't quite the case. "But Gillian is different from the other students." "You care too much about her." "It's funny," he replied, "that it was you who said that." Carly ignored the words.She and Handel spent a lot of extra time and energy on Gillian.It's actually not fair to the other students, but Gillian is special.She needs help more than anyone else. "She likes Jiro," Carly explained, "and he's good enough on his own that you don't have to hang around him like an over-indulgent parent."

"It has nothing to do with him reading the data," Handel whispered, "Grayson wants to visit his child again." Callie stopped, clutching her partner's elbow, which caused the big man to stagger and turn to face her. "No," she said firmly. "I don't want her to hear that from you." "I'm in charge of security here," Handel countered. "All visit requests must be approved by me." "Should I seriously consider rejecting his request?" Carly asked in horror, "He's her father! He has the right!" "If I think the visit will threaten the child, I can refuse the parent's request." Handel replied grimly.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" "He's a junkie, for God's sake!" "You can't prove it," Carly warned, "and you can't turn him down on speculation! Unless you want to get fired." "He wants to come the day after tomorrow!" Objected Handel. "I need to see if Gillian agrees. It would be better if he waited a few more weeks to let her get used to it psychologically." "Yeah, that's right," Carly said sarcastically. "It depends on what's best for her. How you personally feel about Grayson has absolutely nothing to do with that." "Gillianne needs the routine, the stability," Handel insisted, "and you know how upset she is if her schedule is disrupted. If he wants to be a part of her life, he can be like everyone else." Like her parents, she visits once a month or two instead of once a year when it is convenient for him and on the way. This kind of uninvited visit is too difficult for her." "She'll take care of it," Carly said, eyes squinting. "I'll tell Gillian her dad is coming. You go back to the office and grant Grayson's request." Handel opened his mouth to say something, but finally closed his mouth wisely. "I'll take care of it," he whispered, and walked in the opposite direction, returning to the executive office side of the building without looking back. Carly watched him go, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself.Gillian was extremely thoughtful, she could read and react to other people's feelings, and the little girl trusted Handel.If he had told Gillian that her father was coming, she would almost certainly have followed him in choosing not to agree to the visitation, taking a Handel-infected counteraction.It's so unfair to Grayson and it's not fair to his daughter. Gillian's room was at the other end of the dormitory building, where there was less noise and less intrusion.Carly walked to the door, she seemed to have put a happy expression on her face.She raised her hand and tapped lightly, but it wasn't the little girl who answered, but Jiro. "come in." The door opened, and Gillian sat down at the table.Thin, with an abrupt build, she was the tallest child in her age group, ten centimeters taller than everyone else.Her thin black hair fell almost to her shoulders, and her large eyes were set wide apart on her oval face.Carly guessed that she looked a lot like her mother, since she had little real resemblance to Grayson except for her slender figure. Gillian was twelve, the same age as Nick.In fact, almost half of the children in the Ascension program come from roughly the same age group.Thirteen years ago, three major industrial accidents occurred, each of which occurred in a different human colony, with a total difference of four months.The circumstances under which this occurred were suspicious, but investigations have shown that the incidents are not connected.Of course, that hasn't quelled speculation from hypernet conspiracy theorists, who refuse to believe it was just a chain of oversights and coincidences. The third accident was the most devastating, with initial reports calling it the worst toxics disaster in human history.A fully loaded Adfil-Ashland transport ship exploded in the atmosphere, killing all crew members, and the deadly element zero was clouded over the entire Yandoa colony, thousands of gestating children are affected. While the vast majority suffer no long-term harmful effects, hundreds of pregnancies have manifested in distinct syndromes, ranging from cancer to organ damage, birth defects, and even spontaneous miscarriages.However, there were some children who had nothing to do with the tragic statistics. After diagnosis, thirty-seven children were not only completely healthy, but also possessed obvious biological potential to varying degrees.They are both at Grism College now. Gillian watched the assignment on the screen with the nervousness of being interrupted.Sometimes she would sit like this for hours without moving.Then, if some impenetrable switch in her mind flicked, she would explode with a fit of agitation and type the answer on the computer so quickly that sometimes her fingers looked blurred.Her answers, without exception, are always 100% correct. "Is it all done here?" Carly asked, to the assistant sitting in the corner of the room busy with the equipment. "Just finished." Jiro replied with a smile. Jiro was only twenty-five, handsome and well-proportioned.His build was a good mix of American and Asian ancestry, and his hair was dyed dark red in a spiky mess, as if he'd just gotten out of bed.Jiro always has a relaxed and confident charm, and his mischievous smile makes him popular among younger children. A corner of her consciousness scolded herself for the love between siblings with a huge age gap.She desperately wanted to forget that. "Gillian did a great job today," Jiro said again, turning his head and smiling at the little girl. "Right, Gillian?" "I think so," the little girl muttered, without taking her eyes off the screen. Gillian has her good days and her bad days, but she talks to Carly, which hints that today is a good day. "I have some exciting news," she said, walking over to stand beside Jiro. With any other young child, Carly would sit at the edge of the table or put her hand on their shoulder to reassure them.But with Gillian, sometimes even the slightest touch of fingertips to skin can cause her to overreact, as if burning her with pokers.At other times, all her senses seemed to be annihilated, as if the nerve endings were completely dead.This makes the daily reading work very difficult.Fortunately, Gillian seems to respond well to Jiro, who always seems to get the data without making Gillian uncomfortable. "Your father is coming to see you. He'll be here in two days." She waited for Gillian's response, and was relieved to see a small smile on the corner of the little girl's mouth.Jiro also noticed the slight change in Gillian's mood and reacted quickly. "I bet he can't wait to see you again," he said, exasperated in his tone. The little girl turned her head to them, but now she looked sullen. "I can wear what he gives me," she said, her voice distant and ethereal. The last time Grayson came to visit his daughter had given her a dress, almost nine months ago.Carly wondered if the dress would still fit, but she wouldn't ask that question, it would spoil the atmosphere. "I bet he'd rather see you in your school uniform," Jiro said without missing a beat on the side drum. "Show him how hard you work on your lessons." Gillian frowned, and put on her school uniform sullenly.She got dressed, her brows parted, and her smile returned. "He likes to talk about school." "That's because he's proud of your cleverness," Jiro added. "I need to get my homework done," Gillian says suddenly, and now she's suddenly thinking about her studies and making her homework a priority.Her mind was locked on the idea of ​​studying all of a sudden, and she ignored everything else.She turned back to the computer screen and stared fixedly at the screen. Carly and Jiro were already very familiar with her unusual behavior, so they didn't bother her anymore, and they didn't even say goodbye when they left. "How about we get alone for a while?" Jiro whispered as they walked into the hall together, wrapping his hands around Carly's waist. "Don't be like this where the kids can see," she scolded, jokingly pushing him away, and he flinched, but didn't let go. "We can go back into Gillian's room," he suggested, pulling Carly closer. "She won't even know we're there." "This isn't fun!" gasped Carly, and nudged him again. Jiro let go of his hand, yelled exaggeratedly, bent over, and pretended to be panting.Carly gave him a blank look and continued to walk forward. "Careful, soldier," he said, standing up and trotting after her. "You can't beat innocent civilians like that." "You are not an innocent civilian like this," she said, "and, now I am a civilian too." "You can make a girl stop being a soldier, but you can't make yourself a soldier," he replied with a laugh. It was a harmless joke, Jiro always joked about her military experience.But it reminded her of Nick comparing her to Handel. "Jillian seems to be doing well today," she said, eager to change the subject. Jiro shrugged, his expression showing that he was serious. "She still doesn't socialize with the other kids. And she's a lot behind the rest of the class." Carly knew he was referring to biological powers, not studies.Even among so many talented boys and girls in the promotion plan, Gillian is extraordinary.At just one year old, she was diagnosed with a mild form of autism, which nearly led the board of trustees to deny her admission, which they graciously accepted, in part because of Grayson's generous donation of a large A lot of money, in part because Gillian demonstrated greater biotic potential than any other child... or, in the short recorded history of human biotics, anyone else. It is widely accepted science that biotic potential is established in early infancy and that abilities are fixed and stable at a constant level.The goal of programs such as Project Ascension is to teach biotics how to fully utilize their gifts and develop their inner abilities to their full potential.In Gillian's case, routine testing at school revealed that her biological powers had followed an irregular but undeniable upward curve—unheard of before. The difference between Gillian's biological powers and the rest of the class was large at first, and now it's even greater.Despite this advantage, Gillian has a lot of trouble translating biological abilities into visible effects.Due to her unique cognitive processes, she had struggled to grasp the art of focusing so that her body's amplifiers could be in tune with the electrical impulses of her brain.In short, she doesn't yet know how to use her abilities, and none of the teachers seem to know how to teach her. "Maybe the board was right in the first place," Carrie sighed. "It was too difficult for her." "Meeting her father might help," Jiro suggested, though he didn't hold out much hope.After a while, he said again: "Handel knew that Grayson was coming, what was his reaction?" "As you'd expect," she said, "he's trying to figure out how to deny Grayson's request." "Let me guess," Jiro said with a smile again, "You are a senior official, so you should force him to agree." "Stop talking about the army." She said wearily. "I'm sorry," he said apologetically, the smile disappearing immediately.But after a while, he was smiling again. "Hey, why don't you leave work early tonight?" he suggested. "I can check in for you. You come to my room, you can stay there comfortably, relax, and then I can come to you when I'm done." "This is the best idea I've heard today." She also smiled meaningfully, taking out the multimeter in her hand. She glanced around to make sure they were the only two of them in the hallway, then planted a quick kiss on his lips. "Don't make me wait all night."