Nickey's Story

Nickey’s Story

By

Tricia Welsh


         In the brightly lit room, two figures stood at the ready stances.  One was a short Chinese man; the other was a slightly taller female. Both were wearing combat gi. They circled each other and started to do a sparing fight.  Above them another figure watched the two fighters.  This figure was a woman in a wheelchair.  As she watched the two fighters her thoughts wandered.  She thought of the first time that she had seen her friend fight that well. 

It was a dark bar.  Many people were here for the live that band this particular bar had. 
         “Isn’t this a good band,” asked one patron.
         “Yeah,” said another.  The first patron was a sandy blonde, blue green eyes wearing a dress that was black and was wearing black shoes.  The second was brown haired green eyes and was wearing a dress that was blue and was wearing black shoes.
         “Hey Nickey,” called someone in the dark.  Nickey looked through the smoke and saw some of her friends.  She walked over to them.
         “Hi guys. What are you doing here? I thought that you were grounded for sneaking out on a school night,” she said.
         “Yeah, well we didn’t think that you would be here. We thought that you would be studying for that exam that we have on Monday,” said one of her friends,  ”Is Cassie here?”  That friend went by the name of Alex.  Alex was a freshman in college and was always getting into trouble with her parents.
         “Yeah, Cassie’s here.”  Nickey pointed to where Cassie was standing.  Nickey and her friends went back to the place that Nickey had come from.  The band had just finished their set.  And the five friends turned around and ordered from the bar then the friends went to a booth. The next song had started to play, and a bunch of people had stared to go out on to the dance floor to dance.  Nickey’s hairs on the back of her neck stared to stand up on end.
         “Hey, did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched,” asked Nickey.
         “No,” said Cora, another of Nickey’s friends, “you watch too many Bugs Bunny cartoons.”  The five friends went back to their drinks.  Nickey could not shake the feeling that she was being watched from somewhere inside the bar.  She turned around again and saw what looked like to her three of the same person. They were wearing a white button down shirt and brown pants and brown shoes.  One of them had a strange looking device and it was pointed at her.
         “Get down,” shouted Nickey. The three other friends dove under the table and Cassie dove in another direction as a blast of green energy came out of the end of the weapon.  Nickey moved too and saw that the three people were moving unnaturally fast for humans.  Nickey was unsure of what she should do. Then she heard a scream. Nickey looked around and saw that one of the triplets was picking up her best friend Cassandra.  Cassie was trying to struggle out of the man’s arms. Nickey tried to move but it seemed that she was stuck to the spot. Nickey then screamed as the other two of the triplets started to move toward her.  All of a sudden a front kick went to the first man and a back kick went to the second and both were knocked back from her. Someone else picked up Nickey.  This man was tall and had black hair. The guy that had kicked the two turned around and she saw that this man had blue eyes and that he was wearing blue jeans and a Star Trek shirt. He had on tennis shoes.
         “Come with me and I will try to protect you,” said this person.  Nickey was too scared to ask who this person was. The two men who originally came for Nickey stared forward and her protector wheeled around on them. He was in a natural stance and then the first man punched. Nickey’s protector dodged this and came back with a back fist to the head. Nickey definitely heard a crack.  The first attacker staggered back as the second attacker came forward.  This attacker came up and did a front kick to her protector. This kick struck and Nickey and her protector backed up into a booth.  Her protector did a lunge punch to the guy who had attacked him and that guy dodged the punch just in time to see that he was getting a round house kick to the shoulder and that man was out.  As Nickey and her protector were leaving the club by the back door, Nickey saw the triplets were dragging Cassandra towards a van. Nickey looked at the man that had protected her in the bar and saw that he was playing around with his watch.  A bright light enlovoped the two and Nickey then found herself in a white room.  Nickey reeled and she fainted on to the floor.  When Nickey came to, she found herself in a room. This room had a bed on which she was laying on, a sink, two doors, a chest of drawers, and a lamp. The first thing that Nickey did was check to see if she was tied down. She wasn’t. Nickey got up and started for one of the two doors, and she found herself a bathroom. Nickey heard a noise coming from the room behind her.  Nickey turned around and saw that two people had walked in. One was a woman with black hair and was wearing a blue dress. The other was the man with black hair and wearing a brown suit. 
         “Who are you and what am I doing here,” Nickey asked.
         “I’m Alice. I am the head of the Promethean Rescue and Training Unit, and you are here because there is a need for you,” said the woman.  Nickey was unsure of what Alice had said to her.
         “Ok. Where am I?”
         “You are on the Planet Prometheus about 100 light years away from your planet earth.”
         “I’m what?!?  What do you mean?”  Nickey was surprised and confused.
Alice came and sat down on the bed.
         “Calm down,” said Alice.
         “How did I get here?”
         “You got here by way of,” Alice paused, “for the lack of a better term, you were beamed.”
         “I was what? Like in Star Trek, is that what you are saying?”
         “Not exactly like that but very close.”
The door opened again, Nickey turned around and there stood a young lady wearing a white lap coat and nice shoes.
         “Miss Alice? We are ready,” the lady said.
         “Thank you. Please come with me,” Alice said to Nickey.
         “Why,” asked Nickey.
         “Because we have something to show you,” said Alice.  She motioned Nickey to walk in front of her.  Nickey looked at Alice and then walked out of the room. The four of them walked down a hallway up to a door.  The young lady opened the door and Nickey and her companions walked through.  They walked into a room lined with what looked like television sets on one wall of the huge room.  In the center of the room there was what looked like a huge desk with buttons, levers, and what looked like a keyboard.
         “What is this,” asked Nickey.
         “This is one of our many Observation Rooms,” said Alice, “in this room the Watcher monitors the agent that gets sent into the field. That person is also responsible for giving the Agent information on the time period and the events that is going on at that time.” Nickey nodded, looking in wonderment at the electrical equipment.          Then Alice showed her the rest of the building. 
         Alice, Nickey, and the man walk in to what looked like to Nickey an office.  Alice sat down in a chair at a desk in one corner of the office. Nickey sat across from her and the man sat in a chair by another door in the room.
         “So Nickey,” Said Alice, “what do you think?”
         “What do I think,” Asked Nickey, “First I think that you guys are nuts.  I mean you want me to believe that I am 100 light years away form Earth and that I was beamed here.”  A soft chuckle came from the man.
         “I told you she wouldn’t believe us,” Said the man.  Alice Turned and looked at him.
         “Yes, well…I do believe that you were the same way when we first brought you here,” Alice said, “Tom you very much like her.”  The man chuckled again.
         “You know what,” said Tom, “I think she needs to know just exactly where and when she is.”  Alice turned to Nickey.
“Yes, you would like to know wouldn’t you,” asked Alice to Nickey. Nickey nodded.
“Well to begin with you are in the future by about 150 years. The human race is all but been wiped out.  We are on the Planet Prometheus,” Alice said.
“What has happened to the humans,” asked Nickey.
         “Well,” and here Alice shifted in her seat, “There is a race of beings called the Olympians. They were the ones to wipe out the earth and all of its inhabitants.  You see they wanted to wipe all of humanity on the planet. We couldn’t allow it. We went to war over this one planet.  But there was too few of us we were losing the war.  We decided that there had to be a reason why they wanted the planet destroyed.  We found out what that was, on your planet there are people that would become us in future.  We had to do something to save at least some of them.  So we started this branch of our society to save and train the Prometheans that we find so that they can go back and find more. Our numbers were small but with the help we have the numbers have been rising, but it’s still not enough.  We still need help.” 
         “And how do you think I am going to do that?”
         “Well I thought I might ask you first.  We do not force anybody into doing something that we don’t want to do.”  Nickey nodded, that did sound reasonable.  Nickey also wondered about everything else that she was told.
         “Ok I listened to you and I think that you are nuts,” Said Nickey rising from her seat.  Nickey moved to leave.
         “Ok we can’t force you into this but wouldn’t you like to know what happened to your friend?”  Nickey turned around.
“What do you mean? Where is my friend Cassie?” Nickey was by now getting a little mad at Alice.
         “Hold on,” said Alice, “She is safe for the moment we believe. She is in one of the Olympians Fortresses.”
         “I have got to go save her,” said Nickey going to the door.  Tom stepped in front of Nickey.
         “No you are not going to save her you do not have the proper training.”  said Tom.
"What do you mean I don't have the proper training?"  said Nickey.
         "I mean that you wouldn’t be able to protect yourself much less your friend Cassie," said Tom. 
         "So what do you suggest?"
         "Well, you could go through the training.  Or you could try to fight me."  Nickey started to Lunge at Tom.  Tom simply moved to one side.  Nickey ran into the wall.
         "When you are done seeing stars, would you like to try that again," asked Tom.
         "No, I wouldn't like that," said Nickey.  Nickey got up and looked at Tom.  She walked over to the chair and sat down.  Alice looked at Nickey.
         "Do you see how important we think that the training is," asked Alice.
         "Yes," sighed Nickey, "what do you need me to do?"
         "We need you to trust us.  And don't worry we have trained more Prometheans than anyone here."  Nickey smiled.  Alice got up from the chair and walked to the door.  Nickey and Tom followed her out of the room.  Nickey followed Alice down the hall and went into a room that had some equipment in the room. 
         “Here is where you begin your training. Good Luck,” Said Alice.  Nickey weakly smiled and got to work.
Meanwhile Cassie was being dragged to somewhere by her hair.  She couldn’t see who was doing the dragging but it hurt.
         “Ow,” Cassie screamed, “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?”
What ever it was continued to drag Cassie.  It looked to Cassie that she was in a Long hallway with doors every so often.  The thing turned she felt that she was being pulled into a room.  She was Forcefully Thrust into a chair and strapped down. 
         “WHO ARE YOU,” Boomed a voice.
         “Um, my name is Cassandra Knight,” Cassie managed to squeak out.
         “WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO NICKEY THOMPSON?”
         “I am her friend.”
         “SO YOU ARE HER FRIEND,” Boomed the voice, “EXCELLENT! YOU WILL LURE HER HERE THEN WE CAN CAPTURE HER TOO!”
         “What? I won’t let you do that,” said Cassie said bravely.  The booming voice laughed.
         “AS IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER! NOW MY MINIONS,” here the voice paused, “THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE PUNISHED FOR SUCH BRAVATY!”  Cassie screamed as she saw the Thing that had been dragging her.  It was a hideous 10-foot tall monster with red eyes and it had a fiendish smile as it came closer to her. Cassie fainted.  The next thing Cassie knew she was in pain.  Cassie managed to look down and see that her legs were in an unnatural position.  She struggled to stand and found that she could not. Cassie howled in pain.  The booming voice laughed an evil laugh.
         “AWAKE ARE WE,” asked the voice.
         “What have you done to me?” asked Cassie.
         “I HAVE MADE SURE THAT YOUR FRIEND WILL COME FOR YOU. DON’T WORRY. SOON SHE WILL BE WITH YOU IN LIFE AND THEN IN DEATH.”  Cassie screamed at the voice. The voice merely laughed again.  Cassie moaned quietly and thought about her friend.
         Nickey was, at that moment, training to rescue her friend.  Man, Nickey thought, I have never been pushed like I have.  Nickey had been doing what she felt like army type stuff.  Her trainers would get her up at dawn and she wouldn’t go to bed until way after dark.  Nickey had never been so tired.  But as the days passed Nickey started to get the hang of what the trainers were trying to teach her.  Nickey amazed herself with the knowledge of martial arts. They performed many tests on Nickey and she passed them all with flying colors.  Then came the time to go and get her first assignment from Alice.  Nickey walked to Alice’s office.
         “Hello Alice,” said Nickey.  Alice turned and smiled at Nickey.
         “Hello Nickey,” said Alice, “I know that the last tests have been preformed and that you have passed them in a very short amount of time.  I am surpised,” said Alice.  Nickey smiled and nodded.
         “Well, I heard some where that you were researching on how to find your friend,” Alice started, “