round 4 Patri Jia Kom - Left

[Kali Nicholotti]

((Breeman Residence - Earth))

::Patri was gone. Jan sat at the edge of the young woman's bed and
wondered. Why had she been out so late like that the other night? Why had
she said Kevin would be alright with such odd certainty?::

::The clock had just struck seven AM and Alvin was already outside, pacing
the deck wondering what to do next. Had she run away? She hadn't seemed
terribly angry with her. Why would she break the law like that when she'd
been proving herself now to be such an upstanding citizen?::

((Dreamscape - Patri's Mind))

::She's outside the house again, the dark figure looming in the distance
down the straight snowy path. The moon overhead looks at her surprised to
see her out like this. As she approaches the man and finds only a long
tree trunk where she'd previously met Kevin the other night she shivers.
Beneath her feet the snow crunches softly as she walks through the
otherwise silent night.::

::Looking down she lets her mind drift through the sparkling stars in the
snow as the ice crystals pick up the moonlight. If she moves her head or
her body just right some of the stars come on and others turn off. Swaying
slowly to let one particular star switch on and off she barely notices the
mountains forming in her patch of milky white space on the ground. Soon
they have mountain tops that shine brilliantly. And then shadows, as the
light shines on her. She looks up. There's a doorway standing in front of
her.::

::Blinking she wonders if she's ended up in front of someone's house.
Suddenly self conscious she prepares her best explanation. I'm sorry sir,
I was just out for a midnight stroll. I didn't mean to walk onto your
property.::

::No one's there. It's just a door in the snow, in front of a pair of
trees. She steps forward.::

((Breeman Residence - Earth))

Alvin: Did you hear anything last night?

Jan: No...

::She sighed.::

Alvin: She was doing so well. And now this!??

Jan: You don't know that she ran away.

Alvin: What else could this be?

::She looked at him, trying to calm him down. Should she tell him about
the incident the other night? Should she tell him she was starting to see
aspects of Kevin in her?::

Alvin: What? What is it?

Jan: ::Quietly:: I saw her outside the other night night.

((Dreamscape - Patri's Mind))

::Patri recognizes Jan speaking softly with Alvin in her room. In Kevin's
room. The whole thing seems so real. She runs a finger along the spine of
a book and she lets it gently slide and then fall over on his bookshelf.
Jan's upset. Alvin's angry. Disappointed. Did she read that on his face
right?::

::She walks a little closer to the point her nose is almost between the
husband and wife as they speak.::

Alvin: So you think she left last night?

::Sighing, Jan says,::

Jan: I don't know. I wasn't sure how to tell you about this but... Well
there it is.

::Patri blinks, lays a hand down on Jan's shoulder.::

Jan: I wish she'd stop tugging at me like that.

::Her voice is muffled, strange.::

Alvin: It's never fair when she does that.

::She pats her hand atop Alvin's head, as the room fades from view into the
darkness that's always been there.::

Alvin: Come on..... ::The voice fades.::

((Breeman Residence - Earth))

Alvin: So you think she left last night?

Jan: I don't know. I didn't think it was if she went for the occasional
walk. Kevin did it and I got used to it.

::Sighing, Alvin said,::

Alvin: Then we're just going to have to call the police. I'm sorry, but
she's technically violating the terms of her release.

::Jan nodded and said,::

Jan: I know..

::Behind them the room was silent, save for the sound of something small
slipping on one of Kevin's old bookshelves.::

((Patri's Perspective))

::She's sitting in a wing chair now, her head resting on the cushions. How
long was she asleep? In front of her is another chair, along with a sofa.
Standing she approaches the door. Turning the handle she steps out into a
street made of shining brass. Beneath her feet several clear papers drift
by, carried by wind from the sun that hangs directly above.

The door behind her closes and a building that casts no shadow stands above
her, two lonely windows separated by a gulf of decaying wall peering dimly
out into the city street.::

::She turns to her left and gasps. There's no horizon. The street rolls
up toward her. She turns to run to escape it only to be confronted with
the very same landscape that threatens to envelop her on the other side.
Nothing is flat. She's perpetually falling forward. No. She's standing
straight up while the ground rushes to catch her but never succeeds.::

Patri: What the hell?

::She looks down at her feet picks up a sheet of clear paper and tries to
read the writing that flickers on and off. The gentle breeze tosses her
long brown hair that catches the light of the sun in the center of her
sphere.::

Patri Jia Kom
Former Computer Hacker

As simmed by

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Breeman
Chief Engineer
Starbase 118