The Hidden Outpost

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

Outside the window, the sky was grey and bleak. It was hard to tell whether it was due to the smoke that she could smell hanging in the air, or if the sky was overcast - like in the books she had read.

As Junipher peered through the dirty window pane, she also suspected it was partly due to the dirty window. Gross, she thought. I can’t imagine having this view whenever I wanted and having it blocked by grime, even if the world is clearly crumbling.

She heard a noise out in the hallway, and ducked under a desk. She wasn’t sure that they were actually looking for her yet, but she didn’t need to be caught before she even had a chance to get the hell out of there. After a few minutes, she peeked around the side of the desk, and didn’t see anyone. She slowly moved from underneath the desk, and when she was sure there was no one to see her, she started searching the Admiral’s desk.

There had to be a key for this collar somewhere. They put it on, it has to come off somehow, and surely security and medical weren’t the only ones who were able to take them off prisoners. She’d never say anyone in the forces were smart, but they were definitely detail oriented, and clearly had contingency plans for everything. There was a key in his desk somewhere. She felt the back of the last drawer, and found a little button. Gotcha, she thought, as she pressed it.

There was a muffled clunking sound underneath the desk, and when she looked, a little door had popped open. She looked closer, and inside the space the door had hidden was a key. Whether or not it was the right key was another story.

It was amazing how this simple collar kept them all in line. The doors to the compound were only locked so that no one could come in with authorization, but none of the “residents” - that’s what they called prisoners like her - could get outside as long as they had on their collar. She’d never risked even getting close to a door where she might feel the effects of the collar, but from what she’d heard, it wasn’t pretty. Not just a physical shock, but in some way it hit you psychically as well.

All of the residents had psychic abilities, as far as she could tell. And for whatever reason, the Admiral and the rest of the forces had found it necessary to tear the entire world to bits trying to catch and enslave every psychically-abled person they could find. It seemed odd, considering that they weren’t even having the residents do anything in particular. The world was already destroyed, and so far, no resident had the ability to fix the destruction - so what was the point of it all?

She grabbed the key from the cubby hole, and blinked as she looked at it in her hand. There’s no way that it’s actually going to be this easy to get out of here. She walked over to the door, and checked to see if anyone was coming. Nothing. As she eased the door shut, she looked around, trying to see if there was a way she could get outside without having to try to find another exit. She was on the second floor, and while she was confident that she would be fine if she jumped out a window, the risk made her hesitate.

As she searched the Admiral’s office, she didn’t see anything that would help her get out, so she decided to risk jumping. At any rate, time was definitely running out, and she needed to get out of there before someone rang the alarm. She put the key in the lock on her collar, and turned it.

That’s when the alarm went off. Damnit, I should have known! She looked around hurriedly trying to find a way to break the window, and decided to use the Admiral’s chair. She picked it up and swung, smiling a little at the sound of the breaking glass. She used a book from the desk to clear all the glass from the bottom of the window, climbed onto the ledge, and jumped.

When she hit the ground, she managed to mostly tuck and roll, and lessened the impact of her fall. She looked around to see if there was anyone running to stop her, but there was no one. Absolutely no one. Literally no sign of human life anywhere that she could see - how was that possible? There were always people coming and going from the compound… or were they?

She got up and dusted herself off. Now what? I was expecting more of a send off… chasing, something. What if everyone in the compound lives somewhere else in the compound, and now I’m out and completely on my own? At the very least, it would be better than the abuse that she had gone through for the last several years.

She walked over to a truck that was parked next to the building. The keys were in the center console. Suddenly, she heard noise from behind her. She looked back, and there was now light on in the window of the Admiral’s office. She jumped in the truck and hid. There was the Admiral now, looking out the window, and screaming for someone on his staff to call security. When he pulled back in the window, she took her chance.

She hopped in the driver’s seat and started the truck. Thank goodness for EVs, she thought as she silently pulled the truck away from the building. By the time she reached the road, there were other vehicle’s headlights on around the compound, and the searchlights were searching the surrounding area. She drove the truck into the forest - they’d find her in no time if she stayed on the road - but at least she had a head start. She parked the truck, then got out and ran.

She ran for as long as she could, only stopping for a break when she could no longer see any lights behind her. It was dusk now, and she had the advantage. Part of her psychic ability allowed her to see better in the dark. It’s not that she had night vision; somehow her clairvoyance simply gave her a better ability to see in the dark. It was at least good enough that she would be able to find places to hide that they’d never even consider, at least not in the dark.

She had seen mountains somewhere past the trees when she had taken that first look out of his window, but she couldn’t guess how far they were. Of course, having run for a while after nightfall, she couldn't even be sure that she was heading in the right direction to get to the mountains at the moment.

She scanned the area around her looking for something that would do for a hiding place so that she could get some rest. Suddenly, she felt the uneasy feeling of being watched, and slowly turned to look behind her. There amongst the bare trees was a small figure, waving her to follow. Why would someone be out here? How… she thought as she looked around nervously. There’s no way the Force would send a child after me. Or would they?

As she weighed her options, she heard a loud bang from the direction that she was pretty sure that of the compound, so she shrugged and followed the figure. The figure stopped when it reached a large boulder, and she was finally able to get a closer look at whoever it was that was helping her. They were definitely a child, and one not much older than 8 years by the look of it.

The child waved her closer, and then touched the rock which glowed with a door shaped outline when it did so. The child mumbled some words she could not understand, and then the door slid to the side, and she could see stairs going down a passage lit with candles. As they began to follow the stairway down to wherever she was being led, she heard the door they had entered slide shut. I guess I’m all in on this decision. They walked down the stairs for what felt like an hour, though it was probably much less than that. She was getting tired, and at this point it was definitely getting late.

She thought about how the residents had always been forced to “lights out” rather early back at the compound, though she didn’t understand why. They were permitted to sleep as late as they wished. The situation at the compound was weird; they were prisoners, and yet they had never been pushed into forced labor. Most of them held jobs on the compound, some were writers and artists, and yet none of them were allowed to leave. For the most part, all of the psychic folk at the compound were kind, gentle people, and unless threatened, you’d never even suspect they’d hurt a fly.

As her child-guide led her from the bottom of the stairs down a hallway, she wondered how much longer they would be walking. She was grateful to be out of the elements, but was ready for food, some sleep, and a bath, if at all possible. She saw a brighter light coming from one side of the hallway ahead, and hoped that is where they were headed. As they got closer, she could see to the far side of the room, and could make out that it was some sort of communal area. The child led her in through the entryway when they reached it, and she was surrounded by a warm, comforting aura.

“Welcome, sister,” a voice said, and as she looked toward where the voice had come from she saw an older woman dressed in robes and holding a walking stick. “We have been waiting for you a long time.”

“Me?” she said. “You’ve been waiting for me for a long time? But… I’ve been locked in the compound for nearly my whole life, how…?”

“You’re tired and hungry. Please, come eat and rest. I assure you that you are safe here, and that no harm will come to you while you are here.” The woman waved and the child ran off. “Serske will bring you some food. Let me show you to your room.”

The woman led her back out to the hallway. After a moment, the woman spoke. “We built this tunnel system and underground city long before the war,” she said. “Mostly it was intended to be a place of study and security for Psychics like you and I. We really never thought something like this would happen - maybe we should have known better - but for centuries we all lived together cooperatively. All things must come to an end, I suppose.

Fortunately it was never discussed much and has largely been a secret from anyone outside our kind. Now, we’ve turned it into a safe haven for anyone who has managed to escape the eye of that Admiral and his cronies.” The word ‘admiral’ came out with no little amount of spite behind it - not that Junipher could blame her. “You’re the first to escape from the compound that we know of and having you here will be a great help to our cause. Should you choose to stay and join us, that is. My name is Amalia. I am one of 13 Guardians that lead here in Mossfang Outpost.”

“Hello Amalia, my name is Junipher, though maybe you already knew that,” Juniper said. “I’m surprised that my mother never told me of the Outpost before the Force took her, but then again, maybe she was hoping that would protect me from them.”

“Yes, your mother was one of our greatest allies before her supposed disappearance. This is why we have been waiting for you, and why no one is surprised that it was you who managed to escape.” Amalia stopped in front of a closed door, and gestured toward it. “This is where you can stay. Your food should be here shortly, and I would prefer to allow you time to rest and settle before we get too deep into things, but I also don’t want to leave you any more scared and confused than you already are. I understand getting your questions answered is important, and so I shall let you make that decision.”

Junipher thought about it for a moment before replying. She felt safe, and was honestly quite tired and hungry. “I think I will get some rest. I would like to learn more about what is going on here, but I sense that a meal and some sleep isn’t going to hinder any progress on plans I might be able to help with, so it can wait until tomorrow.”

Amalia smiled. “You are quite right. Our plans are slowly unfolding, and I will happily share more with you when you have the energy to listen and make a decision about what part you want to play.” She opened the door to the room. “Ah, your food is here already, and looks like Serkse has brought you some clothes to change into should you also desire a shower before you rest.”

“Thank you,” Junipher said as she gently closed the room to the door behind her. She walked to the tiny table where a sandwich, an apple, and some water awaited her. Thoughts swirled through her mind as she sat down.

Somehow I’m not surprised that Mom was involved in this, but at the same time how could I have ever ended up trapped in the compound if she was? She did disappear, but… was it not really a disappearance? Had she somehow done something that made the Forces kidnap her?

Junipher stopped herself. There was no point in going too deep down a “what if” rabbit hole right now, as hard as it may be. In the morning she could speak with Amalia again, and hopefully get some answers. At least she was away from the compound, and somewhere more comfortable. She felt bad that she hadn’t been able to get anyone else out with her, but maybe the folks at the Outpost would be able to help.

She cleaned up the table from her meal, showered, and got into bed. Despite the thoughts that were determined to stay in her mind, she fell asleep quickly.

When Junipher woke, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She sat up and looked around her for the first time, taking in the surroundings. She had been too tired last night to pay much attention to the details of the room.

It was clearly carved into rock, and yet was warm and inviting. The furniture was all of rough construction from beautiful wood. She definitely felt like she was somewhere she could stay for a while, but that would of course depend on the discussion with Amalia today.

She dressed and left her room and headed back to the common area she had met Amalia in last night. Sure enough, she was there. Junipher walked over to her and sat down, and Amalia smiled at her.

“Did you sleep well?” Amalia asked. Junipher nodded, and Amalia continued. “I’d like to fill you in on some things, but first I want you to know that some of the information I am about to share with you may be uncomfortable. Please feel free to stop me at any time if you need.”

“I understand,” Junipher said, and thanked Serkse for the porridge she had brought her.

Amalia nodded, then sat thinking for a moment. Junipher felt a pit growing in her stomach, but couldn’t quite put a finger on why. What is she about to tell me? Is it so bad that she can’t decide where to start?

“Junipher, as you clearly know, you are part of the Psychic race. The story of your family goes back to the Early Age, and is the beginning of our people. We have history books here in the Outpost that will go into the deeper details, but for now I want you to understand that your bloodline is important to our people.

What’s important for you to understand now is that when your mother found out she was pregnant with you, she ran. She wanted to keep you hidden, because she knew that the war was coming. She knew the destruction that was about to take place. She knew, because she was married to the man who started it all. Junipher, the Admiral is your father.”

Junipher almost choked on her porridge. She swallowed, then stared at Amalia. But how… why would he do that to me?

“How is that possible, Amaila? How could someone do that to his own child?” she asked. Amaila shook her head slowly.

“Sadly, Junipher, there is a lot that I cannot answer. What we do know is that your mother escaped that marriage to save you, and to try to save the rest of the world. You are one of few Psychic hybrid children that actually have power, and before you were even born your mother knew that you would be a target.

Unfortunately, as you are aware, when you were very young you were discovered and taken to the compound. After your mother disappeared, fear rose in our people and for many years, the war raged outside while we remained hidden here in the Outpost. The last few years however, our people have become more restless and have desired to retake the world we lost.

Now that you are here, we have an even greater chance of success. If you want to join us, we can get the answers you are looking for. Maybe we can even figure out what happened to your mother. I also understand that you may not wish to take this on. You lived your entire life in the compound, and if taking on your father and the others that held you there is the furthest thing from your mind, I will respect that.”

Junipher sat in silence, stunned. Powerful family? The Admiral, my father?

Junipher looked at Amalia. “I can’t even begin to understand what’s happening right now, but I need to be part of this. If only to get my friends out of the compound, I need to help.”

Amalia smiled. “I had a feeling that you might say that. Finish your breakfast, and then we can get you access to the rest of the Outpost. You can learn all you want and train for what is to come. I’m excited to have you on board.”

Junipher smiled and ate more of her porridge. I don’t know what I just got myself into, but it feels right. I don’t remember what the world was like before what exists out there right now, but I want to help, and I’m all in.