Project Aries

As Jasmine directed the car around yet another tight corner, Fern kept her gaze on the drop to her left. Extending for what appeared to be an eternity was Lake Wakatipu, one of the few places in New Zealand that had barely been touched by the effects of global warming and habitat destruction. Its deep blue water was enclosed by spectacular mountains that were barren rocks on one side of the lake and covered with greenery and small waterfalls on the other. Though the air had a typically warm feel to it for the end of spring, the snow capped mountains provided it with a dry alpine chill, a freshness that Fern was not used to. The window was down and the air was sweeping her locks away from her face as she took in the stunning view, enjoying the moment of downtime before the mission details inevitably came in.

Just as Fern had predicted, there were three folders awaiting them in their room at the lodge. Though Jasmine immediately went to her blue folder to ensure that the particulars were correct, Fern lifted the cream folder and sat on the edge of the nearest bed. Its wooden frame, which matched the brown theme of the room and the wooden outside of the building, dug into the backs of her knees but she hardly noticed as she swept her eyes across the page that outlined their next mission. She only reached the second sentence before she paused and her mouth fell open.

“Skydiving? Are you serious?” she exclaimed as a number in the following sentence caught her eye. “Fifteen thousand feet? No way! Not a chance in hell!” Jasmine tossed her folder onto the desk and lifted the cream file from Fern’s hands to read the information herself.

“Oh, ripper! Skydiving is so much fun, and I bet Queenstown is going to be a great place to do it too,” she murmured to herself as she read that she was indeed going to be free falling again.

“You’ve done it before?” Fern asked with a gaping mouth, in awe.

“Yeah, a couple of times.”

“When? Why? Was it for Project Aries or just because you wanted to?” she interrogated Jasmine who gave her a stern glare to stop.

“It was all for missions, and my favourite place was Switzerland. There were lakes and the Alps… Absolutely gorgeous aside from the few moments of screaming as someone plummeted to their death,” she shrugged, keeping her focus on the folder.

“Someone fell to their death?” Fern repeated but Jasmine didn’t acknowledge her. “That was your doing, I take it? The reason why you were there in the first place, to make an unfortunate death happen?”

“Of course it was. And that’s what you’ll be doing this time around,” she replied before turning the file around and tapping a lower paragraph that Fern hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. Fern took the cream folder back and quickly read the section Jasmine had highlighted.

“I don’t think I can do this… Walking alongside a volcano as part of a tour group and then giving someone a push is one thing, but pretending to be a skydiving instructor and unclipping my partner is another,” Fern stuttered as the file clearly stated that she was to be the one to kill the target. Jasmine was to ride with the target’s friend and keep them alive while Fern and her client had a supposed malfunction of equipment.

“Do you still not believe in your ability to do crazy stunts like this, even though you’ve never done it before?” Jasmine wondered and Fern shook her head.

“No, I think I’ve finally grasped that,” she admitted before gulping. “I think I’ve had some damn good proof that the technology works by now… But I know I’m not a good actor. I’m a friendly genuine person, not someone who keeps a charade going and misleads people! And I mean that too! There’s a reason why I have a lot of friends and why they all trust me!” Fern hesitated as she realised that she should possibly refer to her friends as past friends as she had no idea what they thought she was doing right now or if she would ever return and see them again.

“And that’s probably why Iris gave you the messy task,” Jasmine commented. “And I think she’s still testing you, making sure your chip is functioning properly, that you are able to act appropriately- that you’re checking all the boxes and are on your way to becoming a perfect agent for Project Aries.” She gave a fake grin and a short chuckle broke through Fern’s worry.

“Right… Because being an undercover agent is what I wanted to do with my life…” she mumbled to herself before running her hands across her face. “I wish I was you. I wish I could handle everything so well and not think twice about what I have to do. I feel like the mental trauma from anxiety and stress is far more likely to kill me than an insane antic on a mission.”

“You know what, you’re probably right,” Jasmine agreed with a brief nod but she failed to lighten the mood. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of time, okay? You’re still adjusting, albeit very well if you ask me, and no doubt once Iris declares you capable of handling everything thrown at you, it’ll stop being so hard.”

“Why? Do you stop killing people after the first month?” Fern asked with a snort of disgust.

“No. But you meet other agents. We do group missions and it suddenly becomes unlikely that you will end up doing the actual task,” Jasmine described and Fern nodded.

“So you just go along for the ride and enjoy the scenery?” she clarified.

“In a way. You might even become someone’s mentor.”

“Like you are for me?” Fern said and the corners of Jasmine’s lips curled upwards ever so slightly. “Well, at least I wouldn’t be so cold or mean. I’d blow the new operative away with my charm and good sense of humour.” Fern had straightened her back as she teased Jasmine and was surprised to see her turn her back and walk away. She slouched as her spirits lowered and then a pillow crashed into her side. Fern twisted to see Jasmine smirking at the headend of the bed, her arms crossed and her stance as strong as ever. But she was giving in to Fern’s affability and they were both enjoying her defensive wall breaking down.

Jasmine waited by the window, staring through the privacy curtain as a sleek car pulled up outside the hanger. The pair were in one of the office areas in the hanger that the skydiving company used to give informative talks to customers before they embarked on the journey, and as temporary yet official employees of the business, Jasmine and Fern were allowed to use the space to talk to their clients Gus McCoy and Niall Reid. The young Americans were the sons of two Blues, making them rich, famous and cocky. While Gus was following in his father’s footsteps and devoting a great deal of his time and publicity to aiding the survival of large cat species, Niall was spending his money on unfavourable hobbies. The childhood friends were practically inseparable, and Gus’ parents were tired of watching their son be dragged down by Niall’s interests. They had found Project Aries to be a suiting way to rid themselves of the thorn in their side, and had readily agreed to the boys’ holiday in New Zealand once they had been informed that there were available operatives in the country. It sickened Fern to read the history and comprehend that Gus’ parents were prepared to go to such lengths to stop their young son from enjoying his life, even if some of the things he was doing were clearly mistakes, but she had repeatedly reminded herself that it wasn’t her place to step in and decide what was right and what was wrong. Iris had analysed the situation and decided Niall’s fate. Although she wasn’t completely comfortable with the situation, Fern had her orders.

“That’s definitely them,” Jasmine muttered as she watched the two men leap out of their car and bounce towards the door, already rowdy with anticipation.

“You sure I’m not going to screw this up?” Fern repeated and Jasmine shook her head.

“You’ll be fine,” she insisted and then the door burst open. Jasmine’s blank exterior was immediately replaced by a bright smile and a more relaxed posture as she extended her hand towards the men. “Hi! Welcome to your skydiving adventure! I’m Jasmine!” Fern managed a weak smile at how fake Jasmine’s enthusiasm was, though the young men apparently didn’t notice. Niall glanced down at her chest before taking her hand and shaking it.

“Niall, nice to meet you,” he beamed before Gus joined his side and swept his arm across to shake Jasmine’s.

“Gus. I didn’t realise hot chicks were into skydiving,” he remarked, having noticed Fern’s presence too.

“It’s good to meet you boys, I’m Fern,” she replied, ignoring the comment like Jasmine was. They strode across the cramped room and shook her hand too, reintroducing themselves with wide smiles and confident auras. “If you’ll take a seat we’ll just go over the necessary information as quickly as possible so we can get you up in the air.”

“Great. We said when we booked that we don’t want to be bored to death by safety procedures and all that crap. We trust you guys, you’ve done this a bunch of times before and know what to do, right?” Niall interrupted as he slouched into one of the plastic fold-up chairs and gave Fern a wink. She forced a smile on her face as a response, but she feared that it would reveal how uncomfortable she was, so she quickly started repeating the skydiving safety information that had been in the mission file. As she spoke, Fern became more self-assured and she began to relax into her new persona. Jasmine had forced her to take charge of the situation, insisting that it was necessary for her to prove that she could handle scenarios that involved speaking to the client, and now she was leaning against the wall with the corners of her lips curling up at how well Fern was performing.

“Right, any questions?” Fern concluded and the boys glanced at each other before shrugging.

“Na. Let’s get started,” Gus replied and Jasmine brought over their gear.

“Get changed into this and we’ll meet you back here once we’re in our diving attire too,” she instructed as she dumped a package into each of their laps.

“Aw come on, how about we all change in here?” Niall suggested, giving a wink to Jasmine. Fern noticed the flash of horror pass through Jasmine’s eyes and gently bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing at her mentor’s misfortune.

“Policy rules,” she curtly replied before turning and walking the fastest Fern had seen her move to the exit. Fern trailed behind and they entered the bathroom to slip into their skydiving jumpsuits. They fastened their helmets and propped their protective goggles atop them, stashing their gloves under their belt to put on once they were in the air. Though Fern’s hands were shaky with nerves from falling from such a height, with Jasmine’s help and her microchip providing a sense of familiarity, she was soon physically prepared to skydive and mentally ready to face the annoying young men again. Keeping to themselves as much as possible, they directed the boys to the airplane and after a few mentions of emergency exits and how to be positioned when jumping out the door, they boarded the plane and took off the runway.

“Niall, you’ll be with me,” Fern said once the pilot flicked on the light to indicate they were at the correct altitude. She stood and crossed over to him, but he remained seated.

“Can’t I fly with Jasmine on my back?” he asked but she shook her head.

“Gus and Jasmine are the lightest, so they have to be paired together,” she answered and Niall accepted the excuse. He stood and gave her his back, allowing Fern to strap his harness to her own. The harness he wore had been modified by someone from Project Aries, making it appear just like the one Gus was wearing but its clips were fragile and an electronic device inside Fern’s glove would trigger them to snap and release Niall from her. It had read as a simple task in the cream folder, requiring barely any effort on Fern’s part aside from mustering up the guts to skydive and then press a button during her fall, but now that she was moments away from jumping out of a plane it appeared far more daunting.

“Are you ready?” Jasmine called out and Fern shifted her and Niall around.

“I think so! Double-check this strap for me?” she replied and Jasmine shuffled over with Gus, only to loosen the strap a little.

“Shouldn’t it be tight?” Niall questioned with a touch of panic in his voice.

“And pinch you? Nah, she’ll be right. You won’t fall out,” Jasmine reassured him before walking over to the door. “Is everyone ready for the time of your life?”

“Hell yeah!” Gus shouted as Niall hooted like a frat boy at his birthday party. Jasmine signalled to the pilot who electronically opened the door and kept the plane steady. Fern watched as the pair got into position and then dropped out of the plane. She then quickly shifted herself and Niall to the edge and he glanced up at her.

“You look terrified!” he shouted over the wind as Fern took in the humungous drop below them.

“Every time I do this it’s so exciting, like it’s the first time all over again,” she replied and they sat in the free fall position. Fern then inhaled deeply and pushed herself over the edge before she could think too much about it. As Niall shouted with pure excitement, Fern concentrated on getting into the placid mindset needed to access the data on the microchip implanted in her brain so she could essentially save her life. Once the operative Fern had kicked in, she glanced at the altitude meter strapped to her wrist. The numbers were decreasing incredibly fast and she didn’t have much longer to go before she would have to pull her parachute. Her heart thudded in her chest as she pressed her fingers into her palm, pushing the button and releasing the clips that held Niall to her. She then wriggled, loosening what little grip they had left on Niall, but then he realised that one of the straps had slipped off him.

“Hey! Something’s wrong!” he yelled as he tried to grab at the missing strap. Fern ignored his pleas for help as she squirmed a little more and a gap formed between them. “What’s going on? Help! Hold onto me!” Fern closed her eyes and tugged at the cord that released her parachute, abruptly stopping her free fall and sending Niall speeding to the ground. His arms flailed as he shot past Jasmine and Gus, failing to clasp onto them. As Fern directed herself closer to the other two she heard Gus weeping and decided to keep her distance. Once she was far away enough to not hear his distress, Fern forced herself to not think about what she had just done and she focused on enjoying the stunning landscape that surrounded her. The air was amazingly pure, the sun was warm, and the adrenaline rushing around her body heightened her senses and made her appreciate the beauty even more. She landed with ease a decent distance from Jasmine who was hurriedly slipping out of her parachute and harness, leaving Gus a crumbling mess on the grass.

“What the hell happened?” Jasmine shouted with pure rage as she left Gus’ side and approached Fern who was busy fiddling with her parachute’s straps with trembling hands. Jasmine’s harsh expression broke once she neared Fern and she lowered her voice. “All went to plan?”

“It did,” Fern nodded as she glanced over Jasmine’s shoulder at Gus. “What now? Do we just take him back to the hanger?”

“Yeah, and we call the cops,” Jasmine answered and Fern’s eyes enlarged with fear.

“Do we talk to them?”

“We give them a statement about how the equipment was faulty and that you tried to save him, and then we’ll head out of town so we don’t get caught up in the legal actions,” Jasmine explained and Fern peeled her goggles off.

“But the skydiving company takes the flack for our mission?” she asked for clarification.

“No doubt Iris has paid them so much that they don’t give a crap about the bad press and decrease in business,” Jasmine shrugged. “Can you handle talking to the police? I mean, surely you can lie to them after giving a lecture on safety when skydiving.”

“So I just keep on pretending that I’ve been skydiving professionally for years and that the equipment broke during the fall?” Fern asked, the thought of speaking to authorities about the incident making her nervous.

“You’ll be fine,” Jasmine said with a nod.

On the road back to Wellington, Fern and Jasmine were staying at a cheap motel for the rest of their day, instructed by a call from Iris that demanded they pause their journey for a while. Fern was on edge from the urgency she had noticed in Iris’ tone, but Jasmine repeatedly rolled her eyes and told her to not worry. She was lying on the dusty floral couch as Jasmine pinned her hair up in the mirror when a knock sounded from the door. The two exchanged a glance.

“What do we do? Could there be someone out to harm us?” Fern whispered with panic, a part of her surprised that they had gone unbothered for so long.

“If that’s the case, then find your defence martial arts on the chip and use them!” Jasmine hissed back before crossing the room and opening the door. She visibly relaxed and stood aside, gesturing for the person to enter. A slender woman stepped inside the room, her black hair cropped closely to her skull. Eyeliner accentuated her stunning large eyes and a bronze lipstick added volume to her already large lips. With a petite nose, high cheekbones, and flawless cocoa skin, Fern was temporarily dazed by her beauty.

“Hello, Jasmine,” she said in a velvety voice, her smile and tone relaxing to Fern. “And you must be Fern.” She had met eyes with Fern so she stood, looking to Jasmine for answers but she was busy closing the door.

“I am. Are you another operative too?” she guessed but the woman chuckled and shook her head.

“No. I am your assigned doctor, Abeba,” she explained with a touch of an accent and Fern noted the briefcase she carried. “I need to check you both over and then give you vaccinations. You must have them a week before you board the plane.” Fern looked over at Jasmine with wide eyes, already tingling with anticipation of leaving the country.

“We’re going overseas?” Fern asked and Jasmine shrugged.

“Guess so. Haven’t heard anything about it from Iris yet,” she said with lack of interest before turning to Abeba. “Who would you like first?”

“I will check you first, if that’s okay? I will need to spend more time with Fern since it is her first check-up,” Abeba replied and Jasmine nodded before turning to Fern.

“Turn the TV on; we might be a while,” Jasmine advised before the pair disappeared into the bedroom. Fern sighed and slunk back into the couch, flicking the TV on but failing to find anything interesting to watch which only made the time pass slower. Eventually Jasmine emerged from the bedroom while rubbing her her left bicep. “Crikey, that vaccine hurts…” She had muttered it seemingly to herself but Fern had definitely been in earshot so she gave Jasmine a glare.

“I hate getting shots,” she informed her as she rose, tossing the remote to Jasmine.

“Good luck, then,” Jasmine said and then she collapsed into the couch to relax. Fern entered the bedroom and closed the door, seeing that Abeba was seated on the edge of one of the single beds and that on the other was an impression from where Jasmine had been sitting. Her briefcase was open, revealing a touchscreen tablet and an array of gadgets, many of which Fern had seen previously during visits to doctors.

“Please take a seat, Fern,” Abeba offered with a graceful gesture towards the spot on the bed opposite her. Fern did as she was told and clasped her hands together in her lap, uncertain of what to expect. “I was hoping we could chat to each other before we get started. I feel as though it helps if my patient knows me to some extent, and I them. Would that be okay?”

“I guess so,” Fern shrugged, having expected to delve straight into a medical exam.

“Great. Well as I’ve already mentioned, my name is Abeba and I am a doctor. Though my contract and commitment to Project Aries forbids me from telling you too much, I can say that I grew up in Africa and that I have two little brothers, one who has become an engineer and the other is a website developer. I joined Project Aries after I graduated and I have been travelling the world with operatives like you for just over five years now,” Abeba said, such a kind smile on her face the whole time.

“That’s quite a while,” Fern remarked, a touch surprised as she could hardly see any signs of ageing on her face.

“It’s enjoyable,” Abeba smiled. “And what about you? Keep in mind that I’m not allowed to know your real name or anything I could use to find you.” Fern shrugged, uncertain of what to say.

“There isn’t much to me so far, really. I’m an only child, of Maori descent from right here in New Zealand, and I was pulled out of my normal life the day before I was going to start my dream job to be a secret agent for a year,” she said with a grin at how ridiculous it sounded despite it being the truth.

“And how are you dealing with it so far? How long have you been active for now? Almost a month, is it?”

“Uh yeah, I guess so… Time flies,” Fern replied with a wince. She had been so focused on preparing herself for missions that she had hardly noticed how much time she had spent travelling the country with Jasmine.

“And you have been handling it well?” Abeba repeated when Fern failed to answer.

“I don’t really know… How do operatives of Project Aries typically handle their new lives?” she asked, hoping to find out whether or not becoming cold and distant like Jasmine was considered normal.

“There is a large range of appropriate responses that we have seen,” Abeba responded, skilfully avoiding giving a proper answer as Fern shuffled a hand through her wavy brown hair. “I hope you can be open with me so we can tackle any difficulties you may have during your time as an agent, either mental or physical.” Her caring eyes and genuine tone roped Fern in and she smiled, believing Abeba was only here to help her.

“Okay, I can do that,” she nodded and Abeba lifted the tablet from her suitcase, tapping its screen a few times to bring up a questionnaire.

“I would like to run through a few mental health questions first, if that’s okay with you? If I know you are in the right state of mind, then I can rest assured that you will be fine for the rest of the year.”

“Go ahead,” Fern agreed before she was bombarded with a variety of questions designed to assess how mentally stable she was. She flew through the depression section without any hiccups, but realised by the way she was responding to the anxiety questions that she was struggling to control her worries. Fern was pleased to say no to all of the questions that asked about hearing voices or seeing things that Jasmine couldn’t, and was glad to see Abeba chuckle when she asked about how her appetite was and Fern replied with how she couldn’t wait to eat a fast-food burger for dinner.

“How about distancing yourself from your reality? Have you found yourself to be doing that at all?” Abeba wondered as she scrolled down on her tablet.

“That’s sort of how I’ve been dealing with killing people… I tell myself that it’s Fern who does that, not- well, I can’t say my real name, right? But it’s not that girl who does it. And once this is all over, Fern is going to disappear and I’m going to go back to having a normal life,” Fern explained and her forehead creased. “Is that bad? Should I be trying to accept it as a part of me or something?” Abeba hesitated, considering how to respond.

“I think that as long as you continue to see the differences between the two and recognise the switch and can control that switch, then you should be okay. But if that line ever starts to get hazy, then you definitely need to speak with me about it. Do you understand?” she replied and Fern nodded. “Everyone has their own coping method, and a few do share your way of looking at things. But it has the potential to become dangerous.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” Fern agreed as Abeba set aside the tablet.

“It appears as though you are mentally healthy, so I will move on to your physical well-being now. I will generally check you over, making sure your body’s systems are all functioning well, and then end with a quick scan of your brain to see the microchip and we will test it to ensure it is working properly,” she described as she pulled out a small peg-like object from her case, latching it onto the end of Fern’s index finger. It beeped in time with her pulse and Abeba recorded the data the device was giving her. She proceeded to listen to Fern’s heart and lungs, question her about her waterworks, bowels and periods, ask about any injuries, pain or sickness, then took a blood sample that she said would be used to check if her hormones were balanced. Come the end, Fern had a lot of faith in Abeba and was at ease when she lifted an unfamiliar gadget from her briefcase that reminded Fern of an alien laser gun from a sci-fi movie.

“Will it hurt?” Fern questioned just to make sure.

“No. It will only provide me with an image of your brain and the microchip’s location. Once I have that we will run through a few short simulation tests to see how it is performing,” Abeba explained as she pressed a button and the device hummed into life. “If you could just hold still…” She pointed the scanner to the top of Fern’s head and slowly moved it around as she watched the image on her tablet.

“Where is the chip, exactly?” Fern wondered when Abeba held the instrument still.

“It sits in your frontal lobe, as that section of your brain is responsible for things such as movement and problem solving. I’m sure you have already realised how important those things are during your missions, so that is where the chip has been placed to most efficiently give you the data your brain needs,” Abeba explained, tapping away on her tablet. “It is near your parietal lobe, the one further back from the frontal lobe, to help with the perception of stimuli and other movements. Believe me when I say that a lot of research went into this, and that the process has been mastered.”

“I’d believe that…” Fern muttered, though she felt uncertain about what experiments would have happened to know exactly where the microchip should go.

“Now we will run through some simulations. I would like you to close your eyes and pretend that you are needing to use logic to decipher a code in a high-security building,” Abeba instructed and Fern obeyed, placing herself in a James Bond movie and pretending that it was real. It was surprisingly easy for her, which she reasoned was due to her performing such incredible things as of late. “Very good. And now imagine yourself in hand to hand combat with an enemy.” Fern continued to run through the situations in her mind until Abeba removed the scanner from her head.

“So is everything normal?” she asked before blushing a little at how ‘normal’ wasn’t exactly the right word to describe her anymore.

“It is. You see this area of blue lighting up?” Abeba said as she turned the tablet to show Fern the screen. “This was during the combat scenario. Those sections of your brain turning blue is the correct response. And it was like that for everything, so your microchip should not let you down.” Fern breathed a sigh of relief, a flash of brutal images crossing her mind of consequences for the microchip failing to provide her with the necessary information during a mission.

“Thanks, Abeba. Is that everything?”

“The last thing I need to do is give you this vaccination,” she answered as she set up the vaccination gun. Fern offered her left arm and Abeba pressed the trigger, sending microscopic spikes forwards to puncture Fern’s skin and deliver the vaccine. The action itself did not hurt, a huge reason why the device had been developed and distributed to doctors across the world for their younger patients, but the vaccine itself stung in Fern’s muscle so she naturally rubbed it to try to sooth the pain.

“Jasmine was right,” she muttered under her breath.

“It won’t hurt for long. And besides, I would much rather make your arm ache for a few minutes than have you catch the tropical version of the CSVP-2 virus,” Abeba countered as she packed her things away.

“I’m going somewhere tropical?” Fern asked with alive eyes, forgetting about the sting in her arm as she was flooded by anticipation.

“And I have said too much,” Abeba said with a laugh before standing. “I will leave and send a report to Iris, and I believe that she will provide you with your airplane tickets once she declares you and Jasmine fit to proceed.” She headed for the door, Fern following, and Jasmine gave a tiny smile as they walked into the lounge.

“All finished?” she asked and Abeba nodded.

“I will see you both in approximately a month’s time. Enjoy your travels,” she wished them with a smile before leaving the motel room.

“Healthy?” Jasmine asked as Fern plonked next to her on the couch, glad to see that now a hilarious sitcom was airing.

“Yeah. You?” she replied but Jasmine didn’t answer.