"We are going to have to move faster," Mephis murmured, moving closer, "less talk, less perfection, we shall push our way through if we must."
"Look at that hole we left behind us, there's no way they're going to see how we left immediately, we've got a bit of time, at least." Daita waved back at the wall they'd just left through. They were right, there was a small line of black but it wasn't super noticeable. They would be looking for something more obvious.
Mephis pointed at his blindfold.
"Oh yeah, right, sorry."
"Why are you wearing that, anyway?" Gaius asked, pulling back to look at Mephis better. "The blindfold I mean."
"I find it comfortable," Mephis shrugged. "Others seem to as well. It can disturb people to look upon me."
Gaius found that unlikely. He may not have had a lot of people to look at in a while and he didn't find any of the scientists here attractive but Mephis was exquisite to look upon. His skin was a deep dark brown and his hair was all tight curls close to the scalp. He had a handsome flat nose and round pink lips that looked like they were made for smiling. Gaius very much wanted to see him smile, real joyous grins.
"I doubt that," Gaius breathed, his attraction apparent in his voice.
That got a quirk to his lips. Mephis had dimples. "You haven't seen."
"Less flirting!" Daita called out, "More going!"
They pushed the hole through the wall and crawled through it and Gaius led Mephis through it again. This room was identical to the last and so were their motions through it. There were no windows to the halls so no one knew where they were and there were a few emergency lights to let them see what they were doing, about half the bulbs per each of the flourescent panels lit up. To Gaius that was practically dark and he had to squint regardless; he'd been looking up at a ceiling with one at full power just to the right for too long and the lights only ever turned off when they burned out.
They moved through the wall to the next and this room did have windows. They had to move to the floor and crawl beneath it but there were also quite a few obstacles to keep them hidden away. It was a board room, most likely, with a massive table and plastic chairs around it. On the wall opposite the windows there was an active board, a cross between a projector and a white board, but it was dead now and there were smudges on it from where people had forgotten and used a real marker on it.
They stayed as much beneath the table as they could as Daita carved another hole for them. The yelling was getting louder, there was more of a panic. They were ghosts, or so they thought. Daita was quite exposed where they were working, even though they were low to the floor. There was a shout that was different from the others, more victorious, and Daita flinched as they worked.
"That sounds as if we have been spotted," Mephis said.
Gaius pulled up, back against back with a chair and rolled his head back to see the window. There was one of the scientists, one of the clones, pointing at them from where they were hiding, talking with quite a bit of gesturing to security.
"Shit, they've got guns," Gaius whispered as he slid into place. "And I'm sure more of security is coming too."
"Are we close to getting through the wall?"
"Not close enough!" Daita growled.
"Then we're going to have to fight our way out," Mephis sighed.
"We can't!" Daita argued, "They have guns and numbers and they know this area. There's three of us, one of us can't stand up, one of us is blind, one of us is having a panic attack, and none of us are armed!"
Mephis twirled the screwdriver in his fingers.
Daita rose an eyebrow, "Is that supposed to be intimidating? I'm not even impressed by that."
There was a rustling at the door, a key card going through a slot and then some cursing. So the doors did lock without power. That was a problem. It was a future problem though, the current problem was that there was cursing and the jingling of keys. Someone in security had to have a secondary way to access the rooms and they just happened to have her right there on the other side of the door.
"You two get under the table, I'll take care of this," Mephis motioned in the general direction of the table as he moved towards the door.
"That's just one and, like I said, gun!" Daita reached up and grabbed Mephis by the arm, slowing him down. "There's going to be a lot more."
"Then keep cutting through the wall. I can at least give you some time."
Mephis would die. That wasn't in the plan. There was a lot going on that was outside of the plan but that was the one thing that Gaius couldn't work around. "No." He shook his head. "I'm going to try something. Get me over there?"
"What?" Daita was staring.
Mephis was reaching down though, helping him up. The key pulled out. They didn't have time. Mephis pulled him up and got him over to the door as it started to open, slow, so slow, careful.
"Let go of me," Gaius ordered through his uncertainty and Mephis did, letting him lean against the wall.
The security guard had a gun. He could be shot just for reaching out. He didn't care. He had to do this, had to try.
Gaius looked around the room. There were shelving units, all cheaply built and set up around the room, nailed to the floor, with labeled boxes on them. He couldn't red that far though, everything more than six feet away was blurry. He could have sworn he'd always had 20/20 vision before. The boxes could be heavy enough, depending on the contents. There were filing cabinets too though, lining the walls, and they looked much heavier yet were still movable.
"Storage, I think?" Gaius explained. "There are some filing cabinets, you can grab those."
The scientist slammed against the panel behind him that it felt like getting bunched in the spine and he cried out, biting down on it to stay silent. Mephis was moving around the room, hands out, looking for where Gaius meant.
"Storage? That's no good, we were meant to pause two rooms before, meet with a contact."
"You didn't say that!" Gaius complained, "More to your right. Yeah, just go straight."
Mephis took his directions and grabbed the filing cabinet. It was heavy, too heavy, for him to lift but he could drag it with a terrible shriek as the metal scratched into the linoleum. For a moment it drowned out the thundering of Gaius' heart and the approaching footsteps. Gaius had to get out of the way and he practically rolled himself on the ground, not trusting himself to get up to his feet.
"I would say that we could rest here but I believe they will soon be upon us."
"No shit!" Gaius growled. He grabbed onto the nearest shelf and hoisted himself up. "You don't have any more plans huh? Follow the pests, that's what you said? What does that even mean?"
"Rats in the walls. Where there are people there are rats and rats can go where they please, regardless of the desires of man. But now there are men in the vents and you are not strong enough to continue there."
"I'm not strong enough for anything."
Mephis put a hand on his shoulder and it was heavy, it made him feel like he was going to fall, crash to the floor, but it was grounding at the same time, welcome. There was heat to Mephis' hands and Gaius hadn't realized that he had been cold for so long, that his entire stint in the facility he'd had, not enough of anything. No one had touched him either, aside from poking him with tools and checking his vitals. His skin felt flush and hot.
"You are strong enough to make it this far."
Gaius held onto Mephis in response, a hand on the hand that held his shoulder. He smiled up at the blindfolded stranger, who he still didn't know if he could trust, but it didn't matter. If he was wrong in trusting Mephis he would die and that was still better than going back.
"Yeah, I guess I am."
The loudest set of foot steps stopped and the door swung open. Gaius' eyes went wide and he hated to hide behind Mephis but he did all the same as Mephis turned, a bit slow, screwdriver in hand.
"Hey hey," said the scientist. He was white and boring and had black hair brushed back from his face. "Uh ice cream sandwich on a Tuesday."
Gaius stared at him, looking around Mephis' side. He couldn't have heard that right.
"Daita!" Mephis' voice was pleased, oddly enough, and he lowered his arms, the screwdriver resting at his side. "You found us!"
Daita, stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Yeah, it's not hard. You do know we're all supposed to wear these headset things, right? Walkie talkie's been going constantly. They know where you are and they're coming. Why didn't you meet me in Exam Room C, like we planned?"
"Plans evolved," Mephis stated.
Gaius couldn't believe this. Mephis was chatting with one of the scientists as if they were friends. "What are you doing? You can't possibly trust him, he's one of them!"
Mephis put a hand out, steadying. "They, for one, not he. And they're with us, not with the facility."
"What is that?" Daita tilted their head, also looking around Mephis, over at Gaius. "You didn't. Tell me you didn't!"
"I did."
"You can't just do that! We came in here with a plan! You can't change the plan!"
"I did what I had to do."
"You had to ruin the power supply! You were supposed to kill the batteries!"
He looked at Daita again, twisting in Mephis' hold. He hated how safe he felt, how he knew he wasn't going to fall. He didn't want to fall but he knew now that he wasn't a pat of the plan, he was making things actively worse for his ward, and Daita would probably try to talk Mephis into leaving him behind if it was convenient. Daita did look like the other scientists, exactly like the other scientists, and that was why he was having such a hard time trusting them.
There were so many that Gaius had just assumed were the same scientist, that, when he saw two that were identical at once, he just thought that it was a side effect of the drugs that they kept him pumped full of. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't think of the last time they'd had to drug him. He didn't fight them anymore, just stayed as quiet as he could while they worked. He was unable to fight them off so they didn't need to keep him sedated. It was only when he was one on one with them that he'd begged for some small mercy, but that had never gotten anywhere.
There was the sound of tearing and a rumbling pounding from the door and the vent, people trying to break in behind them. The tearing though came from the circle that Daita had carved into the wall and the solid chunk of drywall and wood came free, the edges blackened and cauterized.
"This way, this way," Daita motioned and Mephis started over.
The hole was definitely big enough for Mephis' shoulders and he was the largest of them, but Gaius couldn't get through if he was being held as he was. He patted Mephis on the arm and got him to set him down, swaying and then clinging to his arm. It must have been beneficial for Mephis too, since Gaius could direct him easier this way.
Daita went through first and they shot Gaius a disapproving glance that Gaius had seen far too many times on the faces of the other scientists they shared a likeness with. He tired to ignore it as he followed them through, turning to pull Mephis through behind him. It was hardly a pull as his arms didn't have any muscles in them anymore, but Mephis barely scraped his shoulder against the wall in the process.
"What is the plan, anyway?" Gaius asked.
Daita took the circle of burned out wall and put it back in place. "You're looking at it. Kill the power, stay quiet, get out through the walls so they don't know where we are."
"That thing can get us through the external wall?"
Daita shook their head as they got up and moved to the other side of the room. The room was similar to the one that Gaius had spent the last however long in, though the long chair that reclined into a table didn't have any straps attached to it and there were a lot less machines around. It must have been an examination room or, possibly, somewhere for the more mundane experiments to be carried out.
"It prolly could but it would take way too long. We're going to get as close to the entrance as we can and then try for the actual door." They moved to the far wall as they spoke and shoved their protractor in again.
"So what, we just hope they didn't lock them?"
"I've got a keycard," Daita explained as they burned through the wall, "I did what I said I was going to do, unlike some people. I got a keycard since it looks like I work here. I'm under cover."
Gaius swayed and reached out, grabbing onto Mephis so he didn't completely fall over. He knew that it was pointless because it would only be a minute or two, but he wished that he was being carried again. He was tired of feeling like he was going to fall and he was tired in general. "Will a keycard even work? You knocked out the power, wouldn't that include the card reader?"
Daita looked at Mephis at that, eyes wide and mouth in a straight, disappointed line. Mephis looked at the ground, or really, he looked at nothing at all but the inside of his blindfold.
"Mephis?"
"I did not consider that," Mephis admitted.
"We had a plan." There was a warble to Daita's voice and their eyebrows were starting to knot, an anger that would be perfectly acceptable trying to be kept under wraps. "Why wasn't that part of the plan?"
"No one in our group has spent much time in here and there is a chance that the power going out would unlock all of the doors. They wouldn't want to trap themselves within their own walls, would they?"
"They would," Gaius corrected, "If it would keep their test subjects from escaping, they'd rather have the doors shut down. It would be a breech of security."
Daita started their one hand clapping again, with both hands, bringing them up to their ears, eyes squeezed shut as they started to rock on their feet. "You can't just say that. We had a plan! We should just give up, I can't think like this!"
Give up? That would lead to death for them and a lot of trouble for him and Mephis. He'd never had so much hope before now.
"We'll try it regardless," Mephis decided. "It would be foolish for them to have no access to emergency reserves, there's the possibility of a secondary power source that runs the klaxons and emergency lights. It could power the door as well."
"Speaking of klaxons, I am hating this racket," Daita groaned. "But fine, we'll try. I can't even think right now so just keep me moving through the motions and I'll do what I can."
They turned back to the wall and started to push, to run the vibrating point through the drywall again. There was a loud slam and the walls around them shuddered, followed by some shouts. The noise was coming from behind them though, their hunters finally breaking the door down to get into the room they had just left.
"You have never noticed how alike so many members of staff here are?" Mephis asked, "Estos had himself cloned in order to keep his work in order after his death. More than half of the scientists here are his clones, the A class. There are, of course, variables and those that are not quite in his likeness and intellect work in positions of lower privilege. The C class is under that working in labor, collecting samples, mining, kidnapping, and being test subjects. D class is even beneath that and are destroyed upon being found. Daita is one of two D Class clones that have escaped."
Table of Contents:
Daita Birth Chart
Inner Planets/Luminaries: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars
Inner Combinations: Sun + Moon, Mercury + Venus + Mars.
Outer Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto
DAITA BIRTH CHART
Inner Planets/Luminaries
Since the Sun + Moon are not planets, they are referred to as the luminaries.
These placements are also collectively referred to as personal placements, as they deal more with specific personal aspects, and the outer planets deal more with large group things.
Sun: Ego - Base Personality - Overarching Identity - Building Block for All Else
Sun in Gemini: They’re interested in many things and topics, there’s so much to discuss in the world so if they can’t latch their attention onto something quickly, they’ll just move on. Knowledge is a collective endeavor always fluctuating with new information, experiences, and input from others. Gemini Sun learns best through simply saying things and gaining new information from the responses of others. This has gained the negative stereotype of inconsistency, while in reality Gemini’s thoughts are just constantly shifting to accommodate new information. Because their brain cells are constantly bouncing around from idea to idea, they can end up second-guessing their choices or actions. It’s important for Gemini Suns to have a few core, set beliefs and thought processes as an anchor so they don’t get lost in their heads.
Witty and mischievous, Gemini Suns have a quick tongue and often enjoy banter or word games. They have lightning quick comebacks and are masters of adding side remarks to conversations. Depending on the person, these can be funny or rude - sometimes people interpret them as rude when they don’t mean to be so. Mostly, they’re just trying to have fun and don’t think too much about what is being said - once it’s out of their mouth it’s out of mind as well. Put your Gemini friends into freestyle rap battles and take home the prize every time.
Moon: Emotions - How We Process & Emotions and Information - How We React To Others’ Words, Actions, and Expressions - Our Sense of Stability/Security
Moon in Taurus: Ruled by Venus and represented by the Bull, Taurus is stead-fast, grounded, and very attached to the physical. When it comes to Taurus Moon, there’s a sense of personal stability and security within physical comforts - many are collectors for example. Emotional associations are heavily tied to specific objects, such as a gift from a loved one becomes more about that person and the situation in which it was gifted than the object itself. Due to this ability to apply emotional intelligence to tangible objects, Taurus Moon makes excellent gift givers!
Taurus’ stead-fast nature gives them heartfelt conviction in their decisions. Once their mind is made up, it is nearly impossible to convince them of anything else. Some can be down-right stubborn. Taurus Moon is unlikely to completely change their mind but the more flexible Taurus Moon will find compromise in being able to approach a situation from a different perspective as long as their core belief of that situation or idea stays in tact.
Taurus Moon is positively developed by ensuring they have a steady and secure homebase in which to store and organize their most important belongings. Also social relationships that allow for compromise and middle-ground conversations.
Taurus Moon is negatively developed by disregarding the value they place on others and on the things important to them. Also social relationships that demand they change their mindsets to fit others with no room given for their personal core values and beliefs.
Mercury: Communication - Gaining Knowledge - Thought Processes - Written/Verbal Expression of Ideas
Mercury in Gemini: Ruled by Mercury and represented by the twins - Gemini is right at home in the planet of communication and information. The mind is constantly in search of stimulation - these people are likely to have a variety of interests and may seem to jump around from topic to topic at random. They can see connections between topics that may not be as apparent to others, so when they jump from A to C they assume everyone knows how they got there and therefore don’t need to mention step B, while most others can get tied up and confused as B isn’t apparent to them and they have no idea what just happened. It’s important for Gemini Mercury to understand that not everyone will be able to keep up with this pace, and yes, you do need to spell it out more for people than you think.
Mercury Gemini is a curious resource - if you bring up a topic they will have many thoughts about it regardless of how much knowledge they actually have, and will eagerly pursue further knowledge of the topic with you. However, if the pursuit of further information turns slow, stale, or just boring, they will simply move on to the next topic.
Venus in Gemini: Ruled by Mercury and represented by the twins, Gemini prizes communication and energetic movement. With interpersonal relationships, this means being drawn to people who can have interesting conversations and are knowledgeable on a variety of topics. People who can’t hold a conversation or have shallow interests will bore Gemini Venus and they’ll quickly move on to more interesting people. When it comes to romantic relationships, good looks only go so far, as they need the intellectual stimulation to keep the mood going.
These people are known to be social butterflies, keeping a large social circle with a variety of people from different walks of life. They can’t stand only being surrounded by one type of person, they value and need people with different backgrounds, thoughts, and world-views to keep them intrigued.
Gemini is flexible, adaptable, and curious. They’re always looking for the next new, exciting thing to keep their curious minds busy. In Venus, this means lots of relationships, varied friend groups, lots of different jobs or many changes within one job, and a variety of hobbies.
Mars: Action - Physicality - Assertiveness
Mars in Aquarius: Aquarius is the rebel of the Zodiac, and in the planet of action this presents a keen instinct to go against the norm. When a lot of people are doing something one way, Aquarius Mars asks “what other possibilities are being ignored or hidden?” - this need to explore alternative actions can be misread as thoughtless rebellion, but Aquarius also rules humanitarian action, and Aquarius Mars often acts more for what they think will be useful changes for society at large than acting out for personal interests.
Aquarius Mars has a duality where they pride themselves in being reliable for others, but they don’t like to be predictable. While they can keep and maintain a regular schedule, if it becomes too routine they have a need to change things up, keep others on their toes anticipating what their next steps will be. It’s not unusual for Aquarius Mars to do something completely unexpected for no other reason than to see everyone’s reactions. Reminding people not to get used to things always being one way. Aquarius Mars gains great satisfaction if they can get people to accept sudden, radical change.
Inner combinations
These are the major combinations, though all placements relate to each other.
If you would like an analysis on any combination not covered here, please let me know.
Gemini Sun + Taurus Moon: This combination shows a grounded and level-headed approach to daily life. Gathering information is a strong suit - this is the type of person to know everyone’s business whether they’re intentionally collecting this information or just passively picking it up. There’s a strong ability to use gained information to organize people and events around them. This makes for good team leadership - delegating tasks and structuring group events.
Being detail oriented with a strong sense of personal style and tastes, he has a very clear idea of how he likes things to be and is very straight-forward with those expectations.
Gemini Mercury + Gemini Venus + Aquarius Mars: Building mental rapport with others is a top priority with this combination. There’s an emphasis on connecting with others who share a similar base knowledge and sense of humor. Social circles may host a variety of personality types, but the close inner circle will have that similar mental base that draws them close. The sense of humor may be abstract and witty, which can confuse more straight-forward people who take things too literally. Even with this need to have that base connection with others, variety remains important. He needs to be able to explore new ideas and concepts without simply recycling the same things over and over again.
Outer planets
The planets beyond the asteroid belt move more slowly through the signs, and their traits and influence have to do more with large groups than personal things. How they relate on a personal level involves connecting them back to related personal placements, as I will show with each placement.
Jupiter in Scorpio: Ruled by Pluto and Mars, and represented by the Scorpion, Scorpio is the sign of deep transformation. It’s an intensely intuitive sign that brings to light the hidden depths and mysteries of life. Scorpio Jupiter uses the hardships of life to create their own happiness, luck, and freedom. Understanding the darker and difficult sides of life make it easier to distinguish genuine positivity from fake positivity - what it means to be truly happy versus faking it until you make it. Authoritative people and structures in their life impress a sense of fake happiness and freedom - an attitude that things are fine when they’re not - and Scorpio Jupiter will see through this easily. Issues with authority come from resisting the pressure to pretend things are okay and actually seek ways to make situations better. They can detect people’s true intentions and get upset if their words/actions don’t match their intentions. Therefore, they can be very private people, only opening up to those they can trust to be honest and forthright.
Scorpio energy is stubborn, stead-fast, sensitive, and perceptive. Scorpio is very intuitive and Scorpio Jupiter can, if they chose, be very gifted with matters of psychology, medicine, healing practices, and the occult. From therapists to detectives to psychics, they seek to understand people and help solve/heal them. When they travel, they are very observant of different people and ways of life.
Saturn: Responsibility - Discipline - Karma
Saturn will stay in a sign for about 2.5 years - Taking about 29-30 years to go through all 12 signs.
Saturn rules time and life-lessons. Approximately every 28-30 years, Saturn will return to the sign it was in when you were born, and your Saturn return period emphasizes the life-lessons that Saturn is trying to teach you.
Saturn in Gemini: Ruled by Mercury and represented by the twins.
Gemini is all about duality, knowledge, and communication. Gemini Saturn’s lesson is about using personal intellect to communicate effectively. People with Saturn in Gemini may struggle with communication, either being overly logical and analytical in communication or not logical and analytical enough. Saturn teaches you to find the balance between communicating exactly what you need and assuming other people will just intuitively understand your thoughts and needs. It’s the balance between the heart and the head - spending too much time brooding in emotions or wrapping oneself up in logically rationalizing every part of life keeping actual action from occurring. Gemini Saturn reminds people that while yes it is important to think things through before acting, action needs to happen eventually and that communication is the best course of action.
Tied in with Daita’s Gemini Mercury, this comes in to highlight the way information is shared. It’s great to be able to share personal knowledge with others, but equally important to be able to listen and gain information from others. Being sure to listen for the sake of learning and connecting, not just for the sake of jumping in with a response that showcases one’s own knowledge.
Uranus in Libra: Ruled by Venus and represented by Justice, Libra seeks balance and harmony in all things. Rebellion and innovation show through in reforms to social and structural ideas and systems of justice. What is fair or unfair, what is balanced, and what can be done to have a more harmonious balance of society. Keep in mind, with the duality of nature and nurture, the exact definitions and ideas of what is fair, harmonious, and justice will vary based on influences people are raised with.
Since Libra is ruled by Venus, looking into Daita’s Venus sign is where his personal expression of this placement comes through. With his Venus being in Gemini, he seeks balance, justice, and harmony through the combination of a variety of people from multiple walks of life through open-minded communication.
“The last time Uranus was in Libra was from October 1968 until September 1975 stimulating changes in social justice, diplomacy, music, and the arts.” (https://www.san.beck.org › Astro-Uranus)
One of the big social showings of this time was the hippie movement - make love not war - challenging the priority of war over interpersonal relationships.
Neptune: Dreams - Magic - The Subconscious
Neptune stays in one sign for 14 years.
Neptune in Sagittarius: Ruled by Jupiter and represented by the archer, Sagittarius is all about forward momentum into the unknown. These people look for potential through the lens of their personal religious/philosophical beliefs. Therefore this will present differently depending on what those beliefs are for each person. They can become very attached to their beliefs whether this be a specific religion, a driving life philosophy, or a social cause. Sagittarius likes to look for solutions, therefore Sagittarius Neptune looks for solutions to life’s problems through their deeply held beliefs - depending on social upbringing and other chart elements this can cause difficulty in accepting others’ beliefs.
With Sagittarius being ruled by Jupiter and Daita’s Jupiter being in Scorpio, he may be drawn to religious/philosophical beliefs and ideas that have to do with the occult, or darker sides of humanity.
Pluto: Things That Are Hidden - The Shadow - The Taboo - Long-Term Transformation
Pluto stays in a sign anywhere from 12-30 years depending on the speed it is moving. This is the generational planet.
Pluto in Virgo: Ruled by Mercury, Virgo is detail oriented, health conscious, and pragmatic. Pluto has to do with transformation, and Virgo Pluto transforms by analyzing the details of life - what works and what doesn’t - what needs to be changed and how that change can take place in a practical way. Relating back into Daita’s chart, Virgo is ruled by Mercury, therefore Daita’s Gemini Mercury comes into play.
He finds transformation through analysis and relaying information. Being able to effectively communicate a variety of complex ideas and concepts with others and hold conversations that delve deeper than surface level will help him unlock deep personal transformation.
Pluto was last in Virgo 1956-1972 and during this time there were a lot of pushes for societal restructuring especially around lifestyle structures. New lifestyle innovations gave people more options and flexibility to self-express away from the cookie cutter conformity of the first half of the 20th century. People born during this time continued to push alternative lifestyles and subcultures during their formative years in the 80s and 90s.
