Reverse thrusters change the trajectory of her life

Ms Kyoto fired a taser at Melissa and tripled the voltage. Melissa spasmed violently on the floor and spittle flew from her lips. After thirty seconds, Ms Kyoto switched off the taser and approached the stiffened, immobile, wide-eyed heroine.

"That ought to keep you docile for a few minutes," Ms Kyoto said, picking up the limp heroine and carrying her out of the room. They passed a few other doors before Ms Kyoto entered an auditorium. She carefully sat her prey in the middle of the front row, strapping her arms to the chair, her feet to the floor, and her neck to the high back of the seat.

"Time for a little one-on-one tutoring," Ms Kyoto said. She clapped her hands briskly twice and the lights in the auditorium went out. A screen behind her began projecting a slide. It looked like a graph. A heavy grey line showed an exponential curve.

"Here the y axis shows the date of your birth, Rocketgirl," Ms Kyoto said, pointing. "You've progressed magnificently since then, surpassing all rational expectations. You've done well socially," another graph, "...intellectually..." another graph, "...athletically..." The original exponential curve reappeared on the screen. "Success after success after success. If not for my intervention, science dictates you'd continue on the same superhuman trajectory." A dotted grey curve extended, continuing from a solid black line marking today's date.

"But I think this rocket has flown high and fast enough. It's time to bring you back down to earth." A slide showed an image of Melissa's brain. "This is a visual representation of your brain, exactly as it was when I copied it for M2. What I intend to do is install some defects. I call them 'reverse thrusters,' because their effect on you should be similar to what a reverse thruster does to a rocket. They'll slow you down. You'll think slower, move slower, be slower."

Ms Kyoto played a film clip of Rocketgirl speeding down the city streets. Then she pressed a button and the film reel slowed down. Rocketgirl's image began striding more slowly. Then Ms Kyoto pressed the button again, and the image of Rocketgirl walking slowly was placed in front of a speeding backgrond. The slow-moving Rocketgirl image casually strolled by as a building caught fire and burned completely to the ground, and as a bank was robbed and the police chased the culprits away.

"This artist's rendition is an exaggeration, obviously," Ms Kyoto said with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive shake of her head. The slide switched back to the exponential curve. "But you get the idea. When your brain makes you do everything more slowly, you won't be Rocketgirl anymore. You'll just be an average girl." A horizontal green line shot across the graph. "Actually, slower than an average girl. A significantly below average girl." Now the vertical line turned red below the exponential curve until just above the x axis, where it was met with a horizontal red line extending indefinitely into the future from today's date.

"As you can see, I expect my reverse thrusters' effects to be both immediate and permanent." She clapped her hands again and the lights came up in the auditorium.

Rocketgirl's strength had returned but strapped down as tightly as she was, all she could do was squirm impotently in her chair. "It won't work, Ms Kyoto," she said, trying to buy herself time. "I've had a lifetime of training and experience. I'll beat your damned reverse thrusters."

"No, you won't," Ms Kyoto replied. "But I can't wait to see you try." She pulled the Mind Sifter from her pocket and gently placed it around Melissa's forehead. Stroking Melissa's hair and pulling it behind her ears, Ms Kyoto's eyes darted excitedly back and forth between Melissa's frightened eyes.

"Get your hands off of me, you mmmmmmfff!" Ms Kyoto cut off her objection with a rough kiss.

"Goodbye forever, Rocketgirl," Ms Kyoto whispered and pressed a button. The Mind Sifter sent a long burst of hot pain shooting through Melissa's skull. She opened her mouth as though to scream, but no sound came out for nearly twenty seconds. Ms Kyoto smiled; she took it as an early sign of success.