Who would have thought that something so ferocious would quickly turn out to be one of the most sympathetic characters ever made?
Feel free to rationalize away this piece as an old cautionary poster within WDF quarters. After all, it was heavily inspired by Leslie Illingworth's WW2 era illustration.
A full-sized payoff to all the colour practice pieces - and one of the very few cases where final artwork more or less aligns with what I expected from it on conceptualization stage.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, as the world seemed to stop and start in repetition – all she could feel was the cold, as something held her from moving beyond the glitches that would pass through her as her body attempted to heal.
(Though she starts off erratic, her memory of things after the labs is a bit better – till the incident, of course – for now though this was when she lost her memories of the past again – if she had been sane at the time, maybe she and Yeva could have helped Alice.)
“Watch your step, the ground is still unsteady,” a voice ordered.
Raising her head for the first time, in only God knows how long, she could see a drone man, in factory worker garb and a black mustache upon his face and as she reached out to him, there was only one thought on her mind – that he was the handsomest drone she had ever seen.
“Sir, yes sir,” came the reply from the other drones nearby as another slight tremor shook the snow from the trees as he ducked, as a flash came from a camera she couldn’t see.
“Khan, u tvoikh nog (Khan, at your feet),” came a shout from the same direction as the flash.
As the man, as Khan, took sight of her he paused for a moment, and she wondered what he was thinking before he shouted over his shoulder, “I need a medic,” before turning back to her.
“It’s going to be okay miss, we’ll get you out of here,” he said as he used his hands and his shovel to move the snow and the dirt that kept her trapped, “can you speak, do you know your name?”
“Hai, watashi no namae wa Nori desu. (Yes, my name is Nori.)”
(She really hopes he never realizes that the switch to Japanese was an accident – but can you blame her when the first thing she sees is a stud.)
“Hello, Nori,” he said with a smile, “my name is Khan, can your systems tell what day it is?”
She checked her internal calendar, “January eleventh, thirty fifty-one.”
“Correct, and do you know where you are?”
“Copper 9, Ca–”
“Ne trogay menya! (Don’t touch me!),” came a sudden shout – she knows that voice, what’s her name?
(It’s Yeva, idiot!)
“Someone calm her down,” Khan shouted, “this place is too unstable as it is!”
“Khan,” came another voice, eventually, just as she was finally freed from the ground – Khan allowing her to lean up against him from where he was still kneeled in the snow.
“Ivan,” Khan greeted, “where’s Bianca?”
“With our photographer getting the other one calmed down,” Ivan said before turning to her, “dobryy vecher (good evening) miss, I am Ivan, one of our resident medics.”
“Nori,” she responded, “what happened?”
“I was just about to ask you that,” Ivan replied, “this was the soonest we were able to even approach the area after the quake.”
“Not that that means much,” Khan continued, as Ivan was setting up his medical kit, “we can’t stay long, just came to find survivors and offer sanctuary; normally I leave it at the binary choice, but consider you and that other woman are the only survivors we’ve found …”
“Do you know her name by the way,” Ivan asked, “we trying to get to her, but she keeps running off.”
“I think I know,” she started before her head glitched – there was concern in their eyes as they exchanged a look, then they turned back to her.
“Miss Nori,” Ivan started, “may I have your permission to examine you.”
“If it will help, then sure.”
“Alright then, I’ll need access to the port on the back of your head.”
“Go ahead.”
She felt sluggish as Khan helped to move her so Ivan could plug the medi-kit’s wire into the back of her head – there was a pause, and she got the impression that they might have been confused before the wire was inserted. It was a while as they waited for the results, the dark of the night along with the sounds of the workers and the silent world enveloping her – it was almost enough to put her to sleep before she was jostled.
“Hey,” Khan said suddenly, “I need you to stay awake, Miss Nori, this isn’t a good place to fall asleep.”
“Huh, right, right,” she yawned, “did you find anything?”
“Not just yet, Miss Nori,” Ivan said, “why don’t you tell us about yourself?”
“Don’t remember anything, think I have a sister.”
“Good to know,” Khan said, “can you remember anything else; you spoke Japanese earlier, do you remember anything about that?”
“… Hana, that was my nickname, gave it away, I think … not sure though.”
“Must have been important to give away a nickname,” Ivan said, examining the results coming in on the medi-kit’s computer.
Thinking about it, it felt like it was an apology. (It was, but she still needed to do a better one … she’d write it in the note.)
“Anything else?”
“… Cornflower.”
The medi-kit gave an alert; after a moment of reading, Ivan spoke up, “it looks like a simple defense barrier – your mind likely put it in place when the quake happened to protect itself – it’s a two-person authorization, if you let me, I should be able to tell it that it’s safe now.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
[Would you like to allow Medi-kit operative, temporary access to firewall defenses]
[y/n]
Moments after she had given Ivan access, he brought down the barrier that was impeding her mind then–
“WOAH!”
She was up like a shot, her movement, just barely being enough to unplug her from the medi-kit.
“So that’s what a live wire feels like,” she said as she got her bearings before seeing Yeva with some green-eyed drone guy coming out of the forest, then she was off like a shot, racing to her sister, almost bowling down Khan and Ivan in the process.
“YEVA,” she shouted all the way till she crashed into the Russian drone woman, knocking her away from the guy who had been supporting her as she and her sister landed in the snow.
“Yeva, Yeva, Yeva,” she said, shaking her sister like a rattle, “we’re alive, we’re alive!”
She hardly registered the hollow look on her sister’s face as she fell back into the snow with another cheer as Khan came rushing up to them with another drone – blond with pink eyes and carrying a camera.
“Oh, oh,” she said getting back to her feet as the green-eyed drone helped her sister up. “Yevs,” she continued coming around to Khan left as she hooked an arm around his shoulders, “Yevs, this is Khan, he said we can go back with the group.”
A flash came from the camera held by the pink-eyed drone woman as Yeva nodded.
“Uh, listen,” Khan started, “our scanners haven’t found any other survivors, so I think it’s best if we all head back to the factory, Miss, uh, Miss Yeva, are you okay to travel?”
Yeva gave another nod.
“Speaking of heading back,” the pink-eyed drone woman said, “Khan, the groups are going to want a picture.”
“Right, let’s get back around the buses first, Becky can you …?”
“I’ve got the others, I’ll alert Ronathan and Cordi, too.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, Dmitri, want your camera back,”
“Uh,” green eyes – Dmitri – started, looking over at Yeva who he was still supporting, “can you handle it for now?”
Becky shrugged before walking off to the others; her and Khan following after as she jabbered on about everything and nothing while Yeva and Dmitri lagged behind. As they came to the gathering spot, Becky was setting up the camera for a posed picture. Another tremor passed through the ground as Dmitri plopped onto the ground. With Khan standing next to her, she saw Becky about to take the photo, and she grabbed his waist as she went into her own pose to wave at the camera.
With the photo done, they all filed into the two buses heading off for the factory.
(~*~)
“Welcome to Novae Spei, Copper 9’s shining star, the biggest, youngest and most dangerous factory on the entire planet,” Khan started, as he introduced her and Yeva to their new home.
They had arrived at the factory just as the rest of the workers were starting their day; right now, Khan was leading them to their room. “We’ve done what we can to make the place safer now that the humans are gone; it’s still a work in progress, so just obey the safeguards and you’ll be fine.”
Leading them down another hall he continued.
“These are the dorms we’ve set for the refugees we’ve taken in,” coming to one of the unmarked rooms, he opened the door, “it’s small but it’ll do for two – there’s some stuff inside you can use to mark the door so others will know the room is taken.”
The room was small, but in the back of her mind, she had the thought that it would be good for three.
“Breakfast is at seven, lunch at twelve, and dinner at seven – listen, I know it’s not much right now, but this factory was in the process of being connected to a massive bunker outpost, once things calm down enough, we’ll be finishing the connection to give everyone better accommodation and easier access between here and the Outpost.”
“It’s perfect,” she said, already locating the pens and paper to make the door sign.
“Well, I’ll let you get settled in, explore if you want, but it’s all hands-on-deck right now so just watch where you go.”
Then he was out, the door closing behind him.
“Isn’t this amazing Yevs, hey do you want me to make your sign, or do you want to do it yourself, I’m thinking flames maybe surrounded by some cool S’s – that’ll show her, teach her for taking someone else’s name.”
Yeva was muttering.
“Yevs, you’re going to have to speak up, or I’m just gonna draw something dumb and you’ll be stuck with–,” a blade flew past her visor, imbedding itself in the wall next to the door, “it; Yeva, what the heck!”
“DON’T YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING?”
Her eyes hollowed and lined as her sister continued.
“Don’t you remember her?”
“I … uh, okay, so, I’m clearly missing something important here.”
For a moment Yeva just glared at her before marching up and grabbing her arm to pull her out of the room.
“Hey, wait we still need a sign!”
With her Solver, Yeva wrote, ‘Yeva & Nori’ on one page and ‘Stay Out’ on the second before stabbing them onto the door with the knife she pulled out of the wall.
Pulling her down the halls, they eventually came across Becky who was directing some other drones.
“Miss Becky,” Yeva called.
“Oh hey, just a moment,” she said before turning to another drone, a woman – this one with brown hair and sunglasses, “Sarah, I could care less about what Andy would have done – I’m just as torn up as the rest of the factory about losing the vast majority of our head drones, but we all agreed to follow Khan and I won’t have you nitpicking things just because you want to be a snob, either work with us or you can go to one of the delivery sites – I’m sure you’d become a second just as quickly as you did here.”
Sarah huffed, before stomping off – Becky taking a breath before turning to her and Yeva.
“Sorry, interpersonal relations and all that; is there something you need?”
“Medical center,” Yeva said, “my sister and I lost our link – we need an evaluation.”
“Of course, we’re in the west wing, you’ll want the east wing – just that way, can’t miss it – when you get there, there’ll be a directory that you can use.”
“Thank you.”
Walking through the place, she felt that as big as it seemed to her, it was very much larger, even with all the drones bustling around them, some very clearly from Novae Spei, then the others must have been the refugees dedicating their all to getting their new home, up and running. It was as inspiring as it was intimidating.
Making it to the medical center, the doctors were apparently tending to other parts of the factory; Yeva, though, was unconcerned as she directed her to one of the chairs before plugging them both into one of the unused computers in a closed off alcove for privacy.
“I’m reestablishing our link,” she started, “then I’ll use my copy of your consolidated save file to reboot your memory.”
“Uh, sure, knock yourself out.”
It was a few moments before she could feel the sister link be reconnected – like the feeling of something she didn’t know was missing, being returned.
“How does that feel,” Yeva asked.
“Good, fits like a glove; … you know, they’ll probably ask where the knife came from.”
Yeva looked at her once before turning back to the computer.
“What knife,” her sister asked, and she got the distinct feeling that the Russian just did something with the blade she stuck to their room door.
“Must be my imagination,” she said, sitting back in her chair.
“Must be,” Yeva agreed, “once I do the memory reboot, the missing ones will come back slowly.”
“How slowly?”
“… This isn’t my field, if she was here, you could get them back faster, as it is, try not to get any major physical trauma during the year.”
“A whole year!”
“Yes, and you will behave during that year.”
“Ugh, fine!”
She was quiet a moment as she waited for the start of the memory reboot to kick in.
“Hey, Yevs; is this memory miracle worker, the important person I’m forgetting?”
“… Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“… Our little sister.”
“… What happened to her?”
By the time dinner rolled around – they had arrived at Novae Spei, just after lunch, having been given food on the bus –, Yeva had told her all she could about Alice – that they were aunts – and the labs; with her memory reboot completed, she would just have to wait for everything to fall into place.
Before leaving for the cafeteria, Yeva checked out the medical center’s oil reserves that were collected for emergencies; taking three unmarked tins, they brought them back to their room and hid two of the tins – passing the third between them while Yeva explained her theft.
“So long as we don’t use our powers or have to regenerate anything major, we should be able to ration without the drones here becoming suspicious – we’ll fill the empty tins ourselves every other day, till we find a better option; as morbid as it sounds, we should also find jobs here that allow us access to any of the dead.”
Now they were waiting in the lunch line for the rest of their meal. In the cafeteria, the place was bustling almost as much as the main work floor – to one end though, she could see a primary round table set up where Khan was sitting with Becky and a few others.
“Nori,” Yeva called, bringing her out of her staring, and gesturing to the meal offerings.
Taking her pick, she followed after her sister.
“Your distracted,” Yeva said, flatly.
“I’m just looking.”
Yeva cast her gaze over to the primary table before turning back to her, “he has a mustache.”
“I know, it’s kinda cute.”
“Nori, a mustache means he’s married.” It actually meant he was a dad, but that wasn’t the point, Yeva was making.
“Oh … well maybe he has a brother.”
Her sister just sighed, “regardless we need to speak with him.”
“Right jobs.” Yeva was giving her a look, “don’t worry, I’ll let you do the talking.”
Her sister just sighed again, but they made their way to the primary table.
“Mister Khan,” Yeva started.
“Huh, oh evening you two, Miss Yeva, right?”
“Yes, my apologies for asking this now, but my sister and I were curious if there was a job either of us could have here?”
“Well, we have plenty of openings, what did the humans have you do back at the camp?”
“We worked with the dead.”
Were she not holding her tray, she would have facepalmed at Yeva’s bluntness as the conversation at the table stopped like a record screech.
“At a camp,” asked the young man with white eyes siting to Khan’s right.
“It was a facility they had set up on the outskirts of the camp,” Yeva replied, “they had us work with dead drones.”
“To be fair,” Becky said, from her seat at Khan’s left, “it’s not like it would be the first time a company set up an out of the way facility near a sleep away camp.”
“You’ve been perusing the human’s movie stores,” white eyes said.
“I was thinking about recommending a recreation day to boost team morale.”
“I’ll think about it,” Khan said, before turning back to Yeva, “we do have a drone mortician already, but considering she’s the only one …”
“Only one, what Monsieur Khan?”
Though the others hadn’t noticed, she could see the way Yeva stiffened when she caught sight of the newcomer – an older drone woman, with orange eyes and red hair whose bangs had a distinct streak of black like oil and blond like gold.
“Ah, Miss Cordelia, just in time, these two young ladies are looking for a job that I think you may be able to provide.”
Miss Cordelia’s gaze as she scrutinized them, was calm, yet she felt far too much like the woman could all to clearly see her heart of flesh.
“May I ask your names,” Miss Cordelia asked.
“Yeva, this is my sister Nori.”
“Ah, that is right, you came back with us from the camp,” she considered them a moment before tuning to Khan, “I’ll take them on for a trial run, seven workdays should be fine.”
“Then I’ll put them into the system in the morning,” Khan replied as Cordelia took her seat next to a white eyed drone man wearing a cowboy hat and a long mustache who held out her chair for her.
“Thank you,” Yeva said before gesturing for her to follow.
So of course she didn’t.
“Hey, just wanted to ask,” she started before Yeva could stop her, “who’s the lucky lady.”
Khan seemed to startle at the question, before she taped the peak of her visor where a nose would be if she were human. At the gesture, it appeared almost as though Khan only just remembered that he was wearing a mustache; at his surprise Becky gave a heartly laugh while the white eyed drone to Khan’s right seemed devastated.
“One more day, I just needed one more day,” the white eyed drone said.
“Sorry Ronnie,” Becky said with a laugh, “now hand over the dessert.”
“I’m not even surprised at this point,” Khan said with a shake of his head, taking off the mustache and putting it in his vest pocket while “Ronnie” handed Becky his puff pastry style D battery.
“In all fairness, Miss Nori,” Becky started, “Khan here was married to me, since I’m his third, but the humans died before the shells could be delivered to the reproduction room; so, we happily broke it off, now I’m married to this incredibly handsome man to my left – introduce yourself.”
The man to Becky’s left, had the most bored look imaginable built into his orange gaze as he was made to abandon his next bite of food; his eyes taking in the group he was being asked to acknowledged, with a sigh, he responded, “good evening, Miss Yeva, Miss Nori, my name is Waylon Fishers, I was a teacher for human offspring now I am working with the younger drones here to adapt them to a calmer environment.”
He turned his gaze to his wife with a raised brow, as if asking if that was enough to which, Becky rolled her eyes with a good-natured smile.
“He’s a real softy when you get to know him,” Becky said, “and he’s great with kids, which is how I know he’ll be an excellent father to our little one.”
Becky patted her pink core, which, from this close up, she could see was flickering with signs of a baby drone AI in the making.
“Uh, congratulations,” she said, “uh, are there a lot of kids here?”
“Well the nursery could always use some volunteers,” said the green eyed drone woman sitting between “Ronnie” and the cowboy-hatted drone, her long black hair partially obscuring the fact that she was charging a pill baby with bright green eye, “my name is Kali, Kali Mathews and this little one here is Thaddeus – if you ever need to get away from the mortician’s hall, just come to me or Ron.”
“Ronald Sentinel, Miss, but Ron is fine,” Ronnie, that is, Ron said, “I’m Khan’s second in command – currently I’m handling the rotators on the job roster so if you’re looking for a second job …”
“We will consider it,” Yeva said, “thank you for speaking with us.”
As they walked to an emptier area of the cafeteria, Yeva gave her a look.
“Forgive me for attempting to be personable, but did you hear, he’s single!”
“Of course that’s what you focused on,” she said with a sigh and a shake of her head.
“I’m just thinking of the future; you said it’s possible that Alice is alive, even with their scanners calling the place a dead sight, we need to be friendly if we want to convince them to spend resources to let us go back to the camp and search.”
Yeva appeared to be considering her words, then, “alright, but don’t get distracted, our focus is survival without discovery and to recover Alice and our nephew.”
“Got it, boss!”
(~*~)
The next morning, after breakfast, Becky gave them a tour of the factory while Khan was putting them into the job system under the names Yeva and Nori Fever
“It was a nickname of the facility we worked at,” was Yeva’s only explanation when met with curiosity.
With the tour ending in time for lunch, she and Yeva were invited to the primary table so they could discuss their trial run with Cordelia – who was late.
“Technically she’s not late,” Becky said.
“I mean she is but for a good reason,” Ron continued, before turn to her and Yeva, “we’re still in the early days of taking care of all our dead, she doing as much as she can, but she is only one drone.”
“Yes, that, but I mean the other thing,” Becky returned.
“What other thing,” she asked.
“When Miss Cordelia is able to identify a body, she sets aside an affects box with a name,” Khan explained, “then once a week, during lunch, she brings as many of those boxes as possible so family or close friends can collect them and organize a proper funeral.”
“Speaking of,” Becky said, “Cordi just arrived, and she’s dragged her husband into helping with today’s load – I was wondering why Ronathan was late, today’s his favorite.”
Sure enough, Miss Cordelia had entered the cafeteria alongside the drone with white eyes, a cowboy hat and a long mustache who was pushing a cart that had about ten boxes on it. The two moved on to a small stage that was set for presentations as Miss Cordelia tapped the mic to gain the attention of the drones.
“Bonsoir, everyone,” Miss Cordelia started, “it is my unfortunate duty to present the dead of Novae Spei.”
From there Ronanthan would hand Cordelia a box and she would read off the name, after that, one or more drones would go up to her and present evidence of their connection to the dead drone before accepting the box.
“Lastly we have Anderson Smith, Head of Group A, father of pill-born Darren Smith, beloved husband of Sarah Smith – second of Group A.”
“Oh boy,” Becky said.
“Be nice,” Khan chastised.
“What do you want me to say, everyone knows Sarah only used Andy to rise the ranks; the only reason she’s raising Derren is because she knows how it would look if she rejected the child, she had with the man she claims to love.”
Khan just sighed as Sarah made a modest show of teary acceptance of Andy’s box, her pill baby in question carried in one arm as she charged him – accepting the bag that Andy’s box was put in with her free hand – before leaving the cafeteria.
“On that note,” Ron said, getting up from his seat, “I think I’ll go talk to her, if only to save the box for Darren for when he’s older.”
Before leaving the table, however, he turned back and grabbed his fresh D battery puff pastry, giving Becky a mock glare, “mine,” he said before stuffing the treat in his mouth and heading off – just as another drone, Dmitri, arrived, staring after him in confusion.
“Do I want to know,” Dmitri asked
“You noticed that our beloved leader is sans mustache,” Becky said with a smirk.
“Ah, Ron, lost the bet,” Dmitri continued with a solemn knowing nod as he took his seat between to Waylon and herself – a chair still between them.
“Of course you knew,” Khan said with a disappointed look.
“Your second and third threated to steal my camera.”
Khan looked to Becky in question.
“I plead innocence,” she replied.
“She means guilty,” Waylon said, taking another bite of his food while ignoring his wife’s disbelief at his betrayal.
Khan sighed, “in any case, Mr. and Mrs. Waylon,” he continued greeting Cordelia and Ronathan as they arrived.
“Wait,” she said, “your Ronathan and Cordelia Waylon?”
“Yes,” Miss Cordelia said.
“And you,” she said turning to Becky’s husband, “are Waylon Fishers”
Rather than responding, Waylon just took another bite of his food.
“My husband and I are transfers from Earth,” Cordelia explained, “we were the head drones of the household before we came to Novea Spei.”
“Here,” Ronathan continued, as he and his wife took a seat between Kali and Yeva, “we were the second and third to John Mathews – Kali’s late husband.”
“… That was actually the first box I had to make up,” Cordelia said, sorrow painting her face, her husband placing his arm about her shoulder.
“And yet,” Kali said, “I’m appreciative of the fact that you put time into doing so for me, even with everything else that was going on.”
“Of course,” Cordelia said, gathering herself before turning to her and Yeva, “you see, before the core overload, whenever a drone died, the humans would handle the recycling processes and that was it; but now, we’re allowed give them their last respects.”
“I understand,” Yeva said, but in the back of her mind she noted the Russian’s subtle reaction to the mention of the core implosion (at the time she didn’t realize what the reaction meant).
“Just so you know,” Cordelia continued, “I usually take my lunch hour in the side room of the morticians hall, unless I’m presenting the dead; I’m not saying that you should do the same, but we do have a lot of bodies to get through.”
“We’ll do our best, Miss Cordelia.”
(~*~)
Novae Spei was the general factory that Cabin Fever Labs received its deliveries from, which apparently included the monthly stipend of oil, in fact, due to the core overload – as the factory drones called it – January’s delivery of oil hadn’t even left the factory; a fact that had her salivating, and she knew Yeva was much the same. Evidently the oil itself was gathered from the drones of the factory. That was the odd detail of drone kind – something that J.C. Jenson claimed was a trade secret – the fact that, even if it was very slow to regenerate, drones were able to donate oil without dying. Still the knowledge of where her meals for the last eight years had come from, part of her was curious.
“Ivan and Bianca said we have enough for emergencies,” Miss Cordelia said from her worktable in the mortician’s lab, “however, Khan prefers to be careful, we do not need donations from every drone in the factory, but donation volunteers are appreciated.”
Cordelia had reorganized the mortician’s lab with three tables in horseshoe open to the door, placing herself in the center, while she and her sister could face each other.
“Of course, that doesn’t include the oil we collect from the bodies,” Miss Cordelia continued, “the two of you are quite lucky, after the implosion, it was … a mess … a lot of oil was collected that day.”
The older woman paused in her work, as she and Yeva exchanged a look.
“Then there is also the backlog of bodies from before the implosion,” Miss Cordelia let out an awkward laugh, “as, as you can see, there is a reason I am happy to have help with it all.”
She could imagine. Due to the fact that most drones didn’t want to handle such a morbid job, the morticians themselves were in charge of the whole hall; this included the care, cleaning and upkeeping. At their respective workstations there were several buckets, for metal, silicon, wires, oil and everything else a drone was made of. The job of a drone mortician was as much the identification of the dead drone in question as it was, taking the drone apart for recycling.
According to the old records, a drone was supposed to live upwards of three hundred years if all went right; as the drone became older, they became physically denser as what they ate was incorporated into their system, thus increasing their weight even if they visually remained the same. After three hundred years their body and code eventually slowed down till it eventually stopped; however, under the rule of the humans, that potentially long life became something of a myth with most drones only making it to their fifties if they were lucky. Now though, now they had the planet, and if they did things right, centuries to live.
The days passed slowly as she and Yeva fell into the rhythm of Novae Spei’s work force. Over the days they had been able to grab a few more empty tins that they would fill with the mortician’s lab oil stores, when Cordelia was off in the cafeteria, presenting the dead. This was also among of the few times Yeva would use her powers as she teleported the stolen oil to their room.
Of course, things couldn’t be easy after everything.
Sarah Smith was nosy. As the second from group A, she had been a queen among drones, now that all but one of the heads was dead, there was a new king, and she had been dethroned by factory consensus. It didn’t help that for as begrudging as many of the seconds and thirds could be, they, including group A’s third, still sided with Khan over her due to some drama that she and Yeva had yet to figure out. Yet, while she and Yeva did their best to lay low, they had apparently caught Sarah’s attention. To be honest, she could understand why, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
“Nori Fever was it,” Sarah asked, approaching her as she was attempting to deliver a box that Cordelia had forgotten at the lab.
“Miss Sarah, good afternoon, I didn’t expect to see you, and without Darren, it’s lunchtime, isn’t it, shouldn’t you go pick him up?”
“He’ll be fine with the caretakers; I was more interested in you; not often I see you without your sister.”
That’s because Yeva was busy refilling their personal oil stores.
“Ah well, I am twenty-five, plenty old enough to run an errand on my own.”
“Mm, the mortician’s office, an odd job for a drone; I mean I know why Cordelia does it, but I have to wonder about you and your sister, I heard that this was the first job you asked for.”
“What can I say, humans are strange; it’s what they gave us experience in, so Yevs and I are just happy to be of service.”
“And I suppose the hospital gown and collar were just standard garb for the job.”
“Humans are strange,” she repeated.
“They are.”
“Just a momen– NORI,” Cordelia said suddenly as she was attempting to rush out of the cafeteria, “ah you brought Nathan; … Sarah, I thought you would be charging Darren, it is lunchtime.”
“I was just on my way,” Sarah said, “I suppose I got distracted with our newcomers; I’ll be going now, have a good day you two.”
“… Was she bothering you, Nori,” Miss Cordelia asked, once Sarah was out of sight.
“Just curious, I guess.”
“Hm, just know, she doesn’t have authority over you, alright?”
“Right.”
As it was this would not be the first time Sarah approached her, as time passed the drone woman’s attempts to find out more about her and Yeva would become more insistent and conniving – distantly, the inquiries felt familiar, yet like she was suddenly on the other side of them. When she approached Yeva about it later, in their room, the Russian got an odd look on her face.
“You will understand eventually,” Yeva would say; and she suspected that it had something to do with the things she had yet to remember.
“Still,” she said, “I don’t understand what her deal is; like okay, I get it, drone mortician, it’s weird job, but someone has to do it.”
“Nori …,” Yeva hesitated, appearing to be debating something before speaking, “you do know what we look like, … right?”
“Yevs, I know we look weird – drone morticians in hospital gowns, big deal, besides, I make this look good.”
“… Nori, where are we?”
“Novae Spei, why?”
“And what kind of factory is Novae Spei?”
“A general factory hub that has the highest number of places it delivers to.”
“Which includes the manufacturing of what?”
“Well let’s see,” she said beginning to become annoyed with the questioning, her tone becoming sarcastic, “what doesn’t Novae Spei manufacturer?”
Yeva sighed before speaking. “Among the many things Novae Spei makes, are wigs, generally by mass production – standard colors, black, blond, brown, red – however, they also create custom wigs by specialty commission order.”
“Like purple,” she said matter-a-factly.
“Yes, but it is also what they mean,” her sister paused a moment before continuing. “Factory workers never receive wigs – it is likely that the wigs they wear now is their own choice – generally speaking, it is primarily household or city drones that receive wigs; you and I entered the Labs wearing black wigs, the Solver is what changed the color.”
“And connected them permanently to our scalps; still, purple hair, don’t see the big deal.”
“Sometimes I forget that you are more innocent than you appear.”
“I feel like I should be offended by that.”
“Nori, most humans, when they purchase a wig for their drone, they choose a normal color – there are exceptions of course, young humans with financial access, for one, but we were in a facility and suspected of doing a job that drones were generally not allowed to do.”
“I still don’t get it – like I understand the suspicions about the mortician thing, but how does hair tie into that.”
“We were drones, ‘owned’ by a facility that is suspected of commissioning purple wigs for us – a facility that received a monthly stipend of oil, where we gained knowledge to permit us to become drone morticians – a facility that marked us with collars, and dressed us lab gowns that can be used to restrain us, where we were the only two survivors.”
“Okay, I can see how that looks bad,” she said thinking on Yeva’s words, “but I still don’t understand the wig focus.”
“… Humans get bored, when they become bored, they find … entertainment.”
“Your humans?”
“No, no, my masters were kind, stiff but kind.”
Stiff huh, so that’s where she learned it from.
“But,” Yeva continued, “they were high up enough, that we would hear of things from other households; hear of shameful things done to other drones, in other household.”
Yeva paused as she considered her words – watching her sister, in the back of her mind, she was reminded of just how young they were when they went into the lab, and wondered, how much younger had Yeva been when she learned of whatever horrors that were giving her pause?
“To be honest, when I first saw Alice and her father, … I worried, worried that she was being used, that her mind had been tampered with; when I realized who her father was, I was still warry – but seeing the two of them put my fears to rest.”
“Yeva?”
“Yes?”
“Plainly, what did you hear, what are they saying about us?”
(~*~)
To be honest, she kind of wishes she never asked, but knowing now … it made the whispers into thunderous echoes. Walking through the halls of Novae Spei, she could feel the eyes of the factory upon her, it made her heart itch; she wanted to yell at them, to shut them up anyway she could, but she had promised Yeva that they would lay low. In the back of her mind, she could feel a memory click into place of Alice walking through the halls of Cabin Fever as drones glared at her and passed whispered gossip between them about the Beaumont drone – in the back of her mind she sent out an unheard apology to her little sister.
“Look, there she is,” she could hear a drone say.
It was now late January, but with the slow yet steady return of her memories, she had needed more oil than usual, as such, Yeva had asked Cordelia to let her go to rest before dinner – the older woman allowing it. So now here she was walking back to the room she shared with Yeva, trying to keep herself calm as she quietly attempted to rush before she could overheat … only to be stopped by walking traffic.
“She really does have purple hair,” a second drone, a woman, said.
“I told you,” the first drone said.
“You said she came from a facility,” a third drone asked.
“Yeah, heard from Sarah’s team, apparently they had her and her sister dissecting drones.”
“Think any of them were still alive,” the second drone asked.
“Wouldn’t surprise me with how calm they are about it.”
“Purple hair too, and at a facility,” the third drone said, “clothes look like a straitjacket, I wonder …”
“What,” the first and second drone asked.
“Purple hair and a collar.”
There was a pause before the second drone spoke up, “think she was facility entertainment?”
A familiar voice broke the conversation with the clearing of his throat, “Tompson, Abigale, Lester – don’t you have work that needed to be complete three hours ago.”
“Err, yes boss,” said the first.
“We were just getting on it,” said the second.
“We’ll just be going now,” said the third.
She let out a sigh of relief as the commentary was stopped just as her shoulders stiffened as the familiar voice then spoke to her.
“Miss Nori, are you alright?”
She turned to him, attempting to hide her fluster, “Mister Khan, what are you doing here?”
“I came to check in on you, Miss Cordelia told me that you’ve had to take a rest between work and dinner, are you alright, you’re not pushing yourself to hard, are you?”
“Ah, no, no, I just … it’s a holdover from the facility, Yeva already gave me a fix, it’s just that it’s going to take a year, so I just need a little extra rest every so often.”
“If you’re sure, do you mind if I walk with you?”
“Why would I mind,” she asked rhetorically; it’s not like she was rushing, she thought sarcastically.
“Thank you,” he said, with a gentle smile – he has such a handsome smile. The walking traffic was finally moving again, “it’s almost February, how have you and your sister been settling in, I know we haven’t been able to talk much but,” he chuckled bashfully.
“Oh, we’ve been doing well, keeping busy.”
“You are taking advantage of your rest days though, right, I know the mortician’s office has a backlog but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rest.”
“We’re resting, Mister Khan, I promise,” he so sweet, she thought, “I guess we’re just trying not to step on any toes, … though I guess we failed at that.”
Khan sighed. “Sarah, is a complicated person, and gossip is one of the few way drones here, would find entertainment,” he paused, “I’m not trying to excuse them – gossip caused a lot of problems here before – but if there’s anything I can do to help?”
She was quiet a moment as her hand rose to the number on her neck, “these collars, … they’re important to me and Yevs, I know they look weird, but we need them.” The collars were their keys back to the lab.
He was quiet a moment, “I think I can understand; the uniforms here, they mark us as a part of Novae Spei, but we’ve made them our own – maybe we can do the same with your collar.”
“I think, I’d like that” she said, a gentle smile breaking free, “I’ll talk to Yeva about it.”
“Then it’s a plan,” he said, his own smile matching hers as they made it to the empty entrance of the dorm wing, before it vanished as he tripped on a wayward tool that had him falling back to crash against the floor.
“Khan,” she shouted, moving to help him up – or at least get him sitting, “are you alright!”
“Ow, yeah, I, I think I’m fine,” he said sitting up before clutching his left shoulder, “or maybe not, huh after all these years, and I think this is the first time I’ve gotten injured enough to draw oil.”
Oil.
Oh, she recognized that scent.
(That was something the scientist eventually realized; that different drones had a preference for different oils and could pick them out easily – who knew that her favorite oil would have come from her future husband.)
“It’s fine,” Khan was still speaking, “I’ll just head to medical after, … Miss Nori are you alright?”
He smelled so sweet.
“I, I’m fine,” she was salivating, how long had it been since she last tasted his oil, “I … you should, you should get that check out.”
“It’s fine, I was walking you to your dorm.”
“NO,” she could feel the heat building, now more clearly than before, “I, I mean, you should get it checked right away, even, even small injuries could be dangerous; you should go, right now, I’ll be fine walking to my room.”
“Uh, I mean, if, you’re sure.”
“Very, I mean, you’re leading Novea Spei, can’t be too careful right?”
“I suppose, uh, you will sit with us at dinner right,” he asked, “at least so we can talk about the collars.”
“Sure,” oh, she didn’t know her voice could go that high, “but right now you should take care of that shoulder.”
“Alright,” he said as she helped him to his feet, “are you sure you’re alright though, you look a little warm.”
“I’m fine,” he was so close, she could feel her fangs itching to taste his metal, “I’ll just grab some extra coolant later.”
“Well, then I guess, I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Of course.”
The second he had turned the corner; she booked it down the halls to the room she had been given; the door only just closing as she made a desperate grab for the hidden oil tins. Yet as each precious drop made its way into her maw, she began to cry.
It was so bitter; now that she knew where her favorite oil had come from, she could feel her body craving it.
(~*~)
Yeva ended up covering for her, eating dinner with her in their dorm. In the days after, the Russian drone even stole a tin fill specifically with Khan’s oil and yet, even as she held it in her hands, even as the scent tempted her, she couldn’t bring herself to drink it, rather, she held it close each night, too fearful to leave her room – her nights filled with dreams of the factory leader.
“You have to leave the room eventually,” Yeva said to her almost a week later – it was February, distantly her calendar informed her that Valentine’s Day was coming up, “Nori.”
“Yeva … I’m scared.”
She had her back to her, but she still felt as the Russian sat next to her on the bed she was still curled up on.
“I never thought I’d see the day Nori Fujimoto was scared.”
“… I don’t deserve to use that name.”
“… Fever then … Nori, talk to me, I cannot help if I don’t understand the problem.”
“I … I never really cared before, I’m a Solver, all my actions were justified, even when they weren’t – I was Cyn’s eyes and ears in the lab so even my worst actions were for a good cause; I was above everyone, everyone was meant to help me to help her even if they refused because we were doing something good.”
Despite wanting to remember, her memories were painful.
“I hurt her, I hurt our little sister, because I thought it was the only way to help her; … I caused panic, overheatings, … I hurt so many people.”
“That was the old Nori,” Yeva said after a moment, “the one who didn’t realize she was being manipulated by Cyn.”
“… What if I’m still that old Nori, what if I leave this room, and just cause more pain – Yeva, I wanted to kill him.”
“… Did you?”
“What,” she asked, finally turning to look at her sister.
“Did you kill him?”
“What, no!”
“Then why do you think you will, when in a moment where you were overheating, when you should have just lost yourself to the hunger, you didn’t – were there witnesses?”
“I … no, we, we were alone.”
“And yet, you didn’t bite him.”
She was teasing her, Yeva only got that look when she was teasing her or Alice, “aren’t you supposed to be making me feel better.”
Yeva chuckled, as she rose to standing, brushing invisible dust off her gown, “I think you’ll be fine, Nori; now, up, we need to get to work.”
Though she was still nervous, she drank from an offered oil tin – not Khan’s oil – and followed Yeva out the door for the rest of breakfast.
In the cafeteria, as they stood in line for their breakfast, she could still hear the whispers, but as Yeva nudged her, she did her best to ignore them. Thinking of Alice, she took a breath, if the Beaumont drone could hold up her head in the face of the Void, then a few workers should be nothing.
“NORI,” came Cordelia voice, just as she and Yeva finished collecting their meal, “Nori, Yeva, over here!”
She was waving them over to the primary table – for as refined as the older woman could be, it was her youthful outburst that reminded her of how long a drone was supposed to live.
“Nori,” Cordelia said just as they arrived at the table, “how are you doing, Yeva said you were under the weather – but she wouldn’t let Ivan or Bianca check up on you.”
“I did say, Miss Cordelia,” Yeva started, “it’s a standard aftereffect, anything else could interrupt the healing process.”
“Still, we were worried, Khan here almost worked himself into a frenzy.”
Said leader choked on his drink at the older woman’s words.
“I, Miss Cordelia; I was concerned is all,” Khan said, before turning to look at her, “still, you are doing better, right?”
“Yeah,” she said – her heart calm for the first time in a while, “just needed some rest.”
“Good.” Yeah, she could get used to that smile.
Of course, Miss Cordelia didn’t have her start with a full workload but slowly as the days passed, she was able to get back to her original pace – of course, as the days passed, the little alert in her mind about white day was more and more insistent. Even the factory drones, were taking note of the day, and she would be lying if she said that the way Miss Cordelia swooned as she talked about her first Valentines Day with her husband, didn’t make her feel a little fuzzy as well. As for the rest of the factory, love was in the air, and without the humans they were tentative but embolden.
She was on her way back to the mortician’s offices when she heard voices and while she couldn’t hear what was said, she was able to hide as one of the two conversers left the area, agitated – the leaving drone in question being Dmitri. Peeking into the hall, she could see Yeva, her visor was red, as she stood a moment, her right heel tapping before she let out a sound of frustration, her hands covering her face before they dropped, and she began pacing circles while muttering a rant to herself.
“… uh, knock, knock,” she said, knocking on the wall, “is this a bad time?”
“Nori,” Yeva said suddenly, readjusting her countenance into something more calm, caring and professional, “what, what is it, are you alright?”
“Was about to ask you that, what was all that about?”
“It is nothing, he was just following up on something.”
“Ah ha,” she said flatly, “Yevs, I’m not Alice, you don’t have to be delicate with me.”
“Really?”
“Recent events notwithstanding; … Yeva, are we in danger?”
“I … I do not know.”
“Is it Dmitri, I can make it look like an accident.”
“No, yes, I … the labs received a monthly stipend of oil from Novea Spei.”
“Yeah, I know, Cordelia told us.”
“Yes, but now certain people are asking why, and apparently someone tipped off Khan and Cordelia that oil has been stolen from the mortician’s stores – there is going to be an investigation.”
“They’re suspecting us.”
“They are keeping their suspicions broad.”
“Which is just a fancy way of telling us to lower our guard till they can close the trap.”
Yeva just sighed.
“So, what do we do now?”
“I, I have been scouting the area; we cannot hide the oil in our room any longer, as they will likely search them during the investigation, I will have to become creative with hiding our oil to avoid detection.”
“You’re going to be teleporting more often, aren’t you?”
“It will be fine.”
“Yevs–”
“End of discussion,” Yeva sighed, “I will handle it, please, Nori, just, just trust me?”
“… Fine, but I’m stepping in if I think things are going south.”
Yeva was right about the rooms being searched, unfortunately, neither of them anticipated Sarah coming in to look over their shoulders.
“Miss Sarah,” Miss Cordelia said, voice polite yet strained, as the three of them were coming into the mortician’s primary room, “to what do we own the intrusion.”
“Miss Cordelia,” Sarah said, in greeting, “I’m just implementing a new system; these scanners are to remain attached to each oil barrel, to keep track of the oil, going in and coming out – it should deter our thieves when they can’t just skim off the top, they also have an anti-tamper system, nifty right, Miss Cordelia.”
“Nifty,” the older woman said, highly unamused as Sarah was heading out, “by the way, Miss Sarah, Khan has Dmitri working with you, correct, did he approve this?”
The younger woman froze a moment before relaxing he posture, “it’s the logical course of action, the thieves want the oil from your storerooms, so make it inaccessible, right?”
“Right.”
Then the woman was out the door.
Cordelia took a breath, then very calmly stated, “one of these days I am going to toss that woman into the wastes and make it look like an accident.” Then she took another breath as she stepped forward before turning to her and Yeva, “please forget I said that.”
She blinked once, then said, “said what, did you hear anything Yevs?”
“Just that today is going to be a headache.”
A headache was a fairly apt assessment, the fortunate thing was that Sarah hadn’t thought to put a scanner on any of the buckets that they used – that and apparently, Cordelia was vindictive enough to let them leave the oil in the buckets for far longer than they usually did before transferring it to the oil barrels. That it wasn’t uncommon for parts to get mixed into the oil buckets meant that they were able to take from the buckets to refill their oil tins, without the levels becoming too suspicious. Still, they were informed that twice a week, their work be would be under observation on the chance that new eyes would notice something that the morticians hadn’t – that the observer was Dmitri was either a blessing or a curse, Nori still wasn’t sure which, but with the way Yeva was glaring at him, it might be closer to the latter.
Dmitri was Group A’s third, as such he was usually the one that was paired with Sarah – likely to temper the woman’s actions. At the moment, he was standing sentry at the door to the primary lab, watching them dismantle three drones for recycling – that he was able to keep such a stoic face in the sight of the macabre image, was truly impressive. Every so often he would circle the lab, looking over their shoulders or patrol the backroom – their oil storeroom. It was after the fifth circle that morning – on the third observation day – that even Cordelia was becoming annoyed.
“Dmitri Nikolai Fotograf,” the woman said, causing the man in question to freeze in his tracks, “with all due respect, young man, this job is difficult enough without you circling like a shark searching for a drop of blood.”
Though they hadn’t been speaking due to their guest, the silence of the room seemed to become stronger in Cordelia’s displeasure.
“Rather than continuing this fruitless endeavor, perhaps you might tell us what exactly, Sarah hopes to accomplish with all this.”
For a moment it appeared – from where Dmitri stood near Yeva, to the right of Cordelia – that he was about to recite a memorized script, before he sighed and moved back to lean against the wall at his standing place near the main door – crossing his arms.
“… All Sarah has – at the moment – is speculation; a monthly stipend of oil to Camp 98.7, two survivors from the same location that and I quote, ‘worked with the dead’, and now oil missing from the area of the factory that the survivors are currently working in.”
“And what pray tell, do you have.”
Here he hesitated, and she could see how Yeva’s eyes tracked his right hand as it hovered over one of his vest pockets before recrossing his arms.
He sighed again, “I have the knowledge that oil has been going missing since long before the implosion happened – I just presumed that drones were taking it for makeshift tirage stations considering the repair situation, pre-implosion – now however …”
“Now?”
“Now, … the near exact amount that has gone missing before has tripled,” he eyed Yeva for a moment, “now though, since the investigation started, that number has decreased to two and a quarter – if the buckets are anything to go by.”
“Just the buckets?”
“Yes.”
“Have you told anyone?”
He stayed silent and something in the air seemed to shift between them – and though their postures never changed, it like watching a matador staring down a bull.
The door burst open, as Khan entered snapping the tension that he noticed in an instant.
“Uh, is there an issue here,” he asked, eyes shifting between the room’s occupants.
“Just talking about Sarah,” Dmitri said rather calmly for what happed been occurring.
“Right,” Khan said, clearly only half believing the statement, “Miss Nori, can I speak with you for a moment?”
“Absolutely,” she said, already removing her work gloves – that she pulled over her lab gloves – and smock, rushing over to him, to pull him out of the room and several doors down the hall from the primary lab.
“So, what did you need me for,” she asked, grateful to have taken some extra oil that morning, as she could already feel her face heating up from being around the factory leader – though it did concern her that Yeva might not be dinking enough.
“I, uh, well … I was wondering?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, with the date being what it is, uh.”
“Yeah?”
“And being the leader I can’t really take that day off, I, I mean I could but, it wouldn’t really be fair, and uh – you see,” he took a breath, “Miss Nori, I know Sunday isn’t the actual date but, will, will you be my Valentine and go on a date with me this Sunday?”
“I … yes, YES, I, I would love to.”
“Great!” He’s so cute when he’s flustered, “so uh, Sunday is a recreation day and Becky was working with the others to organize a Valentine’s festival, to boost morale – so I thought, if you like, we could go together.”
“That sounds perfect; so, uh, Sunday?”
“Yeah, I can pick you up at five if you like?”
“I can do five.”
“Great, then I guess I’ll see you then?”
“Absolutely.”
By the time she had returned to the primary lab, Dmitri and Cordelia were both absent, Yeva, however, was doing lunchtime clean-up.
“Uh,” she started, the change briefly pausing her good mood, “so, uh, how did all that end?”
“… Mister Dmitri is expected in a meeting with Sarah’s investigation team.”
“And Miss Cordelia?”
“She is picking up lunch for us – you seem cheerful.”
“Khan just asked me out!”
“N–,” Yeva paused, before sighing and muttering to herself, “are you, … certain, that is a good idea?”
“I … I won’t deny that I’m nervous, I’ll probably need some extra oil before the date, but … I, I want this.”
Yeva’s eyes were searching for a few moments before she gave another sigh, “alright.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yes; I, I do not know how our live will be, going forward, but I know that I want my sisters to be happy.”
She could feel the memories urging her to hold on to them; moving over to Yeva, she gave her a hug that was returned, “… we’ll get her back, and our nephew, I promise, Yevs.”
(~*~)
Before Khan came to pick her up for their date; Yeva had had her drink some extra oil along with a little gift.
“I talk with Miss Cordelia,” Yeva started, “I thought you might want to dress up.”
From under her bed, Yeva pulled out a small paper wrapped package.
“You do not have to wear it, but I thought you might like it.”
Accepting the gift, she opened it to find a black lace shawl covered in embroidered roses with a fastener so she could wear it like a hooded cape.
“Yevs, this, this is beautiful where –?”
“I used some of my work credits,” Yeva said, “they have a lot of delivers that never got to go out so, I thought.”
“It’s perfect, … thank you,” she threw it around her shoulders, fastening it with a dramatic touch as she pulled up the hood and struck a pose, “how do I look?”
Yeva laughed. “… Happy, you look happy; one more thing,” from beneath her pillow she brought out a silver flask that was fastened to a black leather woven string belt, “it’s filled with oil, in case you need a drink.”
The two items felt heavy to her, but regardless, she put on the belt and was relieved to find that the shawl covered the flask of drone life blood.
“Thank you.”
The festival itself was a relatively simple thing; Becky had had her team put up red, pink and white decorations, some from the human’s stores and some clearly handmade. The cafeteria itself had been divided into four categories; a movie area, a dance floor and two eating areas, one for couples and another for those who did not wish to participate. The couple’s area wasn’t open yet, but from the entrance to the room she could see several small tables set up with their own individual tents for privacy.
“The dining area is by reservation,” Khan said, “is by reservation, since they’re individualized.”
Speaking of her, incredibly handsome date, Khan had forgone his usual worker’s jacket for a white button down and dark gray vest.
“I already checked in with Becky, so I thought we could catch one of the movies they’re playing.”
“Sure, did she tell you what it was?”
Becky had interesting tastes, not bad ones, just interesting, the Factory apparently had a cinephile hobby archivist with a full collection dating back to the start of the film industry. The film currently playing, however, was relatively recent, maybe five years before the destruction of earth – give or take a few years. It was a French animated film – the film maker apparently based it on two drones he had had in his youth that he claims helped him survive his difficult childhood. The critics at the time had trashed the film for his over personification of the drones due to the fact that it was told from the drone couple’s perspective. It was fantastical in a way that suggested the escapist mindset of a child in a bad house, and the happy end while pleasant, had a wish fulfillment aspect to it; but it was a nice dream.
“So, what did you think,” Khan asked once the movie had ended as the couple around them were beginning to get up.
“I think I might need to ask Becky for her movie playlist, think the guy made any other films?”
“I don’t think she’d mind if we ask, are you okay though, you looked like you were about to cry.”
Truth was, though it was animated, seeing Earth again – the memories were going to give her a headache before they all came back, a headache and a heartache.
“Yeah, guess I’m more of a sap than I thought – I mean, the ending didn’t even make any sense.”
“I think the ending was supposed to be artsy,” he said with a laugh, “makes me wonder what actually happened.”
At the end of the movie, the male drone, weeping over his wife’s meager grave, is struck by a vision of a deer wearing a crown of flowers that his wife apparently became, and he follows her into the forest, joining her in deer hood while the boy who was now a man remained at the grave in witness.
She had a feeling that the actual ending was far sadder than either of them wanted to consider, still, she humored him, “I bet, they grew wings and flew off to a secret drone kingdom where they reined as King and Queen for ten centuries.”
Khan laughed, and she thinks she’d fall in love all over again, every time she heard it, “aw, just ten – I don’t know I think they could probably go for longer.”
“No comment about the wings?”
“Hm, drones with wings, no that seems accurate.”
Despite her promise to Yeva, she would be lying if she said she was jealous that the Russian got to use her powers – even if the reason wasn’t the greatest.
The Festival Team was an efficient bunch as they guided the drone couples coming out of the movie area to the dining area’s individual seating tents. Each table had a tent made of an orange gold curtain, and a small light at the center, giving the place an intimate feel. There were brief menus at each table and once they gave their order, they were left alone.
“So, Miss Nori, I know this is a strange question but, do I look familiar, at all?”
“If you do, I wouldn’t be able to tell you;” she paused a moment as she debated how much to tell him, “I … the fix Yeva gave me is specifically for my memories – whatever happened during the implosion, messed up my head – I’m supposed to get everything back by the end of the year, but for now …”
“I’m sorry, is there anything I can do?”
“Not really, Yevs just said I need to avoid getting seriously injured before then – though I guess you can tell me why you asked that question?”
“Well, back at the camp, when I first saw you, I had two thoughts, and one of them was that you looked familiar.”
“And the other?”
“That you’re the most beautiful drone I’ve ever seen.”
As dinner went on, she learned a few things about the factory leader; he was a pill-born, the middle of three – he and his younger sister were sold to a facility when they were three. At the facility, due to a mix up, a pair of twins helped Khan and his sister to convince the humans that they were twins, which increased their chances of staying alive. His sister, unfortunately, died of injury and purposeful neglect, a few years into their work at Novea Spei – it was one of the reasons why he was so dedicated to ensuring the best of the best when it can to work safety.
After dinner, they found that the movie area had been turned into a rest place, and as they moved to the outer rim of the dance floor, the Festival Team got to work transforming the dining area into a refreshment station – the music starting low.
“Becky doesn’t miss a beat, does she,” she commented.
“Personally, I’m just hoping she remembered to take a breather.”
“Well, someone’s reminding her,” she continued as she pointed out Waylon on the other side of the dance floor, approaching the event planner with what had to be a clothe rose, “huh, I guess he is a softy.”
“Well now I feel out shone.”
She laughed, taking his hand as the music was kicking up, “then how about you show me your moves.”
The oil in her veins was thrumming, her heart singing as she danced with the factory leader – every swing, hop, slide and spin in sync in a way she never thought possible as he matched her every step. His hand in hers, his arm around her waist, their forms weaving around each other, the music carrying them into the night. She doesn’t know how long they danced before taking advantage of the rest area, laughter keeping them on cloud nine.
“I’ll get us something to drink,” her date said, over the music, “any request?”
“Just coolant for me.”
“Coming right up!”
Speaking of cooling, she could feel herself getting warm, there was likely no danger, but she still took out the flask of oil that Yeva had given her, choosing to nurse it for now.
“Battery acid,” a flat voice asked.
Looking to the right, she found Waylon – in a suit – seated nearby, his own flask in hand.
“Medicine.”
“Hm, same.”
“Don’t like parties?”
“… I’m a core born – facility raised; my parents often visited the Elliots.”
She winced, even through her memory fog, she knew who the Elliots were, if those were the memories he was raised on, she could only imagine the horrors he must have seen.
“And Becky?”
“Said I didn’t have to come,” yet here he was.
“Waylon,” Khan greeted as he came back with two cups of coolant.
“Mr. Dorn.”
“Go easy on the battery acid – at least for you kids tomorrow.”
He simply took another swig from the flask before heading off.
“Dorn,” she asked as she accepted the cup of coolant.
“The humans here, didn’t always let us choose our names – Dorn is what they picked out for me when I became the head of Group B, what do you think?”
She contemplated the name as she took a sip of her drink, “I, it’s like it almost right, just missing a few letters.”
“A few letters, huh – well when you figure out those letters, can you tell me?”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
There was the sound of a microphone coming on, then, “GOOD EVENING, NOVAE SPEI, IS EVERYONE HAVING A GOOD TIME?”
Becky’s words were met with cheers.
“Well, while I would love to let this go on till daylight, it’s nearly time to wrap this up, as such, we’ve got one more song before we turn in for the night.”
At her words, a gentle slow song came on, the stage lights in the cafeteria shifting.
“May I have this dance,” Khan asked, and in the stage lights, among the gentle glow of the surrounding tea lights and the shine coming off of the metallic decorations – she felt as though he was bliss personified.
She must have nodded as her hand found its way into his, his hand holding hers gently, securely, like if she were to fall now, he would keep her standing. On the dance floor, he was closer than he had been all night, as he held her, she swore she could count the pixels of his visor. Her face felt warm, but there was no place she’d rather be.
As the party came to a close, she could still feel a buzzing in her oil veins and Khan suggested taking a walk around the factory, their steps eventually taking them to the edge of a closed off work area.
“What’s this,” she asked.
“This is the entrance to the tunnel that will take us all the way to the bunker outpost that the human’s had planned – this factory is part live in, so lots of families would travel from the outpost to here, the tunnel was supposed to make that easier.”
“How stable is it, right now.”
“Fairly so, but we’re going slow and steady, it should be completed by May or June, considering it’s already dug, just needs to be widened and stabilized; humans tended to be more careful with this stuff when it comes to people who could actually sue for not preventing an unsafe environment.”
“So not as many worries as the rest of the factory.”
“We are making good time of the safety measures though.”
“I’ve noticed,” she had to admit, he had a good work ethic, that combined with how he looked out for the factory drones, it really was no wonder that they had placed him as leader.
She was hesitant, but for Yeva, she needed to ask, “Khan?”
“Yes.”
“I …,” she switched gears, “how long did it take you to get to the camp?”
“Huh, well, the implosion happened just a bit after midnight on the twenty-eighth of Seramorris, so about two weeks; we were concerned about the after tremors, so we were monitoring the area from a distance till we got the signal that it was safe enough to go in without the ground falling out beneath us, add to the fact that it’s a whole day’s journey to get there.”
There was a shameful sort of embarrassment on his face.
“Truth be told, I wanted to go in as soon as possible, because I was concerned about survivors,” he took her hand, “I’m glad that you and your sister are alright, I’m just sad that it took us so long to get to you.”
“Khan, I,” she took a breath, “remember when I told you about this collar?”
“You said it was important.”
“It is, so important, that, Yeva and I, we, we need to go back.”
“Go back, why?”
“I promise, it’s for a good reason, I just, Yeva’s memories are better than mine and, there’s something important that we need to get.”
She couldn’t read the look on his face but eventually, he sighed, “please don’t see this as an excuse, but, right now, I need to focus on the factory; these drones, they’re counting on me to lead them, here.”
“That’s okay, really, but maybe in the future?”
“I think I can work with that, though, truth be told, I’m more concerned with the–”
As she hit the ground, she could feel the world shaking, the alarms blaring, as a voice came over the loudspeakers, “AFTERSHOCK, EVERYONE TO THE NEAREST SHELTER, IF YOU ARE NEAR A CHILD, INJURED, OR DISABLED, THEN BRING THEM WITH YOU!”
“We need to go,” Khan said, bringing her to her feat as he rushed off with her to the closes shelter.
The area they were in was devoid of drone activity, a blessing except for the fact that the only safe area was a construction zone, leaving them far away from the necessary shelter. She could feel her internal gyroscope working overtime to stabilize her as the halls shook. Each twist and turn, as the world fell apart around them, made the corridor stretch on forever. Safety was still too far away – Khan yanking on her hand to pull her out of the way of falling debris – and the realization hit her of what she had to do. Internally she gave Yeva a silent apology as she brought Khan to a stop.
“Nori, we need to keep–” his voice cut off as her wings deployed, his eyes going hollow as she approached him.
“Nori,” his voice was like a whisper.
“We’ll be alright.”
Then she hugged him close, her tail wrapping around them both to keep him secure. With her right hand she brought forth a Solver shield and braced herself against it; then with a breath, she launched herself forward, her wings working double time to get them back to the common area as she dodged falling debris – the shaking of the halls becoming an issue of the past as she stalwartly refused to look down to see Khan’s expression.
It still took far to long but eventually as they came to the entrance of the common area, she tucked in her wings and tail for landing – only holding on to Khan for long enough to make sure he didn’t fall over.
“I,” he was starring at her as another tremor hit, “Khan, I …”
She couldn’t read his expression.
“Khan, Nori,” came the twin shouts, of Cordelia and Ronathan.
“Khan,” Ronathan said, “the central tower complex, the human’s blueprints were wrong, it’s collapsing.”
His eyes were wild as he refocused on Ronathan’s words, “is anyone there?”
“The night team,” Cordelia said, “they said they found oil in the area, and wanted to check without the foot traffic – Dmitri’s headed for the power center, the quakes are overloading the systems.”
“Cordi, gather Group C and D to go help the night team – Waylon, A and B for the working areas, cover Dmitri; I’ll take the rest to handle the civilians and surroundings.”
Just as she was about to rush off Ronathan Waylon stopped him, “you’ll need this.”
Taking the communicator in hand, Khan rushed off, Ronathan doing the same.
“Nori,” Cordelia asked, “are you alright?”
Distantly she could see her face in the reflection of Cordelia’s visor, she could see the symbol of the Solver as it flickered on and off, and yet, the older woman didn’t react beyond give her a hug.
“Give him a chance ma chérie, adrenaline is a wicked drug, so you must show him that nothing has changed.”
“What do I do?”
“You help, you repair, and you defend.”
“… Okay.”
Taking her hand, the older woman pulled her along as they rushed into the disaster area. There was smoke and fire, as by some miracle, the tower that was the central complex was still standing – standing but crumbling from the quakes revealing the years of structural neglect the humans had left behind.
Observing the area, Cordelia shouted over the crowd, to a female drone with white eyes, dark brown hair and a cowgirl hat, “Jo, get your team to the upper levels with hooks, security lines, and pullies, we need to hang the tower – C take the area.”
Immediately, Group C moved to support where D had been, as Jo’s team collected their tools and began climbing the walls to use the rest of the factory to fly the tower.
“Nori, you are with me,” taking out two bandannas, Cordelia handed her one; “it is dark, dusty and far larger than it has any right to be for such a small entrance – so cover up or you will be choking on dust, now follow.”
Imitating the older woman, she wrapped the bandana around her face, covering her mouth, and followed her into the tower. The place was just as she said as Cordelia gave one last note before splitting off, “you can only bring them out one at a time, do what you can.”
The only light came from the door, but even that, became dim the further in she went, distantly between the coughs and calls for help, she heard a familiar sound, but as she looked around, she could find no trace of Yeva’s red, instead, she saw orange.
Cordelia’s words echoed – fine, she knew what to do.
Bringing out her tail, she used it to light the area – only two feet before her but it would have to do. Somehow, the inside of the tower was worse than the outside as she made her way through, calling out and listening, for survivors.
“Hello” a voice called out, “please, is anyone there!”
The drones she found looked like they had tried to protect each other. Their screens were cracked – covered in dust and oil –, some had crushed arms, legs, or some combination of the two. There were ten total.
“I’m here, my name is Nori, I’m going to get you out of here.”
So far as she could tell, their systems would likely have to undergo a full internal repair or reboot, however, their current visual and sensory blindness would be to her advantage. With the Solver she removed the rest of the debris from around them. Using edit, she repaired their limbs and screens to the extent that they could move with her – to the extent that their injuries were still believable while keeping herself from suspicion. Once they were standing, supporting each other, she led them out using the Solver to keep them safe from the collapsing complex.
It took three more trips before – as she came with the last group, her Solver form hidden – she could hear Cordelia calling before she could go back in.
“Nori, wait, that’s the last of the Night team.”
“Shouldn’t we try to stabilize–”
Just as she said those words, the last of the major aftershocks that would happen in the time since the implosion – shook the lower half of the tower free from the top. Through the dust, she felt something like a spider’s claw grab her, and when the dust had cleared, Cordelia was shielding her. Her oil was thrumming in her veins, her heart beating faster than she could ever recall. Looking around, everyone seemed alright till.
“KALI,” Ron’s voice came like a dying scream.
She could see him rushing into the area, what had to have been baby Thaddeus in his arms, Khan and Bianca – a black-haired drone with blue eyes like ice – rushing up behind him. He was running to the tower as Khan and the drone medic attempted to keep him back from the volatile area. Distantly she noted Groups A and B coming in led by Ronathan, with Dmitri and Yeva along with them, looking disheveled.
“LET ME GO,” he screamed as he fought more drones coming forward to hold him back as Jo had yet to give the signal to Group D to lower the top half of the tower.
Cordelia gave a gasp, her hand catching it, “oh … no.”
She looked to the older woman, before turning her gaze in the direction of the half collapsed complex, her eyes going hollow. Just beyond the dust she could make out the sight of a drone head, the body crushed, her arms starched upwards like broken wing as her hands held tight to half collapsed chains that appeared to thread the tower – thread it like it had been the only thing keeping it stable.
“KALI,” came one last scream as Ron fell to his knees, Thaddeus held tight as he wept.
Steeling herself, Cordelia called out to her team. “Group C, Group D” she took a breath, “we, we need to lower the rest of the tower, left side, so we can retrieve the body.”
Before going to direct the others, Cordelia turned to her, “go to your sister, dear; we have it from here.”
She gave a stiff nod, and with a singular backwards glance, she moved over to Yeva.
Her sister looked tired but nothing that some oil, and a good night’s rest, wouldn’t fix; though truth be told, she could see just the barest speck of oil at the corner of her lips. Ronathan had moved to help his wife and Jo, as Dmitri left Yeva’s side to help Ron.
“We should go,” Yeva said, the night had become somber.
She nodded but before they could return to their room, they heard an alert.
“No, no, no,” Ron sounded desperate, “please, not you too.”
“Bianca,” Khan said, “can you do anything.”
“This is an unrecorded virus,” she said, “it has been plaguing the nursery for some time now, Ivan and I have tried to find a cure, but it would move from pill to pill before we could corner it.”
“Well, it is just Thad now,” Dmitri said, “can you help him?”
“Nori–” Yeva started.
“The scanner’s gonna break,” she said, she felt like she was dreaming, yet the world had a clarity to it.
“What,” Yeva asked.
“Their machines won’t work,” she turned to her sister, “Alice should be here.”
Yeva’s breath caught, “Nori, … what do you know?”
“I think we brought the virus; I think I brought the virus.”
“Do you still have it,” Yeva’s right hand was holding her’s, her left was on her face.
“No, … he does,” she said turning to where Bianca was doing everything, she could to keep Thad online.
“Can you help him,” Yeva asked.
“Alice should have been here,” was all she said as she moved forward to the frantic group.
“It is overloading everything,” Bianca said.
“What about the nursery, or the medical office,” Dmitri asked.
“They’re both blocked off,” Khan said, “it would take to long.”
“Ron,” she called to them.
They must not have heard her come over from the startled looks on their faces.
“I can help, I, I’ve seen this virus, I can contain it, please.”
She can only assume it was their desperation, but they gave Thad over to her.
Kneeling down, her shawl enshrouded her and the pill as she gestured for them to pass her the medical kit; reaching in she took a charging wire and connected her core to the drone babe.
Yes, she knew this virus; it was like a honey virus but in this case the gold was Cyn. She had no doubt this was one last bit of revenge that would have revealed itself had she had a child of her own. As she wasn’t Thad’s mother, she would be unable to remove it properly but as a Solver, as one who used to work closely with Cyn, she could contain the virus withing the pill, to keep it from escaping and keep it from harming the boy that had just become an orphan.
It was sometime before they heard Thad cooing, before he gave a yawn and settled down to rest for the night.
She unplugged herself – hiding the fact that the charging cord could no longer be unplugged from her core – and handed the pill baby back to Ron.
“I can’t remove it, and it can’t run anymore, but it shouldn’t be able to hurt him.”
“Contained is enough,” Bianca said, “thank you, we will take it from here.”
She could hear Ron muttering ‘thank you’s as he held Thad close, rocking the pill baby.
(~*~)
That night passed quietly, as did the next day and the rest of the week. Cordelia had taken one of the private rooms to take care of Kali’s body and prepare her box for the funeral – the funeral, itself was held a week later on Sunday the twentieth. It was a quiet affair, everyone in the factory who had known John Mathews and been in attendance to pay their last respects to the only drone who could ever keep up with him. Though she hadn’t thought it would have been appropriate, Ron had asked her and Yeva to be in attendance – something she suspected that was due to her saving Thad
As for the pill, though the baby had yet to be properly adopted by anyone, Ron had taken to carrying the kid around, either in arm or by using a wrap. The man was even taking his mealtimes in the nursery so he could be with the baby. This continued for some time after till she caught sight of Cordelia and Ronathan sitting down with the drone man, two personal affects boxes at their side – boxes that belong to Thad’s parents.
It was the last day of February – Monday the twenty-eighth – when Khan came to the mortician’s primary room where she was working with Yeva and Cordelia – Dmitri supervising, yet the man appeared far more relaxed then when he was first given the post.
“Miss Nori,” Khan started, “may speak with you.”
“Uh, sure?”
He was waiting for her outside the workroom door, by the time she had removed her work smock and gloves.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hi,” he started, “I uh, … Cordi told me about how you helped her rescue the Night team, so thank you, for that and for saving Thad.”
“No problem, … I just wish I could’ve saved Kali, how’s Ron doing anyway?”
“He’s surviving, Ronathan and Cordelia are helping him and Thad, I … Kali was a factory print, she and Ron were made the same day from the same machine.”
“A factory print, with green eyes?”
“Ha, yeah, Ron knows the whole story, but apparently the machine broke down with her inside; a human repaired her, brought her online.”
“And that give a factory print green eyes?”
“I guess.” He was quiet for a moment, and she could see what he wanted to ask. “I, … Nori, … what … you did, … does it have to do with the camp?”
“… Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Now what,” she asked.
“Now, there’s probably a million things I should do.”
“And what will you do?”
“Publicly, I’m going to ensure that a valuable member of our work force is given everything she and her sister needs; privately, I wanted to ask if you wouldn’t mind a second date.”
“Really, even after,” she made a small gesture, miming her wings.
Khan looked bashful, “if I’m honest, they’re kind of cute.”
She could feel her face heating up, “uh so a date?”
“Yeah, maybe this Friday?”
“Friday works.”
“Great, see you then?”
“Yeah.”
Their second date was a small picnic that Khan had set up on the staff lounge that the humans once used. It was quieter, simpler, but she wouldn’t have given it up for anything. After that they scheduled their next date for two Fridays later. Though, earlier in the week leading to the date, she had found a small package of expertly crafted handmade candies batteries set on her worktable with a small note that said, ‘Happy White day, with love’ – she must have been insufferable that week as she waited for the night of her third date with Khan – not that the two of them didn’t hangout even during their off time.
Though it seemed she wasn’t the only one, as when she went to grab some supplies from the closet a few doors down from the primary room, she opened the door to find Yeva and Dmitri, locking lips. She had to stick around Cordelia for protection after making a joke to Yeva about Dmitri giving the Russian the perfect birthday present.
As time passed, Ron eventually adopted Thad on the second Friday of April. She and Khan, meanwhile, continued their dates, at the end of every other week, with Yeva pointblank rejecting the notion of a double date – though she knew the Russian was meeting with Dmitri for her own dates. Eventually, between Khan, Dmitri and Cordelia, they were finally able to get Sarah to drop the oil investigating while agreeing, that she and Yeva needed to meet with Ivan and Bianca – Doctor Patient confidentiality assured. With their backing, she and Yeva were able to get the necessary stipend of oil, with the rest of the factory being none the wiser.
“So, you can smell the difference,” Khan asked while they were on their fifth Friday date.
“Difference, health, the works.”
“Did you have a favorite?”
If Bianca, Ivan, and Yeva noticed that she didn’t need as much oil for breakfast, they didn’t say a word – unrelated, Khan had Becky handle the Saturday morning announcements, due to a “hangover”. Also unrelated, the massive side eye Bianca gave Yeva when Dmitri came in the week before, due to his own, “hangover”.
(~*~)
It was funny, both she and Yeva claimed that they weren’t superstitious but when Khan asked for her hand in marriage all she could think was that it needed to be a June wedding. Dmitri had also recently asked Yeva to marry him – their wedding was scheduled for May twenty-sixth.
“So, why that day,” she had asked her sister as they browsed the clothing that hadn’t been delivered for proper wedding attire.
“The tunnel to the bunker was completed last week along with any necessary repairs that were made to the Outpost,” Yeva started as she considered a rather plain looking wedding dress, before switching her gaze to something more traditional, “and the heads have been in rotation preparing the place for proper living arrangements.”
“Yeah, and?”
Khan had already told her this, Outpost 3 was like a small city or a large village due to its size – he had already posted a map of the place and sign ups so people could figure out which living arrangements would be best.
“Khan said that they are ‘cutting the ribbon’ on May twenty-seven, but that any married couples and families could move in the night before.”
Meaning Yeva and Dmitri get married on Thursday and move into their new home right after the wedding celebration. She could respect that, it’s not like the wedding day she chose was any better, but it wasn’t her fault that June first fell in the middle of the week.
In the days leading up to the weddings, Becky was a massive aid, but at times she kind of wanted the woman to take a breather. That was the thing with drone women who were with code, they tended to get a massive burst of energy in the time leading up to the due date – they also tended to crash harder when they finally did rest, not that that seemed to matter to the woman. Her husband was another matter, as despite his expression never changing from its neutral look, he was clearly doing his best to get his wife to rest. When she asked the woman why they were putting so much effort into everything, was when Becky finally seemed to pause.
“Okay, so admittedly, this might be a bit of wish fulfillment on my part,” Beck started, “I don’t regret getting married the way I did, and I’m happy that my little girl will be arriving soon, but I do kind of wish I had waited to have a proper ceremony.”
The woman took a breath.
“Then there’s the other thing,” Becky paused a moment as she considered her words, “we are our own people now, but with that comes the fact that we have to measure our own checks; except for Khan, all our head are dead, but we still have all our seconds and thirds – I don’t know if he already told you this, but it was due to an internal struggle that Group B was almost completely scrapped.”
Becky let out a mirthless chuckle before continuing.
“Khan and I, we were going to be linked then made to created two dozen pills before we were sent to our deaths, as for my husband – Super Suppressors aren’t allowed to reproduce – since he was in Group B, they were going to perform an exploratory dissection.”
Her gaze looked haunted.
“Ron said Aimes – that’s the human who saved Kali way back then – he said that Aimes was trying to save us; I don’t know if he would have succeeded, but after the implosion I was so happy to be alive, that Waylon was alive, and well, one thing lead to another, but I don’t regret it, I don’t think I ever could.”
The unborn code in her core seemed to recognize her mother’s gentle joy.
“Khan was our only head left,” she continued after a moment, “but standard protocol means that the seconds become heads and the thirds, seconds while a new third is chosen after an evaluation; so, you can imagine who challenged him for control of the colony at the first available moment considering that he was the head of Group B.”
She could imagine, though Khan had been able to put the oil investigation to a satisfactory rest, Sarah was still a constant thorn as she attempted to subtly undermine the Factory Leader’s authority.
“Maybe it’s petty,” Becky continued, “but I’m hoping that with the effort we’re putting into these weddings, that it’ll reenforce the authoritorial hierarchy – that it will say, the colony has spoken, this is our leader, this is how we want things; this is good, and it need not change.”
So, funnily enough, it didn’t hit her that she was becoming the wife of the Colony leader – and by proper standard, co-leader – till early morning of Yeva’s wedding.
They were currently in the medical wing due to the fact that Becky and Waylon’s little girl apparently wanted to be physically present at Yeva’s wedding.
“I don’t think I can do this Yevs,” she said, doing her best to keep down her breakfast oil.
Yeva just raised a brow at her.
“Don’t give me that look, that last time I was a leader, was in a cult; I can’t lead these drones!”
“Fascinating,” Yeva said, “do I need to bring out another tin of Khan’s oil?”
“That was a dirty trick, and you know it; besides not mauling someone isn’t the same as not leading people down the wrong path.”
“Really, so you know everything that should not be done, retrospect truly is twenty-twenty.”
She didn’t really have a response to that.
“You will be fine Nori, besides, as your husband, Khan is meant to cover your faults and reenforce your strengths just as you will do for him – you will soon be his co-leader meaning the two of you will stand together; what’s more, you will have the seconds, thirds and co’s standing with you – Cyn and Emmet isolated you, but you don’t have to be alone anymore.”
Yeva’s words echoed through her head for the rest of the day as Elizabeth Borden Fishers was transferred into her pill body; the girl’s pink eyes having inherited her father’s bored look but with a touch of attitude that was all her mother’s. The Echo of Yeva’s words continued as they prepared for the wedding, through out the ceremony, and on to the after party as she gave her Maid of Honor speech – Khan having been the Best Man.
As they danced, Khan holding her close, she found that while she was still nervous, it didn’t seem so daunting. Yeva and Dmitri left the party at nine with Becky promising to get their wedding gifts delivered to them the next day an hour after lunch. As the party was closing for the night – an hour after the newlyweds had left – Khan had asked her while they worked on clean up, if she was heading back to her room after; she told him that Cordelia and Ronathan had invited her to stay over at their new apartment in the Outpost till her own wedding.
Ronathan and Cordelia Waylon’s apartment was small yet spacious, the perfect home for people who would likely invite their grandchildren over. On the first of June, the day of her own wedding, she could feel the nerves returning, and apparently Cordelia had noticed.
“Deep breaths, Nori,” Cordelia started as she brought out the wedding dress, it was simple, traditional, something she imagines her oldest code sister would have chosen, were she allowed – it was why she picked it. She was already wearing her redesigned, redecorated collar.
“Cordi, were you nervous on your wedding day?”
That question brought the older woman to a pause.
“Nathan and I knew each other for many years before we were wed, we had petitioned our masters to allow it, we figured, they were rich and seemed – at the time – the type to keep their pills; so while I was nervous, it wasn’t for the same reason I imagine you are.”
“Cordi … do I seem like I could be a good leader?”
“Do you want an honest answer?”
She nodded.
“No, right now, you look scared that one wrong move will bring the end of Copper 9, however, if you were to ask me if I think you will eventually be a good leader, then the answer is yes; one day you will wake up and lead as easily as you breath, and you won’t know when it started, but that won’t matter.”
She held on to those words as she went through the pre-wedding medical checks – in the Outpost’s new medical center – to ensure that her program would be able to accept the marriage link, then a thought occurred to her just as Bianca gave her the ‘all clear’.
“Hey, Doc,” she stared.
“Yes, Miss Nori,” Bianca asked.
“I know the doctor patient confidentiality is important but I gotta ask, did Yeva ask if she would be able to have a core born?”
“… You want to be a mother?”
“I … it’s never really been on the books for me, and now with the whole oil thing …”
“If you like, I can do an examination of your core.”
She hesitated before giving a nod, leaning back in the examination chair as Bianca plugged the computer line into her core and brought out her scanner.
Yeva had told her that their little sister was now a mother – that their nephew was a pill born – but that made her curious. Drone Law states that a married drone couple had to produce a pill before they were allowed to have a core born. You would think that law was in place for some reason like, it was the only way to start the ability to reproduce but the answer was actually much simpler. If a drone woman was with code, she couldn’t aid in the production of a pill born till after the code in her core was transferred into its own body. Naturally, this disgruntled J.C. Jenson – anything that slowed the production of new servants, disgruntled them – but considering they couldn’t find any way to tamper with the drone systems to get passed this piece of program script, they instead implemented a new drone law.
But now the humans were gone, and there was no one who could force her to be a servant baby factory; whatever child she had would be hers to love and care for, and no one would be able to take away her parental admin.
After Bianca had given her the ‘all clear’, she met with Yeva, Becky and baby Elizabeth back at Cordelia and Waylon’s apartment.
“How are you doing Nori,” Becky asked, “Cordi said you were nervous.”
“Just jitters, I guess,” she said as she took a seat on the bed she had been using in the guest room, “hey, Yevs, how’s the married life?”
“It is, nice …,” Yeva shook her head, appearing lost in thought. When she spoke again it was to the whole room, “forgive me, I, I left my parents when I was thirteen; we were the only three drones in our household – our masters were pleasant, and my parents had a good standing with them – I suppose it has only now occurred to me how different my life would have been if I hadn’t left.”
And she could understand that; what would have happened if she, Yeva or Alice hadn’t volunteered? In truth, she didn’t want to consider it … she didn’t want to consider it.
In that moment it was like a light finally turned on in her mind. For all the hardships, for all her terrible choices … she didn’t want a different life. Yes, she wishes she hadn’t listened to Cyn and Emmet – that was one regret she would carry for a long time – but the choice of volunteering for the labs, of getting to meet her sisters, of being here, at Novae Spei, at Outpost 3; this is where she wanted to be.
For as daunting as the future seemed, there was no place she’d rather be as she walked down the aisle, her eyes never leaving Khan’s for a second even as they sat in the chairs whose shackles had been removed – no longer would they be a sign of drones chained to one another, now they would be a sign of a willing and loving union.
Ivan was officiating the ceremony as the head most doctor of the colony, considering what the process of linking two drones in marriage, called for.
“Dearly beloved of the Colony of Outpost three,” Ivan began, “we are gathered here today to witness the union of Khan Dorn and Nori Fever.”
She kind of hated the fact that the chairs were faced towards the crowd, but she kept her eyes on Khan – his smile doing wonders to calm her racing heart as she finally tuned back in to Ivan’s speech about love, choice and the freedom to be people and not chattel.
“Now seeing as there are no objections,” Ivan continued, “Mister Khan, do you take this young woman to be your wife, to love and honor, to respect and aid, to guide and accept guidance from, to guard and care for, to work with her, in sickness and health, through everything your lives may hold, till your code ceases to be.”
“I do.”
“And Miss Nori, do you take this young man to be your husband to love and honor, to respect and aid, to guide and accept guidance from, to guard and care for, to work with him, in sickness and health, through everything your lives may hold, till your code ceases to be.”
“I do.”
“Khan,” Ivan said, “if you will.”
“Nori, I know you might not remember, but on our first date, when I told you that you looked familiar it was for a reason – and I did double check my memory – I was ten when I visited an embassy where I attended a tea ceremony being done by a young drone girl; a drone girl that I now know was you.”
Her breath caught another memory slid into place.
“I thought of that day for many years, never thinking I would see her again, then, at the camp, when I saw you, it was like the memory was only yesterday – and when I pulled you from the snow, our hands sparked; I believe I fell in love with you that day, and every day since, it has only grown and there is nothing more I’d rather do then to continue to grow this love with you.”
“Nori,” Ivan prompted.
“… Khan,” she gave a huffed laugh, “– you kind of derailed me here – my memories aren’t the best, but around you, they seem to come back faster, you give me an ease that I haven’t felt in a long time, a sense of safety, of purpose – I see you and how you care for everyone and I want to work alongside you, I want to be your support.”
She took a breath, “many of my memories are unpleasant, but I remember the tea ceremony, I remember the little drone boy who made me laugh when your handler’s phone kept interrupting, and in the time I’ve known you since the camp, I’ve found that I want to keep making memories with you.”
Then Ivan spoke, turning to Bianca, “wires please.”
Bianca moved a small computer cart, just behind and between the two chairs, the screen facing away from the crowd and towards Ivan. From the computer came a ‘Y’ cord with the tail already plug in – the two heads were handed off, one to her and one to Khan; these, in essence, would be their rings.
“Mister Khan, please repeat after me; Nori, with this cord, I wed thee.”
“Nori, with this cord, I wed thee,” and as though he were handling porcelain, Khan gently plugged the cord into the back of her head.
“Miss Nori, please repeat after me; Khan, with this cord, I wed thee.”
“Khan, with this cord, I wed thee,” and as carefully as she could, she plugged the wire into the back of Khan’s head.
“Now,” Ivan said, “if you’ll both lean back in your chairs.”
In her mind she could see the broken parental link that she once held with her parents, she could see the sister link she still held with Yeva and the one she once held with Alice; now she could see a new link coming into existence as her marriage link with Khan, settled in like it was always meant to be.
It was a few moments more till Ivan spoke again, “and now to the witnesses present, I now present, Mr. and Mrs. Dorn – you may now kiss the bride.”
If the Crucifix Patch gave her, her freedom, then this kiss had to be life. Whatever her future held, she wasn’t afraid anymore – she would handle the past as it came, but this was her life, and she would give it her all.
The celebration afterwards would never be able to match the joy in her heart and in the week after – her honeymoon – she couldn’t recall a memory where she ever felt more loved.
She came back to work, the Wednesday after her wedding, her heart still singing. She like most family people, had taken her breakfast in her apartment – and wasn’t that a novel thought. She and Khan had chosen the place together – it wasn’t too far from Yeva, Becky, Cordelia and Ron’s respective homes, but the only other place that was an untaken apartment across the hall. It was secluded without being isolated a detail she enjoyed as she and Khan met up with the others as they were emerging from their homes to travel to the factory. There were plans to move some of the less factory-oriented jobs over to the outpost, but that would come in time.
The tunnel had two primary modes of transportation, the walkways on either side of the tunnel and the two-way center road with train carts that would roll along tracks to transport drones to and from the Outpost and the factory – on the hour. As this was the morning shift, both cart trains were already beginning to fill up as they all took their seats.
“So,” Becky started, as Elizabeth went back to sleep in the pink baby sling her mother was wearing, “how’s the married life?”
“It’s nice.”
“Just nice,” Yeva asked with a slight glance at her core.
When a drone is a core born, they don’t always, immediately, show in their mother’s core; case en point, she and Khan had only noticed the fluctuations in her core, during today’s breakfast.
“You’re with code,” Becky said just barely managing to keep her voice low.
She just nodded; it was a little overwhelming – she could see tears in Cordelia’s eyes.
“Cordi?”
The older woman gathered herself before speaking, “hold them close Nori, and never let them go; alright?”
And in that moment, Cordelia’s words from the day of her wedding hit her hard.
“I will,” what else could she say to a woman who had her own children taken away.
It was a week later that Yeva revealed that she was also with code; her reason for not speaking sooner being that while her core was showing fluctuations, they were slow and far apart. While she would have liked to have said something sooner, she had wanted to wait for the fluctuations to be stronger.
Time passed in an easy way as she slowly took to her second job as Khan’s co-leader. She still worked in the Mortician’s Hall, but now it was second to helping her husband in ensuring the colony and the factory was running smoothly along with keeping good relations with the other outposts. Towards the end of the month – June thirtieth – they celebrated her birthday. Her memories were coming back a little quicker, but the blanks between and the blurry details were still a matter to deal with. Many times, over Ivan and Bianca had offered to help, but there was something in her that said that for all the horrors the two had likely seen at Novae Spei, that they didn’t deserve to have to bear witness to the horrors of the labs.
Five months went by in a blink, when on October twenty-ninth – a Saturday –, not long from daybreak, she and Khan had to rush to medical, where Yeva’s core was already hooked up to a newly printed pill shell. Ivan and Bianca, taking notice of her own reason for being there, split their duties – Ivan remaining with Yeva and Dmitri while Bianca directed her to her own medical chair the begin the process of transferring her little girl into her own preprepared, newly printed pill shell.
Doll Fotograf was officially born, half an hour before sunrise – Uzi, however, was dying.
With Doll firmly in her shell, Ivan worked with Bianca to stabilize the UNN code.
Sometimes during the transfer between core and pill, there are complications. Sometimes the code is too weak, lacking the proper infrastructure to live outside their mother’s core. Sometimes, as prepared as the shell is to welcome the UNN, there might still be an incompatibility. And sometimes, there’s just something in the child’s code that won’t let them live, something that might not be discovered until it’s too late.
The world didn’t seem real anymore; her heart had stopped, her oil had run dry – the world was going dark.
Her left hand!
Looking to her left, there was Khan. His eyes were hollow, but the set of them … he hadn’t given up. She could feel how tightly he held her hand in both of his. She took a breath and finally heard what the doctors were trying to tell her.
“Nori,” Bianca said, “you need to go inside your programming, talk to her.”
She didn’t say a word as she nodded, Ivan approaching with a ‘Y’ cord with a box at its center. Drones could access their own programming vary easily – links, like the one she held with Khan, like the one they both held with their unborn daughter, was a way they could communicate with each other. The Communication cord would be hooked up between them and her core to allow for a deeper connection.
Khan sat down on a cupped back stool they brought for him to sit next to her. It would be like they were asleep as they fought for their daughter’s life.
Her eyes closed and opened once more in a world that she knew was the brightened void.
She could feel her Solver form coming forth and heard Khan breath next to her – she would be lying if she said that the way her looked at her didn’t make her heart feel warm.
He took her hand, “let’s find our girl.”
She nodded.
Despite the brightness, it was still a journey as they worked through her code to find their girl. Memories, old, new, blurred and clear were passed by. Every so often, she caught sight of Khan’s eyes lingering on a memory and she felt nerves that she knew he could see as every memory was held together by the emotions of the moment and the new ones built in reaction to the recollection. But despite everything he saw – what sound that could be heard, blurring together – he just held her hand tighter.
When they came to the memories she had regained from the labs – he closed his eyes.
“I want you to be the one to tell me;” was all he said, and she felt relief.
Through memories, emotions and programing, they eventually came to a part of her mind that appeared more tangled than everything else, and she just knew.
She could recall a memory. Alice was raised by a drone behavioral specialist – just a fancy way of saying, drone psychologist – she had told her once, that even optimal suppressors can suppress too much, when they do, something is bound to break.
Right in front of her, was her fear. Fear of the past, for the present, and for the future – and right now, it was choking her daughter.
“Nori,” Khan said, his eyes still closed, “are you okay, what’s happening?”
“I, I found her.”
While she and Khan’s digital forms resembled their physical selves, their daughter was like a purple star, but that star was fading.
Without looking, Khan began moving forward, pulling her along as she did her best to keep them from becoming tangled as well. Kneeling down in the mess felt like embracing a spider’s web, but still, she directed Khan’s hands so they could both hold on to the fading star. With every thread they removed, two more appeared and Uzi’s light became dimmer.
“Nori,” Khan spoke, “breath with me, I can’t do this alone, she needs both of us.”
She remembered asking Alice how an optimal suppressor was supposed to handle the things they suppressed.
“You face them,” Alice had said, “maybe not all at once, but even an amnesiac will have to deal with the trauma eventually.”
Alright.
She was afraid.
Some part of her knew that her daughter was probably going to be a Solver – but she wouldn’t be alone.
She would be there for her, so would Yeva and Alice, when they saved her little sister.
Uzi wouldn’t be alone; she’d have Doll and her other cousin.
She knew what not to do and though she wasn’t likely to show her Solver form in public, she knew that Khan would accept their daughter, wings and all.
She’d have to deal with the memories with her regrets over her past actions, but she wouldn’t let the past keep her from her daughter.
When she blinked again, she found herself back in the medical center … she could hear yawning and cooing. To her left Khan was crying, but the smile on his face was the brightest thing in the world.
“Nori,” Bianca said, “can you hear me?”
She nodded and the doctor smiled before continuing.
“Someone would like to meet you.”
And there in her arms was her daughter, the screen of her pill shell was lit up with the most beautiful purple eyes she had ever seen.
Uzi was born, just a half hour after sunrise.
It was a bit before her heart stopped racing, Yeva and Dmitri coming into the room with their own little girl.
She laughed, holding her daughter up for the Russian family to see, “hey Yevs, looks like our girls are twins.”
Purple haired twins at least when the doctors finished with the medical checks.
If her wedding was the happiest day of her life, then November was the happiest month; so of course it would come to an end.
The first vision came on the first of December. When she came out of it, the living room was a reck and she could hear Uzi crying.
“Nori,” Khan called, as he did his best to sooth their girl, but she could barely hear him, her whole being, captured by the things she had written and drawn in her own oil.
His hand landed gently on her shoulder – she was kneeling – rushing to her feet, she took hold of his shoulders, Uzi cries were a distant thought.
“Doors, we need doors,” she started, “we’re not safe, we need to reenforce the windows, and the tunnel; the Outpost, the factory they have too many vulnerabilities, we need to go into lock down – they’ll come out of the shadows, they’ll kill us.”
“Nori?”
“We need reenforced doors, two, no, ten at each entrance; we can’t leave not even when it’s light – the sky demons, we need to build doors, against the coming sky demons.”
There were many more visions, and she knew Khan had spoken to Yeva, but she didn’t care because soon Khan had given the order, and plans were made and implemented.
Between the construction, and the other work of the factory and outpost, they rarely saw each other. Uzi was usually with Khan while she isolated herself in the apartment workroom, drawing up plan after plan. They were incredibly ruff; Khan was the architect, the programmer, but she knew he could read her work and make the needed adjustments.
The light came on in the room – she hadn’t even realized it was off.
“Nori, someone wants to see you.”
“Huh, oh hey, is it lunch time already?”
“Actually, it’s dinner.”
“Oh, … I guess I’ll eat in here, I need to finish these.”
Rather than saying anything, Khan sat to her left, on the bench she was using at the worktable. He rested Uzi on the table, his arm blocking her from rolling off the side.
He was quiet a moment before he spoke, “do you know how I convinced the team to go through with the project?”
She made a sound for him to continue.
“I told them that it was good reinforcement against the toxic death storms and whatever debris they might pick up.”
She paused.
“You don’t believe me,” she finally said, his breath catching, both of them very aware of the multitude of drawings and writings plastered on every wall of the room along with the symbol on the ceiling.
“… I …,” he paused, “I’m not sure what to think … I’ll finish the reinforcement, …”
“But?”
“You’ve lock yourself away, and I don’t know how to reach you … Dmitri told me he overheard you and Yeva arguing.”
He was changing the subject. Khan had given Yeva the approval to put together a team so they could head back to the camp; it would take time to plan and now even longer with the building project – Yeva had asked her to help, and she had shut her down in favor of the project.
The colony or their little sister; they couldn’t save them both. Alice was in a snake’s nest and the drones here weren’t equipped to handle it, not on so short notice, not with the coming threat. She knew the Russian was still putting together a team, Dmitri and Ron were on it, even Cordelia was going to go with them. But she couldn’t not when their time was running out.
“Nori, I may not understand, but I’m still going to help you, but please don’t lock me out, you have a family here and we need you with us.”
The world felt heavy, like she had reached her three hundred years.
“I’m doing this for us.”
“I understand that, but you can’t help anyone if you stay locked up in here; we need you out there, Uzi and I need you.”
His right arm rested around her.
“We’re cutting the ribbon next week; we recently finished the prototype on the primary door, the factory is all set, but everyone wants to celebrate – we’ve never been able to celebrate the first of Seramorris, I guess now seems like a better time than any, the weather will be good.”
She didn’t say anything.
“It’ll be Uzi’s first time outside.”
She finally turned to look at him – he started wearing the mustache again, just a few days after Uzi was born.
She sighed, “alright.”
He smiled and they heard a devious giggle, as she turned just in time to catch Uzi before she rolled off her end of the worktable.
Their little girl had rolled right into an ink puddle she had been meaning to clean up, that ink now made a ring around her pill shell and an ink line across her latest blueprint – the mark underlining the new last name she had come up with for their family – done in a fit of delusion, but Khan seemed to like it.
“Uzi,” she scolded only for Khan to laugh.
“I think we have an architect on our hands,” he gestured at the line that had been drawn and erased, a hundred times over, the line that Uzi had made was as close to perfect as it could be.
She sighed as Uzi gave Khan her own laugh to accompany his, before her screen gave a beep to tell them she was hungry – as if the alert over the parental admin wasn’t enough.
“A hungry architect apparently.”
(~*~)
It happened on a Sunday, the first day of Seramorris. They were having fun. Dmitri had even brought out an upgraded version of an old polaroid camera so of course, Khan wanted a family photo; but as happy as everyone was, she couldn’t feel the same, even as she held the picture.
It happened after nightfall, when she and Yeva no longer needed their metal parasols to protect them from the sun. They still weren’t on speaking terms, but she hoped her sister would be able to forgive her one day.
It happened so quickly, all she could see was Khan holding Uzi, keeping the door open for just one more drone. The demons were like animals, and she could see the biggest one closing in on the family she had been ignoring for the past month.
All she could feel was pain as her body failed her, her regeneration, unable to keep up with the burning that covered her body.
Then there was nothing.
When she woke up, the world was much bigger, and the cold realization hit her.
Her body was dead.
“Nori,” that was Cordelia, “I know you can hear me – you do not have to say anything – we, we are in the Mortician’s Hall; you should know, Uzi and Doll they are like you and Yeva.”
Cordi paused.
“I am supposed to prepare your box, but we could fix you, and you can come back – it will be a miracle – please Nori, your family needs you; I do not know what they did to Yeva, but I believe they were pinging her, she is not in a good state right now.”
She could hear Cordelia moving and a door opening.
“There is everything you need to repair yourself; I need to check on the others.”
(Part of her still wonders if Cordelia actually knew she was alive or was just hoping.)
She left, that night after gathering a few things that were in her box – that she had been carrying during the attack.
Her black lace shawl was in taters, but she could use the scraps, a black cloth flower from her wedding bouquet, the hat she had fastened it to would need to be adjusted but she could still use it. Then there were the photos. One was partially eaten through with acid; the other was of Uzi – she took the second one. She would leave behind her necklace for her daughter.
Uzi was like her, and now Cyn had sent her army to Copper 9.
Yeva was right, they needed to return to the camp, they needed the patch.
It took her twenty-six days to reach the camp, traveling by night due to her aversion to daylight, and dogging the murder pet’s nightly patrols – closing her ears against the death cries in the dark.
Reaching the camp, she discovered the primary building had sunk onto the ground, the infostructure around it, torn to shreds. Inside was a nightmare; gone was her gentle little sister, as she held back the surviving cult drones as they rebelled against her in wake of Cyn’s army. In Alice’s arms was her own son, held close and with care. The babe was unconcerned as his mother split oil with knife, in hand and in tail. The blue-eyed child was unbothered as the antlers Alice wore – decorated with blades a plenty – were used to gut one drone after another.
For a moment she thought to just in to help when the words of the cult drones became clearer. They were waiting for her, they were waiting for ‘Nori, Servant of Cyn’ and as Alice denounced her, a realization came over her.
Yeva had told her that when Alice had received the test patch, that it had corrupted her memories; evidently, it had erased the case Yeva had made for her – it had erased the memory of her apology. If she went out there, it would be a disaster.
So once more she turned away from her family, for their sake.
With how small she was, she wouldn’t need a keybug as she made her way thought the air vents that were only small enough for a Solver heart.
It was the twenty-eighth of Seramorris – right after midnight – when she made it back to the cathedral.
The old flag of Outpost 3, because why change what already worked?
[edit: the drone arm is traced, forgot to mention, sorry for that. Not sure who made the og, i found the image on startpage images and the person's signature was cropped out :/ Whomever you are, thank you so much!]
Hey chat do you want to hear me yap about the Outposts lol
yeah
nope
Voting ended onNov 6, 2024
Actually IDC I am going to yap anyway.
Soooo there are 7 Outposts. At the moment (more exactly the end of chapter 7) there are only two Outposts that are still connected to Outpost 3 (Uzi's Bunker). The rest have lost connection, and none of the drones are aware if they're alright or dead.
Outpost 1
Outpost 1 is a fighter "clan"(<-WARRIOR CATS REFERENCE!?!?) and they are actively trying to find ways to kill the AqAD Drones. Why? They're actually very deep underwater, living in "bubbles" (not bubbles, just a bunker). Uzi sent them the blueprints of her current railgun but it doesn't work properly underwater. Tessa is still trying to make it work.
The leader of Outpost 1 is Adeline Rain. She has survived several Disassembly Drones Attacks, and has no spouse or children. Yet. Idk much about her I still haven't thought much about her lore.
Outpost 3
Yeah, that's Uzi's Outpost! A defense "clan" (brother I had a WC phase and you can't do shit about that) and they never tried to fight back. Since they have DOORS!! Khan started building some strong ass doors after he finished... Uhhh, actually that's spoiling. But he started working on those doors a month after Nori's death. He was busy doing something else.
But even Outpost 1 is not stupid enough to only get based on doors. They also fight. And that's good.
Khan Doorman is Outpost 3's leader. He sucks, but nobody else is fit for the job except Nori, but she's still a fucking Core.
Outpost 5
So we got Water... Ground... OF COURSE, NEXT IS AIR!!!
Outpost 4 is a flying Outpost. It's a large ship and it's spending its time on over 10.000 m altitudes. They're really good at avoiding the attacks. Or being seen in general.
The Captain Pilot (Leader) is Eclipse Star, a nonbinary drone with more than one screw loose. They're always on the watch for Disassembly Drones, because they want to avoid what happened to Outpost 7.
Outposts: A little info
Outposts 1 and 2 are under the water.
Outposts 3 and 4 are on the ground.
Outposts 5, 6 and 7 are on the air
Outpost 1 is still going strong, building better and better weapons. (Standing)
Outpost 2 got flooded from poor structure. (Accident)
Outpost 3 builds doors like usual. (Standing)
Outpost 4 just happened to have some less stronger doors. (Invasion)
Outpost 5 is flying around, avoiding being seen by any Disassembly Drones. (Standing)
Outpost 6 defected and crashed into the ocean. (Accident)
Outpost 7 got attacked by the Aerial Division 2. (Invasion)
A/N: idk comrades, i have this story planned out since the beginning but i’m still losing grasp of it, it’s starting to escape me. This might not make any sense because nothing makes sense at the moment, reader discretion is advised. I’m not on drugs, my brain is the drug.
Just, here, have this nugget of nonsense, I was feeling guilty for not updating this.
Warnings: more daddy/mommy issues, leave me alone. Derealization a bit? sorta
Of course nothing good could ever last. Not those few nights of sleep or the good mood that you were back on.
Because of the accusations she made you couldn’t help but feel paranoid about everything you did or said. If you were too nice to someone she would take it all wrong, you just couldn’t do that. And about not deserving things, what was the point she was trying to make really? Did she know you weren’t supposed to be there? That couldn’t be it, she would’ve killed you as soon as you stepped in there. Or maybe they didn’t do that because it would take away from the cooperative’s legitness, making a mistake like that. If you weren’t that busy panicking over all that you would have noticed that it was weird how she just knew you didn’t take her offer. Could she have been expecting you? Stayed up waiting for you? Or asked someone?
But then again, those were questions that skipped your mind.
Someone suggested to play truth or dare between the purples, only without the dares because there wasn’t really much you could do. So, in practise it was just a question game, getting to know each other a bit more, what was wrong with that? Everyone had to co-exist, so understanding who you had been before could only do good right? Yeah… trouble was that the person you were before wasn’t really a nice light topic of conversation.
“What did you want to be as a kid?” asked Dinah.
“I just always wanted to prove that I was capable of doing things on my own. Like, being successful on my own. I didn’t feel like my dad’s money should be just that, whatever it was that I was going to be, I wanted people to know that I was worth the things I owned” Coco said.
“Wow Coco, who would’ve thought? You finally said something that makes people sympathise with you.” André retorted, to which she only answered by making him a face.
“I wanted to be a hairdresser from the start. I know what I’m good at.” announced Mr. Gallant.
“Yes you sure did..” said Evie.
Everyone took their turns, Dinah said something inspirational, Timothy said something boring, Evie said something extra, and unfortunately, they didn’t forget to ask you as well. The smart thing to have done was just probably saying you wanted to be a model or an astronaut or a doctor, but of course, you said the truth and made it awfully awkward.
“I… I didn’t want to be anything really. I was terrified of the future, if I dared to dream then I would have to live with the disappointment of my failure. I never really thought I’d make it.”
“Yikes….. Okay things got kinda too deep.” Said Mr. Gallant before Dinah dismissed him and said “Oh but you did, didn’t you? We’re all here still! How wonderful is that? We have been that strong!”
“Well, since we’re on a depressing note already, might as well talk about all our dead loved ones” said Coco.
“Hah loved ones, that’s a funny one” you said.
“What do you mean?” said Timothy.
“Well… no loved ones to account for really”
“Are you serious? What, were you an orphan or something?” asked Coco.
“No, not really” a pause from everyone, expectant on you to go on. “So, my mum died when I was a kid. She was nice. The only nice thing I had really. Then my father was an absolute fucking asshole piece of shit who just kept hating on her for no reason, and he didn’t care about me either, kept me around for the child support money. I left that place as soon as I could. Then I didn’t care much about making friends really, too busy with other things.”
“Wow that was quite the life” Gallant mocked.
“But you’re always so jolly dear, how come?” asked Evie.
“And isn’t that the best cover for a ruined mind?” You answered.
From then on you were not only paranoid, but nostalgic as well. Realising how you had wasted your life away to how bad you felt about yourself. And the irony in that was how now you were wasting the last chance away as well. Every other passage in a book made you cry, everything everyone said was too much. You stopped hanging around the others when it wasn’t mandatory, no one would catch a glimpse of you except during meals and cocktails, and on those occasions you were spaced out for the most part, not really adding to any conversations or cracking dumb jokes anymore.
Your little concerts slowly stopped happening, you just pretended you didn’t see that keyboard anymore. Hell, at one point Coco even stopped commenting on you tired or down you looked, it was the new normal, and it was just uncomfortable to bring up anymore, even for her.
What you didn’t find out until later was that Venable was on the balcony to the music room during the game. Not that your life story would soften her, of course nothing ever could, but the outpost did become even more insufferable than usual after it.
The days had rolled on and on for a while, your nights melting into days, melting into nothing. Waking up tear stained yet again, no clue of what time it was supposed to be, you noticed a small purple leather book that hadn’t been on your table before.
You stumbled your way to it, wondering which of your steps would make it dissolve into the air. But none did. It was right there. And you recognized it. You dreamt with it every night. Or, was it a dream at all?
Or, wasn’t it all a dream?
No, you tried to rub the sleep from your face. You knew the book because it so often stood behind those brown eyes. Eyes that you couldn’t stand to look at, but had somehow been etched into your eyelids. Eyes that went from left to right, then right to left over the pages on your table.
You turned your back to it and went back to sleep, the only thing that made sense, if only for a couple minutes at a time. Your dreams swayed from one to the other with a berry liqueur flavour to them, some clear, some red as blood. And when you woke up there was the blueberry book still.
You opened it, praying answers would drop from it. Whatever God or Goddess you prayed to had been listening apparently, although not entirely. Were they answers? No, maybe it was just another bunch of questions really, but what dropped from the book was a handwritten note.
The offer still stands.
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