Fluorescent lights hummed overhead and clicked like insect wings. Shadows persisted through the sterile white light and made the cramped cell feel much smaller. A pipe dripped in a steady rhythm somewhere within the stone walls of the laboratory basement.

Project E1 turned up the television and let I Love Lucy blare to ensure she would not be overheard. They were always watching. Always listening. She crouched low to the concrete floor and pressed closer to the vent. The metal grate was cold against her cheek and she inhaled the heavy scent of dust.

A2's voice echoed through the vent. It sounded tinny like she spoke through a can far away. Ethereal. Sometimes E1 wasn't certain if A2 was truly there.

"Clay, are you there?"

No one but A2 called her that now. Their names remained a sacred secret shared only between the two of them. When Rachael died, they stripped E1 of everything. Now, even memories began to slip through her fingers.

"I'm here," E1 assured her.

"Doctor James is coming for a visit, and so is the new one."

"Do everything they tell you and it'll be alright."

"You have to promise to be good too," A2's small voice commanded.

"Of course."

"You didn't mess up today?" fear quivered in A2's voice and reverberated through the vent.

"No."

"Nothing? They always pick at anything...Then they'll get me."

"I can't think of anything..." E1 wracked her brain for any instance, no matter how small, the lab director could possibly find fault with. A heavy ball of tension formed in her stomach. "There's nothing. I'm sure of it. It'll be ok."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

The heavy ball in her chest twisted.

The sound of footsteps halted their conversation. E1 scurried over to sit on the side of her bed. It was little more than a cement slab with a thick pad laid over top.

Doctor James Smith shuffled into her cell and immediately turned off the television. He was younger than most of the other scientists and orderlies here. When he first came to work for his father at the lab eight years ago, he was fresh out of school. In the beginning, he had at least tried to put himself together, but now his unruly blond hair sprigged up in multiple directions and E1 noticed his lab coat was misbuttoned to reveal his wrinkled red t-shirt and slacks.

She kept her posture straight, and her head forward.

"There is someone new I'd like you to meet," James said as he pushed his square glasses back up over his nose. His blue eyes twinkled.

James stepped aside and another young doctor entered the room. E1 studied him through the corner of her eye and quickly formed an assessment. He looked to be the same age as James, perhaps in his early thirties. His lab coat was buttoned to the top, starched, and ironed. His brown hair was neatly combed to the side.

"This is doctor Sean McGuire," said James. "He's been assigned to your project and I'm taking him on a tour of our facility. He came highly recommended by me." James, overly pleased with himself, rocked up and down on his heels. "So I'm certain you'll be in good hands."

"Does it talk?" Sean interrupted. He approached her. E1 turned her head at the sudden movement. James rushed to put a hand out to stop him.

"I wouldn't do that," he warned.

"Why not?"

"Though it's currently under control, this project is incredibly dangerous. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but it has a temper."

Sean looked her up and down. "It seems pretty docile to me."

"I'm sure you're aware of the nature of the project. It holds up to its reputation."

"If you say so."

The minute James left with Sean, Project E1 leapt off the bed and returned to the wall to listen at the vent. Their voices were muffled. E1 pressed her ear closer to the grate and listened for any shifts in tone that could indicate distress. She knew there wasn't anything she could do from inside her cell, but she needed to know A2 was alright. Soon the voices stopped and she heard footsteps fading down the hall once again.

"Anpiel, are you there?" she dared to ask.

After a moment of silence, E1 heard A2's shallow breath before she spoke. "I don't like doctor Sean."

"You behaved yourself, didn't you?" E1 twisted a strand of her long blonde hair around her finger and tugged at it as she spoke.

"I think so..."

"Then everything is fine."

There was another pause. "I still don't like him."

"You don't have to like him."

The lights abruptly clicked off and E1 was in complete darkness. She said good night to A2 and quickly got herself into bed. She pulled the scratchy wool blanket up under her chin. The only pillow was threadbare and flat. The blackness of the space was so definite no shapes formed through the shadows while she stared up at the ceiling.

The sound of someone at the door startled her awake before she knew she had even fallen asleep.

E1 sat straight upright. The baby hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end. No one ever came to her cell after hours. Her instincts told her to get out of bed, but it was against the rules. Lights out. No talking, no moving.

The cell door opened. The scrape of the steel against the concrete floor ground against the silence. James and Sean stood on the threshold, their silhouettes illuminated by the hallway lights. E1 caught the scent of over-ripe fruit. Even Sean's lab coat had come unbuttoned.

"Get out of bed E1," James commanded. The cadence of his voice was off. His words came out slowly as if he spoke them through a carton of molasses.

She did as she was told. Direct orders overruled implied ones. The concrete floor was cold against her bare feet. A thousand questions burned in her mind, but she knew better than to ask even one of them. She stood in the hall with the two doctors as they opened A2's cell door.

Sean called to her in a sing-song like a dog. "Come on, come out. We won't hurt you."

Slowly, A2 emerged into the light. She hunched, curled in on herself, and shuffled forward like a woman of eighty rather than nineteen. E1 noted how her bones were visible under her thin, pale skin and jutted out in sharp, awkward angles. A2's once white wings hung dingy and limp down her back. The long primary feathers trailed across the floor. She stooped low, and her mass of black hair fell across her face. Piercing blue eyes peered through the thick, knotted curtain, wild and terrorised. They shifted from one doctor to the other, then finally landed on E1. They flashed surprise before A2 returned her gaze to the floor.

"Follow us," said James. He and Sean began to walk down the hall. "We're gonna do a little demonstration."

E1 and A2 walked shoulder to shoulder. E1 kept her eyes forward and watched as both men staggered down the hall. Her chest grew tighter. This situation was unprecedented. She and A2 hadn't been taken out for testing, lessons, or activities together in over nine years. In the time since, they had only gotten to see each other during punishments. She couldn't remember what she'd done this time.

The doctors guided them into an empty room at the end of an unfamiliar hallway. When the lights flickered on, E1 saw the steel tables and counters were covered with white sheets to prevent dust from settling. A chill swept through her and she tried to maintain her composure. James locked the door behind them.

"Line up," he commanded.

E1 and A2 looked at each other, confused. E1 saw the terror in A2's eyes. She tried to offer A2 a reassuring glance to distance herself from her own anxiety.

Look at the floor Annie, not at them, she thought. You can't let them see you're afraid. If you can't push it down, look away.

"Line up!" James spat, annoyed he had to repeat himself when they didn't move fast enough.

They both jumped, then shuffled into position. E1 stood straight, shoulders back with eyes forward. A2 curled further into herself and looked down at the floor with intensity as if she could burrow a hole with her eyes and escape.

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Sean strolled around the room and leisurely investigated his surroundings. He peered under the protective coverings, curling his lip with disgust and wiping his finger over the metallic surfaces.

"James, are you going to get on with it or what?" Sean slipped a small flask out of his inside pocket and took a shot. "You said we could go out tonight like we used to back in school."

"We can, we can," James assured him. "I just thought you'd like to get to know both projects a bit better now that the others are gone, and we have a little time. They'll both do exactly as they're told, no hesitation."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "Really? So that's what you meant when you said E1 was under control. I read its file before coming here and I must say, it's very impressive."

Sean approached her. E1 smelled something sour on his breath. A2 shrunk back and shuffled from foot to foot. E1 remained steady. Sweat pooled under the collar of her lab-issued sweatshirt. She knew better than to move. Even her breath was carefully controlled. Sean reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her jaw clenched and pulsed. Sean didn't appear to notice.

"Absolutely incredible." Sean slowly reached his hand toward her chest. This time she couldn't help it and flinched back. For a moment she lost her composure and her expression slipped from her usual flat affect to rage. Sean twisted his lip in disgust but was the first to drop his eyes.

"Hey," James said, "We can have our fun, but we can't touch them ok? Especially not that one."

"Why not? If they're as compliant as you say, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Just trust me on this. Not that one."

"Fine. That one seems ornery anyway." Sean backed off and turned his attention to A2. "What about this one then?"

"Here, let me show you," said James. "A2 step forward."

A2 did as she was told and stepped toward them. E1 picked at the skin around her fingers and ripped at a tender hangnail to distract herself. A2's slender frame hunkered down, and somehow she became smaller and more hunched than before -- all matted hair and wings. The harsh fluorescent lights gave her sun-deprived skin an almost transparent look.

"We can make them do whatever we want," said James. A smug grin spread across his face. "Undress, both of you."

Both did as he commanded. E1 had been naked for exams many times before, but this time felt strange. She ignored the pit in her stomach and pulled off her sweat suit. A2 unclipped the straps of her halter top from around her neck, struggling for a moment to get the fabric from around her wings, and stepped out of her jogging pants. The basement air was cold against E1's skin and gooseflesh rose across her arms.

Sean sucked in behind his teeth and pointed at E1. "I do like this one better. It doesn't have any wings to get in the way. The other one looks a bit... Sick."

James shrugged. "That's fine. A2 has always been my favourite." He leered at her thin, and frail frame.

Sean approached A2 for a closer look. E1 broke form and turned her head to look at them. Her heart in her throat.

This isn't right. No exam has ever been like this.

Her fingernails dug into the centre of her palm and tore into the thick scar tissue there.

Sean took another shot of his flask. "Can't say I can really see how it's your favourite Jamie. It doesn't even have any tits. It's totally flat."

"The avian DNA. She is a remarkable creature in her own right. A perfect, functional combination." James put his hand on A2's shoulder. She shrivelled under the weight of it.

She's shivering, E1 thought. I can see it. Why can't they? Leave her alone. She couldn't dare speak up and willed them both to look at her instead.

"I wonder what else the avian DNA might have changed?" Sean cupped his hand between her legs. A2 jumped but tried not to move.

"This is unauthorised," E1 said before she could stop herself. "Doctor James, please, we should wait for authorisation."

Both men looked at her with surprise.

"Mind yourself E1," said James. "We determine what is and isn't authorised, not you. Remember that." James moved A2's hair away from her face and tilted her chin up to look at him. A2 trembled.

E1 bit her tongue but couldn't look away. Her back molars crushed painfully against each other as she grit her teeth.

"Hm, looks like everything is in order down there," said Sean. "Put her on the table."

James wrapped his arms around A2 and tried to lift her, seeming to have forgotten the only rule he had set. Though she was light, her wings made the process awkward. Sean tore the protective sheet off the steel table and began to fumble with his belt.

Blood pounded in E1's ears and the fringes of her vision went dark. "Doctor James, I think your father..."

He rounded on her. "Father doesn't have to hear of this. E1 I highly suggest you remember your place."

A2 screamed as they struggled to pin her to the table. The sound was like the screech of an owl in the night. She spread her wings out fully and thrashed. James fumbled around the edges of the table for straps. Sean momentarily forgot about his zipper to strike A2 across the face.

The throbbing in E1's head grew. Her skin became hot and tingled with pins and needles. While the men were occupied, she held her arm out straight in front of herself as if in a stop motion.

Heat flared across her chest and ripped down into her arm until a drop of blood shot out of her palm like a bullet aimed straight for Sean's head.

The droplet entered his skull clean and a mixture of blood and brain sprayed out the other side. His body collapsed to the floor.

James stopped trying to restrain A2. She hopped off the table and hurried over to E1.

"What did you do?" James demanded. "What did you fucking do!"

Her arm returned to her side. A2 clung to her.

James pointed a shaky finger at her. "You have no idea what you've done or the kind of trouble you've gotten us both in. Same goes for A2. We're all fucked."

*****

James paced the length of his office as he waited on his brother Rufus to arrive and tell him what to do. Unlike the cells and test rooms, the offices were located on the main floor. James compulsively checked out the window at the empty parking lot for his brother's vehicle. After he got both projects squared away in their cells, he immediately called Rufus. He was team lead on the Eternity Project, surely he would know how to handle this.

Finally, James saw Rufus' Dodge Charger pull into one of the parking spaces. James' palms were slick with sweat and he quickly wiped them on the front of his lab coat. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the glass. His hair sprung up in all directions, small specks of blood dotted the lenses of his square glasses, and his coat was dishevelled.

Shit. There's not enough time...

Rufus let himself in. "God, you look like shit. It's bad enough you have to create a disaster, you have to look like one too?" Rufus towered over his younger brother. His dark hair was pushed back and stuck with gel. His olive complexion was free of blemishes. James averted his eyes from Rufus'. They were too much like Rachael's. It was as if she were chastising him from beyond the grave.

"I know, I know," said James. He allowed himself to collapse in one of his chairs. Now that Rufus had arrived, a wave of emotion overcame him and he began to sob.

Rufus rolled his eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. Get up. This is the last time I'm covering for you, you got it? We're getting too old for this shit."

James stumbled back to his feet and sniffled.

"Here's what we do. We report the body."

"What?"

"Just listen. We do an incident report. While you were overseeing Sean's first exam with E1, she got defiant and he ended up dead. End of story."

"How do we explain the time of night?"

Rufus clicked his tongue. "Let me think." Then after a pause, "We could tell them there was so much to go over, and Sean was so eager to fully comprehend the project that you both stayed late. It's not as though Father has never done so himself."

"I suppose. What do we tell him about A2?"

Rufus shrugged. "Nothing. It doesn't have to be a part of the story at all, especially considering your past, um, transgressions, its presence would only make things worse. Frankly, I think we should have gotten rid of it a long time ago. I can't wait for the day Montello finally shows up and ships E1 off to SunSetTechnology and we can be rid of at least one of them. Nineteen years is a helluva long time to be hung up on a single project. Father needs a break."

"Can you call?"

Rufus raised a well-manicured eyebrow. "And how am I going to explain why I'm here? Grow up and do it yourself. I've got to get home to Cherry. I told her I went out for chips. It's movie night."

"Enjoy. I'll just die alone here."

"Father isn't going to kill anyone. Well, not you at least. Stick to the story and you'll be fine. You might want to clean yourself up first."

Rufus took his leave, and James watched from the window as the Charger pulled out of the parking lot as quickly as it had come.

He choked down the urge to vomit in the waste bin and called his father from the office phone. James repeated to him Rufus' modified version of events.

After a twenty-minute wait, James pressed his nose to the window once again to see his father's Cadillac enter the same spot Rufus had pulled out of.

James wrung his hands. They were slimey with sweat yet again.

Why did Rufus have to leave? He knows what to say. I don't know if I can do this...

Alexander Smith let himself into James' office. His strides were long, and graceful, especially for a man in his seventies. James' chest tightened. Smith's slow, deliberate movements barely concealed his rage.

"Have a seat James," Smith ordered.

James immediately obeyed. Smith glared down his nose at him and he scrunched inward. "So, where is it?"

"Where's what?"

"The body!"

"I - I left it. It's in one of the labs, in the basement. I'll take you there."

"No need," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll have a team take care of it. You can show them later on. What triggered E1?"

"Uh, what, what do you mean?"

Smith's sharp blue eyes turned to ice. "I mean, what caused it to kill Dr.McGuire? He wasn't even here for a day. E1 has been so compliant lately. I was so certain it was ready for shipment. I hope this incident does not jeopardise anything."

James averted his gaze, and shrugged, unprepared to go off-script. He wrung his hands together in his lap, the sweat slick between his palms. "I dunno. You know how it can be sometimes with E1. One minute things are fine, and the next, it just, you know, snaps. Sean wanted to get more acquainted with the project, and like I said, I was supervising his first exam. One minute E1 was calm, and the next..."

Smith tapped his chin. "That's unusual behaviour. There's usually something."

James shrugged again and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps there was and I didn't catch it. E1 was in one of its moods."

"This alarms me. After all this time and effort put into the project, E1 remains ungrateful. We don't have to give it such nice accommodations but we do out of the kindness of our hearts, and here we are, repaid with disobedience."

James cringed. Hearing his father say ungrateful and disobedient in the same sentence brought back childhood memories spent in the closet he'd sooner forget.

"What do you suppose the punishment should be?"

"Hmm?"

Smith furrowed his brow. "Jamie, pay attention. This is important. Do you have cotton balls in your head boy?"

"No sir."

"Then answer me," Smith snapped.

"Rufus is team lead of the Eternity Project, shouldn't he decide?"

"No, he has enough on his plate already, and you were the one present. You saw what happened. Not to mention Sean was supposed to be your friend. What do you think would finally get E1 to settle down and know its place?"

"A week in solitary?"

Smith shook his head. "Not enough. You know it doesn't respond well to such punishments. It'll have to involve A2." Smith leaned against the wall and steepled his fingers under his chin. "I think I have it. We can kill two birds, no pun intended, with one stone. I think we should teach E1 a valuable lesson in loyalty and compliance. Since the day Rachael created that thing, A2 has been nothing but dead weight and a liability. E1 is headed for the B.C. facility shortly anyway, so we will no longer need A2 around as leverage."

James fidgeted with his shirt collar. Sweat formed beneath the fabric. "A2 could be repurposed somehow. We don't need to..."

"I know that it's your project. I appreciate that. But it's not worth the food keeping it alive, much less the cost of electricity for the light bulb in its cell. A waste of time and resources. I made the mistake of indulging Rachael in creating the thing in the first place, I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot twice."