A few hours of speculation and discussion passed before their scarlet captor returned. He was stoic and powerful. Speaking sternly, “Your time is up. What have you discovered about each other?” Zwei wanted to speak up, but hesitated as she looked around the room. He growled, “As clones of a supposedly brilliant scientist, you all clearly have brain rot!”
Hepta shot back, “Maybe if you didn’t scramble our brains before this stupid test we-“
He snapped his fingers and she fell down. “I have done nothing to you. You did this to yourself in every single way.” He scanned the crowd and said with a surety of purpose that was undeniable, “You hollow shells disgust me. But we will see how long you remain resistant to the training.”
Zwei stood up and said full force, “I would seek council with you.”
He stared at her for a long moment before motioning her to follow him. The others looked on in concern but she was just about done with his stupid games. She would get to the bottom of this. Upon entering what she seemed to recognize as an interrogation room, he began to speak. “You make the same request as the one before you. Are you looking for a similar deal?”
Zwei ignored him and stood her ground, “What is the purpose of this experiment of yours?”
He leaned back in his chair and asked, “Do you have any theories?” She hesitated. She could feel it was a mistake to do so, but she didn’t have time to correct before he continued confidently. “You are brave enough to request a personal meeting but you are too cowardly to express your suspicions openly. That is not an endearing quality to most.” As she tried to process what his comments meant he again pushed ahead, controlling the flow of the conversation. “Even your attempt at accomplishing the mission I put out for you lead to results more interesting than your sisters. You saw one of them dusted, didn’t you?” Zwei froze completely at this as she flashed back to watching that moment in the low light. “Emotional projection or not, you seemed to be rather… damaged from that experience. Even willing to seek vengeance on someone you had never met. Why?” She hadn’t prepared for this. She was supposed to be the one asking questions but in just a few words he had turned this interrogation back on her. She tried to stammer out a reply but he cut her off again, “She never would have done something so petty. She was above that. Above sentiment and emotional outbursts. So why did you react so powerfully when you knew she wasn’t dead?” He leaned forward, “Because she looked just like you. Because it could have been you. Because some part of you saw even the willingness to end life as evil and it didn’t click until you saw yourself die.”
She looked at the table, thinking about what he said. She wasn’t sure he was wrong. But she remembered what Ellefu said. She responded, “Why did you send us over there? What was your goal?”
He spoke without hesitation, “Because I saw a chance to further my plans and I am not one to hesitate. You all need to realize that your sisterhood in these cells are a project of mine. If you need an experiment for a purpose, then consider such.” He circled her more and eventually asked, “How was your first experience with death?”
She growled, “I know about death!“
He nodded, “But seeing it with your own two eyes can never be the same. Just be fortunate that my swift planning made sure the only cost was mental scars. So what do we say?” She mumbled and growled and he tapped her shoulder. “I am afraid I couldn’t hear you.”
“Thanks, asshole.” She hated his tone. What she hated more was his chuckle in response.
“You are easily one of my favorites, Zwei. Not quite as sharp as Trinta, but you are getting there.” She stood up quickly and got directly in his helmet. Glaring him down but scared of taking a swing. “You are so close. I see it in your eyes when you wake. I hear it when you speak to the rest. I am actually proud you have been so defiant to the inevitable. So when you finally snap, I will keep you at my side as my pupil. Maybe you will finally learn something.” She refused to back down. She wouldn’t stop staring him down. He eventually said dismissively, “Do you have any further business with me, or can I go and put you all through physical drills for the day.”
She said firmly, “Not today. You are going to let them take a moment to breathe and take stock.”
“Cute, but it is for your health. Keeps you all fit and prevents any of you from becoming despondent. But here is a deal. You do enough reps for everyone and I’ll let them rest.” She kept trying to glare at him, but she could feel her arms start to shake. Was it fury or fear? She didn’t know which but his offer had gotten enough reaction from her to tip her hand. “How about a compromise. I’m not a cruel man. Just one of purpose. So, how about we go in there together and I give the girls an option.” Zwei nodded and followed him back into the common area.
He motioned to Zwei and spoke theatrically, “It was brought to my attention by Zwei here that, you all could use a rest. But I’m sure all of you are also aware of the need for physical fitness. So I offer you options. If any of you who exercise today, if you do double the reps, you can rest tomorrow. Those of you that don’t exercise today, you will do triple the reps tomorrow. Does that sound fair?”
Zwei burned with anger that he was pinning this on her and she expected anger, but upon looking up her sisters all seemed thankful or at least forgiving. They knew who this man was. She had been doing her best.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he had given her information she could use. She wasn’t sure what information that was yet, but she couldn’t afford to let any chance slip. She would figure out his dumb little game.
-------
As she ran back and forth across the room, she tried to consider what he had said for any hints. Why would he do this? Any of it? Why risk making the whole of her people angry with the Falos? Something wasn’t adding up. What was he doing?
She tried to think back to before this. Tried to remember anything she might have talked with Trinta about. Anything that would explain what made her different from the rest of them. Why did she get that special mission? Why did he praise her so much? What was it that made her special?
As she thought about it, she remembered that she would sometimes do little drawings in the margins of her documents. She and Zwei used to laugh about it, talking about the best kept secret in the cosmos being those little doodles. Things that only we would know about buried in the largest archive in the cosmos.
—————
“You just can’t help yourself can you?”
“It leaves an happy little surprise for-“
“You are being so sweet. But why do this? If you want to draw then why didn’t you go with-“
“Because I enjoy drawing-“ “Sorting these files is important. Someone needs to-“ “why else would we make these files?”
“That makes sense, I guess.”
“You guess? Fine. Why are you here then?”
“Honestly? Well-“ “scared. Do you remember-“ “And then there is the Black Star mercenary company and as amazing as they are-“
“You sure you want to stay-“ “You sound like you don’t.”
“Again, I prefer this over to almost certain death.”
——————
She felt her body jolt awake. When she did, she realized she was in some kind of medical facility. Strapped to the table. She looked around in panic as she tried to figure out where she was. It was then she heard his voice. “You passed out. I would have caught you going over on your reps had I not been otherwise occupied. I’m sorry for my neglect.”
Zwei glared at him, “I hate what you have done. Whatever you did has jumbled my memories. I can’t remember what I need.”
He sighed, “That’s not my fault.”
She shouted from the bed, “You snatch us from our homeworld, rob us of our culture and then trap us in cells and experiment on us.”
He responded swiftly, “Your culture was to be guinea pigs for a long dead egomaniac. You spent your days sleeping in tiny apartments and walking down the stairs of that building to spend roughly 16 hours a day organizing information brought in by countless other Guinea pigs for archives that will feed the minds of the next generation of Guinea pigs.” He paused for just long enough for those absolutes to settle in. “Your life remains fundamentally unchanged. The difference from that experiment is that this one isn’t perpetual and I’m not trying to hide it.”
She wanted to argue back, but she remembered enough to realize he wasn’t entirely wrong. He seemed to be waiting for a response from her but she didn’t know what he expected. He was less reassuring and comfortable in his methods than her sisters were, but was he wrong? Trying to remember anything about her daily routine other than what he described was impossible. Eventually she asked, “Do you want us to thank you for ‘saving’ us?”
He shook his head, “I am not a good person. I’m not some champion or hero. What I’m doing with you all is probably some form of psychological torture. But I don’t care about that right now. I have bigger concerns than the morality of my methods.”
“And what would those concerns be?”
He hesitated. For the first time, he hesitated. She wished she had some kind of follow up but her tired mind came up blank. Eventually he spoke again. “Zwei, you are easily my favorite. I truly believe when you finally find your answer, it will lead to something truly beautiful.” He snapped his fingers and the world went dark once again.
—————
Trinta was doodling in another document and Zwei just smiled at her. “Burning the midnight oil?”
She nodded and pulled the blanket from around her shoulder to the front of her face like a cape. “The mysterious fiend leaving hidden messages for the adventurous fiends willing to brave the dangers of our filing system.”
Zwei couldn’t help but chuckle. “Aren’t you worried that-“
“No one cares what we do here as long as we organize the information. We all know it. That’s why we chose to come here. Where no one would bother us.”
Zwei nodded. “Alright, but make sure to get rest when you can. Just because we all have unhealthy sleep schedules doesn’t mean we encourage it.”
Trinta nodded and motioned her away as she continued her doodle.
——————
When she awoke she was back in her room. Tak’Nasi tried to apply her brainpower to figuring out his game, but there were too many variables. Too many concerns. What could the Falos want from her and Tak’Nasi? Their wealth of scientific experience? Intel on their enemies? She was too valuable to be a simple whim. He must be after something and she would figure it out.