When she woke in her bunk, she jolted forward. Scanning the bare walls of her room, she ran her hand along her neck again. Realizing it was intact and unbruised, she let out a sigh and laid back down. Staring at the ceiling, she began to brainstorm. Maybe he would be kinder today. Maybe he at least wouldn’t yell at them. She started taking bets in her mind how many would try attacking him today. Probably four in the initial charge and sixteen would be laid out in the assault.
When the red light on her door ignited, she stood up and walked out of the cell. When she did, there he stood. The fully armored Phoenix Emperor. Loyal lapdog of the Falos royal family. He watched all thirty of them step into the common area of the cells. He spoke loudly and firmly despite the dagger like glares he was getting. “Any who wish to earn their freedom are welcome to strike me down, as is their right by Falos law.” The glances of the crowd caused her to realize she may have underestimated them.
Many looked tempted, but they either had learned from the last time or had not finished their plan yet. He nodded, and stated as he did every day, “I am sorry again for these protocols, but they are necessary in the eyes of the emperor. Now that we have passed that point of our day, I would like to continue your training.” He snapped his fingers and the girls all held their heads. Even she couldn’t keep her eyes open as it took effect, but she gave it everything she had. She stared at him until the moment her eyes screwed shut.
And once they did her mind was light again. Just a lifetime of desk work and his recent ‘training’. She heard his whistle echo through her head. She stood up and said, “Zwei!”
His whistle went up another note and another of the girls jumped to her feet and shouted, “Trois!”
Up another note, “Shi!”
Again
And again. Until all thirty were standing. He stated firmly, “Your task remains the same. Discover what makes each of you unique from each other. Other than your names.”
Zwei sighed as she rededicated herself to the task. “Alright, so last session we found out Ett has a love for Sylvani tea. And Hepta believes wrestling is real.”
Hepta growled, “I told you, the stunts are real and that makes it the best kind of theater!” When Shi laughed she readied a punch but restrained herself when Zwei sighed.
Ett spoke softly, “Maybe our preferred sorting method of the files is something we can compare. I mean, tea and wrestling are innocuous. Maybe all of them are that small.”
Nava shook her head, “There has to be something bigger than that. He had to have blocked out our previous lives for a reason. Who knows what else he did? Maybe he made us all sleeper agents. I mean, look at what he let happen to Zwei.”
She couldn’t help but speak in his defense, “No one knew there was gonna be some,” she struggled for the word for the species but pushed forward, “Bug queen. If he had known he would have told us or Trinta.” They all looked sad and Zwei stated, “She volunteered for his special mission. So, whatever is special with her probably made his mission more appealing to her.”
Shi sighed in thought, “But we are all essentially the same person, right?”
Sita tapped her chin and decided to make a claim, “Perhaps our time as a part of the experiment has blinded us to the fact that we aren’t. Surround yourself with enough people who all think the same way and you can become blind to the life you live.”
Shi nodded and pointed to Sita. “That must be it! But why? Why is he trying to get us thinking about that? What is his goal?”
Ellefu tugged on her hair as she thought, “Well, branching off from our discussions yesterday, I wonder if he is trying to convert us. Maybe breaking us free from The Experiment is a part of that. If he can shatter our identities as…” She trailed off until coming back to it. “I think he wants to break our sense of self and insert a new one.”
Vennde started to pace as she murmured to herself. Eventually she stated, “Maybe he is showing us that we had no sense of self outside of it. Is it really a sense of self if we think we are all one person?”
Ett waited her turn before speaking, “I felt rather secure in my life and routine. I had all the satisfaction in the world with memories of past glory. And a cushy retirement to a calm and quiet archive.”
Hepta laughed, “Explains the tea.”
Shi sneered, “And the wrestling.” Hepta glared at her but got no response.
Zwei wondered what she had been doing. Had Trinta had a total blank on her experiences after his treatment? All Zwei remembered was doing her job calmly as she thought about memories that eluded her now. And she was trying to be someone. No, impress them. Who were they? She held her head as she tried really hard to remember.