Learn to Trust, Learn to Let Go
Bye: Kảiaa
Okay, I own nothing but part of the plot line. I'm twisting what the writers of DA wrote, only because I don't really like Logan all that much, though before I thought he was kind of nice…
Max awoke with a queasy feeling in her stomach, all of it was a dream, she tried to tell herself, when you open up your eyes, you will be back in your apartment. But Max knew even before she opened her eyes that she was not in her apartment, but that she was in a hospital of some sort, or worse, the infirmary at Manticore. She opened her eyes to see doctors hovering around her, looking at her with a mix of anxiety and surprise. She tried to move her arms, but they were held to the table, as were her feet.
"Don't struggle," said Renfro's voice, "You're back home for good."
Max whipped her head around to see Renfro and Lydecker standing in the doorway. Lydecker looked quite worse for wear, there was a bloody cut running down the left side of his face, and he was bound hands and loosely on his feet.
Max struggled in her restraints, "Don't try it, you're weak from the sedatives, and I don't want one of my prime soldiers hurt. As for your friend, I can't say the same."
"What did you do with Logan," she hissed not as a question but a statement that demanded an answer.
"Your lover-boy is out there, all alone dead, by now, I would presume. An X-5 shot him, thinking that he was another X-5, and he's probably died of blood-loss." Renfro answered almost in a joking tone.
Max made one last valiant struggle before she collapsed back onto the table.
"That's a good little soldier," Renfro said, "If you're extra good, we'll let you out a little early."
Then she left, dragging Lydecker behind her.
Max surveyed the room around her there were three doctors, and a smaller girl with short hair that was growing out of its crew-cut. She smiled at Max, and gave the other doctors a signal to leave.
"I'm X-8709894562435243, but most people just call me Doc. Because I'm always in here patching you crazy renegades up." She grinned showing that she was missing one of her lower teeth and a new one was growing in. Max managed a weak smile before she wined at a sharp pain in her leg.
"Ah, perhaps we will be needing some more morphine. Unless, of course you would like to be a big brave soldier and deal with the pain?" her last sentence had been meant as a joke, though it wasn't very funny to Max.
She bustled over to a desk of drawers, and pulled out a syringe that was full of a slightly iridescent coloured liquid. She undid one of Max's arms, rubbed it slightly to get more blood flowing, and injected the morphine into her arm. Then she undid her other arm and her legs, and helped her to a sitting position.
"I can't stand having my patients bound, it gives them no room to show me if they are in pain, and that bothers me, because I'm not particularly fond of causing pain while trying to fix something."
Max was beginning to feel the affects of the morphine, but not so much that she didn't notice a searing pain in her left shoulder when Doc. touched it.
"I'm giving you two days bed-rest, and then I'll put you back in as highly injured unless you think otherwise?"
"Yes, I think you should just kill me, so I don't have to see the look on Renfro's face if I do anything that she likes."
"Hmm, sorry, but I'm not authorized to put anyone down yet, unless I consult with at least three other doctors and Renfro, and I don't really want to kill anyone who is in as good of shape as you. Scoot, I'll get someone to show you your bunk."
Doc shuffled over to an intercom system and said into it, "X-5494, please report to the infirmary immediately."
Then she sat down at her desk and began to fill out some paperwork that Max saw had her barcode on top of it. Before she could press the subject a tall man… Wait a minute Max thought, that's Ben!… presumably 494 came in.
"Yes Doc?" he said with an all but innocent look on his face.
"Take 452 to her room assignment, it shouldn't be that hard to find, unless you can't remember where your room is." She said irritably.
"Of course." He muttered looking slightly surprised at the fact that she was his roommate. His other roommate had been put into psych for reprogramming, and it looked as though he hadn't made it out. Darn, he thought, he was actually a pretty good roommate, he didn't say anything.
"Follow me," he said a darkness seeming to settle around him, as Max followed him out of the infirmary, with much less pan than before, though she felt the morphine fog start to wash over her. 494 lead her to the uniforms room, and she was handed several uniforms in the summer green colours and several in the winter whites. Any other camouflage needed would be handed out at the start of that mission.
As they headed lower into the complex Max felt the morphine settle further in, and her senses were almost completely dulled. They finally reached the room that they were sharing, on the door both of their barcodes had been emblazoned.
Max had barely made it into the room when she collapsed onto her bunk, exhausted and muddled by the morphine. Great, 494 thought, now I have to baby-sit a sleeping X-5, which means total boredom until she wakes up. Darn.
Three hours later Max woke up to see a very annoyed looking 494 standing over her. "Dinner time" he said, "Rise and shine, if possible."
Max stood up, and at once regretted the movement, because she fell dizzy back onto the bed. She tried again and was more successful; she managed to get onto her feet with help from a table that was being used as a desk in the room. She looked around and saw that there were two of everything in the room, two beds which were stacked on top of each other, two table-desks, two chairs, two pens and two pencils on each of the desks, though 494's had paper on it with some writing as well.
494 stared at her with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. She was a drag because with his luck, he would now have to put her back through her paces. 675 had had an escapee "Brin" 412 become his roommate and he had had to teach her all of the new rules and get her accustomed to the regular routine.
"Let's go, if we're late, we don't eat." 494 said. Max nodded, and she took shaky steps after him out of the door to their room towards the dining hall. Without realizing it, she marched there, the combined affect of the morphine and the visual reminders, she must have slipped back into the Manticore mind-set. They reached the dining hall with twenty five seconds to spare. 494 sat at an empty table with her, and waited for Renfro or one of the other officers to come in and make the announcements, and then release them to eat. Renfro came in trailed by two lab techs, and stood at the lectern consulting a clipboard in her hand.
"General notes," she said, "Because the DNA lab has been destroyed there will be some measures taken to replace this data. All of the X-6 series and below, and X-8709894562435243 please stay afterwards. Evening lessons are cancelled due to the increased demand for staff in maintenance. Your CO's will organize activities in your series recreation rooms. All X-7s are to report to the infirmary tomorrow morning at 0345. You are dismissed." She finally finished. Max glared at her, annoyed that she had to listen to this woman talk easily about how she was torturing children.
494 nudged Max, and she got up like the rest of the X-5s and above. There were a jumble of X-4s, 3s and 1s. The X-2s had not survived past puberty. They went over to a long line of white cartons; all of them had labels on them. They were labeled with barcodes. She found her own carton, and picked it up. 494 had also picked his carton up and they returned to the table that they had been sitting at. There was absolute silence except for the sounds of eating. This slightly unnerved Max, because at dinners with Logan……… But there weren't going to be any more dinners with Logan. It had finally donned on her that she had lost her best friend; to the people she had spent all of her life hating.
Max and 494 finished their food, which was a glob of white mush that was completely tasteless. She waited with him until the rest of the series had left in their perfect lines with blank faces. Then Renfro went back to the podium.
"As I have already informed you, the DNA lab has been destroyed. To compensate for the embryos lost, you will be paired off in breeding partners. Copulation will occur every night at least once until 15 pregnancies in each series are obtained. Fetuses will be harvested and the data lost should be recovered. The X-1—X-4 series will only require 2. The night staff will give your assignments to you when you reach your rooms. New room assignments will also be passed out. No changes will be made, unless extreme circumstances occur. You are dismissed to your rooms until lights out." Then Max noticed Doc sitting at the back of the room by herself.
"X-8709894562435243, you are to report to the infirmary for observations." Renfro finished as the X-5s and X-6s left. They weren't required to leave in an organized manner. Their individualism was encouraged because they were beginning to go on solo missions outside the compound.
Max and 494 went back to their room, but there was a man who stood outside their door.
"X-5494, X-5452, your assignments." He handed 494 a sheet of paper. The tall blonde looked mildly surprised when he read what was written there. He handed it to Max, and she read:
X-54948930275928, X-5452482721938242 breeding partners, Room 789SL.
Max cringed. She did not want anything to do with a breeding partner. Especially not with the man who sort of was her older dead brother. The man left them, and 494 opened the door to their room and they both stepped in. 494 took the sheet over to his desk and put I into one of the bottom drawers.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" Max asked, and then realizing her stupidity, blushed. They were supposed to be doing each other.
"Copulating, but no offense or anything, I don't really fancy catching any STDs." 494.
"You smart Alec!" she said, "I do not have STDs thank you very much. In fact I have had absolutely no sexual contact with anyone!" Damn! She thought, just admitted a weakness, not incredibly intelligent.
"I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that…" he tried, he did look sorry. "I'll tell you what, since you seem to yell out for people by name, and you think I'm a smart Alec, then you can call me Alec, unless of course a superior is in the room."
Max looked at him doubtfully. "Max." he added. Then she smiled and sat down on her bunk which was the lower of the two.