PROLOGUE

Dr. Sage Darnel looked out at the lunar countryside from inside the luxury hover. He pushed back his spectacles and concentrated on counting the many farms dotting the view.

His lovely wife, Acacia, looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"What's wrong? Are you worried again?"

Sage scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I guess."

"We've gone through this before. Absolutely no chance. Do you know how many babies are born (statistically) with no detectable bioelectricity? Why, your cousin Louise-"

"I know." Dr. Darnel sighed, absentmindedly stroking Cress's cheek with one finger. "Just...it's not impossible."

"It is impossible. How could our darling little daughter be nothing but a lowly shell? Look at her. She's perfect…" Acacia kissed Cress's forehead and held her close.

"Fine then". Dr. Darnel smiled, convinced. "But she's going to have a miserable life if you keep trying to teach her university level lunar history."

"SO WHAT?" Acacia looked more amused than offended. "It's going to come up for her exams!"

"In sixteen years! Besides, I think she slept through it all."

"Never mind that." Acacia stroked Cress's cheek with one finger. "I'm convinced she already memorized the first fifty Lunar monarchs and their spouses."

"Look, she's barely four days old. As if her brain capacity is developed enough to retain any information under the form of verbal data in a manner that can be recalled on command. And you know that lunars with low bioelectricity from birth are 14% more likely to suffer a complete loss of memory from before they turn 1, and-"

Their conversation was abruptly cut off as the hover stopped.

"Oh. Looks like we arrived." Acacia smiled, straightening her feathered hat and gently lifting Cress. "Come on, dear. At that rate, we're going to be late by 15.324 seconds."

Dr. Darnel forced himself to get off of the hover and followed his wife into the Department of Lunar Threat Control.

Inside, the DLTC was a maze of long halls leading into rooms with multiple security systems. Numerous android guards patrolled and one of them was waiting at the entrance.

"ID chip?" He held out a scanner, resting his imposing glare on Dr. Darnel. Gulping nervously, he complied.

Instantly, the android guard relaxed a bit. "Dr. Sage Darnel. Welcome. Please head to room 130. Feel free to ask any android for directions. And if you try to enter anywhere other than the restrooms and your destination, please be aware that you will be annihilated. Your compliance is appreciated." He resumed his previous stance, fixing his camera on the entrance.

Dr. Darnel just stood there, knees shaking.

Acacia grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the guard towards the halls. "Come on! At this rate we'll be late by 17.354 seconds."

Dr. Darnel glanced at Acacia. Her expression was calculated. "Are you afraid that…"

Acacia looked at him, annoyed. "No. Not a chance."

"You're never this prickly. Something's bothering you."

Acacia looked at him, even more annoyed."Yes. Now let's get this over with."

Soon after they arrived in the waiting room, Sybil entered.

"Sybil!" Acacia smiled. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Greetings." Sybil smiled back, revealing rows of perfectly whitened teeth.

"I wasn't expecting your presence, Thaumaturge Mira." Dr. Darnel was much less pleased than his wife. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Oh don't mind him, Sybil. He's just paranoid." Holding up Cress, Acacia cooed: "This is Crescent Moon. Isn't she just the most adorable thing?" Her voice held a hint of pride.

"Yes, yes, she's just the most adorable thing." Sybil didn't look like she meant it. "However, I have some bad news. She may be adorable, but she's a shell."

"A SHELL?" Acacia was surprised. "The kind that have a small brain tumor or the kind that don't have the gene?"

"The kind that don't carry the gene. Seriously, it's not even dormant." Sybil's voice was monotone with a hint of disgust, as if she simply wanted to get it over with.

"Are you sure?" Acacia was still skeptical. "Could we give her a computerised axial tomography or something?"

"Yes, I'm sure. And no, that's not necessary."

"Well, then," Acacia stopped cradling Cress and gave her a disgusted glare. "I want nothing to do with her."

"I can take her to the extermination chamber." Sybil held out her arms.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about this, Sybil," Apologized Acacia, dropping Cress into Sybil's outstretched arms rather carelessly.

"Don't worry, Acacia," Muttered Sybil, scowling at Cress. "I've done this before."

"Well, goodbye," Acacia smiled at Sybil, reaching into her leather purse for a hand sanitiser.

"Yes, goodbye." Sybil forced a smile at Acacia, and left the room.

"Well." Acacia looked at Dr. Darnel. "I suppose we could try again."

"How do you feel about this?" Darnel's voice was quiet.

"About what?"

"Handing our daughter over to be 'exterminated'."

"She's a shell." Acacia's voice was neutral. "They should be exterminated. Shells are horribly unpredictable and dangerous."

"We could have gone to earth…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well." Acacia stood up, straightening her dress. "That's over with. Come on, dear," she added, extending a hand to Dr. Darnel. "Let's leave this place. We have redecorating to do."

Reluctantly, Dr. Darnel took her hand and followed her out.

Sybil looked at Cress, who was still fast asleep.

"Oh, you poor thing," She murmured, gently stroking her cheek with one manicured finger. "Don't worry. You probably won't die."

Sybil dropped Cress into the mechanic grasp of a medical android programmed to run a dna test and predict the characteristics she would exhibit in the future. Cress whimpered and started crying softly as a hypodermic syringe was jabbed into a large vein on one of her arms.

Sybil ignored her, staring intently at a portscreen mounted on the wall. "Low level of strength, low level of logic-based problem solving, rather inconveniently high level of arachnophobia," she read, not noticeably distressed. She glanced briefly at Cress, whose cries had decreased to a quiet whimper. "looks like you might actually end up being killed. Your blood alone wouldn't make up for your incompetence." Looking back at the screen , she added, "You will also have a sweet temperament, a love of chocolates, and-oh dear. Inability to comprehend mathematics, medical science, or memorise history. Where did all those wonderful traits your parents have go? Yeah, you're screwed."

Reaching for Crescent, Sybil suddenly noticed another trait on the portscreen that she hadn't seen. "Huh. Extreme creativity, could end up being ingenious at computer programming, hacking, and all those other things useful to her royal majesty queen Channary that I don't care to remember."

"Muttering to herself, Sybil added: "The last one went insane and stabbed himself to death with a pack of toothpicks. We need a replacement."

Smiling to herself, Sybil gently picked up Cress and cradled her gently. "Come on, Crescent," she murmured. "We're going to the lava tubes."

End. Rate, Review, anything?