Chapter 3: Suspicious Behavior
Training Center VIII: Chikara Division
Africa, Earth
12 February, AC. 185It had been years since Demeter had set foot inside a barracks, since she had been in the project in fact. The last time was when she had been ejected from the remainder of the experiment, and instead had been turned toward the medical offices. It had been a late night, and she had been on her way from here to one of the L-colonies to begin her medical apprenticeship. It was all ancient history after that.
She shut her eyes as she entered the barracks and felt the traditional, but old, smell of barracks' sweat. Opening her eyes once inside, she saw the debris of dust and rodent droppings that clearly indicated that this barracks had been abandoned for quite some time now. Since the building was fairly small compared to some of the others, she correctly assumed that it was because of 934 and her sibling's growth that they had been moved to bigger quarters.
She slowly began to remember why this smell struck her as so familiar. 'In the beginning of the cloning experiments there had been fourteen of us. The males and females had been separated, and I never met all my brothers, only a few face to face but I knew them all by name and the occasional glance so I knew what they looked like. Of all of us, only my sister, Damia, the youngest of us, had been judged worthy to proceed further within the procedure. The rest of us could only watch, and hope we weren't about to die for our weaknesses. Given what I'm seeing now, I would have rather died. But anyway, I hadn't and had instead become quite invaluable within the med-tech units. I can nurture and develop just about anything, for any required task, I'd even managed some splicings that no one else could keep going for longer than a month. Though I seem to work best with plants for some reason. Some of my other siblings went into the military, and have long since disappeared, but I remember them, and I'm pretty sure they'd remember me.
'Damia, though, she had always been a bit of a wild card, when we were all separated at around the age of 10 or so. I more or less could figure out what happened to the others. But Damia, she just disappeared, like she had never existed at all.'
934 gave her a little shove in the small of her back. "Keep moving spy."
Demeter smiled affectionately and picked up her pace, she looked around the room methodically gazing only long enough at any one place to accurately know what was there before moving on. There were overturned and rusting bed frames, a few tattered mattresses, dust drifted in the rays of light coming through one window.
934 found an intact frame, with entirely too much ease she flipped the metal frame delicately over, lifting, turning and setting it down without any visible effort. Demeter raised an eyebrow at that, something else slipped into her mind, setting itself aside to be fitted into the puzzle elsewhere.
"Sit here." Was the girl's order.
"I don't suppose it matters much to you," Demeter said, eyebrows flattening out into an even line, "but I know barracks like this much better than you, 'four."
The girl seemed surprised at this, or maybe just by the shortening of her identification number, but almost at the same moment the look registered on her face is was flattened down by a mask of neutrality. Reaching down, she picked up an abandoned mattress and threw it onto the frame. At the child's imperious visual demands, Demeter sat down. Unsurprisingly, the sweat smell was stronger there, rising from the mattress in the shadow of a puff of dust. Demeter stroked the surface with one hand, the firm material just as solid as the one she had had in her own military days, years ago. Viewing the room from this sitting position, the barracks looked even more familiar to Demeter than they did when she had first walked in the door. Half closing her eyes, she was able to call up a vague eidetic memory to overlay the room.
She pictured herself sitting on a similar bunk, looking over the instructional texts they had been given earlier that day, filled to the brim of all the guile confidence of a soldier in training, looking forward to the day she could carve her name in blood on the battlefield. She looked up to see the others just as focused in their usual nightly cramming session. Damia with eagerness in her eyes and worry lines around her mouth that showed she was both fascinated and puzzled by what she read. Riva and Deva, the twins, were quizzing each other (little did either of them know that they were both going to die a week after Demeter left in a live-fire accident). Estelle worked her mouth, reading aloud, but very quietly. While Sella looked bored with the material. Daphne, like always, was reading with that supreme 'Queen of the Mountain' look of confidence she had.
For a long moment Demeter longed to be back among them, to have a second chance at being a warrior like the rest of them, combativeness was in her blood and she found her lab job so tiring some times. Right then, her intelligence took over and reminded her that she had never been the equal of her siblings and that it was just as well she hadn't otherwise she would be dead just like them. She was a quasi-warrior, she knew everything there was to know but physically… she somehow always reacted a nanosecond too slow, jumped an inch too short, was constantly given the brunt of abuse by their trainer and his commanding officer, a mean son-of-a-bitch if there ever was one.
934 broke her out of her thoughts with the question of, "What are you doing here, sneaky spy?"
Demeter identified herself as a scientist and doctor of genetics. This made the girl's eyebrows try to make friends with her hairline.
"Why spy then?" She asked, "Why not just come in with the others?"
"I would not have been allowed past the front gate. You may not know this Nine-three-four, but you and the others here are quite illegal. And all of this is a very secret project."
"I was already aware of that." 934 said smoothly enough, Demeter could see in her slightly unsure eyes that she was lying a bit though. Time to play.
"Then if you know, dear, perhaps you can be so kind as to tell me what all this is about? Maybe even why I was not informed." Internally she growled, 'Like I don't already have a huge clue to this whole fucking thing.'
"Do not call me 'dear'." 934 groused, glaring at Demeter.
The med-tech raised an eyebrow, "That wasn't an insult you know, I'm simply being my usual even self."
"Hmph." Was all the girl replied with.
"Please tell me what this is all about, will you?"
Demeter knew 934 didn't know and was not surprised with the counter of. "It is a secret, I can't tell you."
"Very well," Demeter nodded, "then do you know that you are genetically linked to some of the cream of soldiers crop that occurs oh so rarely?"
"Of course." This time it was rather hard to tell if 934 knew or if she was only playing along.
"Would it impress you in any way then, to know that your progenitor and I are related?"
In 934's eyes was a new confusion and her head actually tilted in the confused puppy-dog way then a new light sparked in her eyes and Demeter swore she almost saw a smile. "Of course, that is why you look so much like us."
Indeed, discounting her blue eyes and darker, auburn-colored hair Demeter did very much resemble the violet-eyed, chestnut-haired child in front of her. "And that means what exactly?" She pressed.
934 looked at Demeter like she was a moron. "I cannot say, secret, remember."
"From what line is your matrilineal branch derived from, you can tell me that."
Obviously confused now, 934 glanced to both left and right, then settled her gaze on Demeter's throat- she had been looking at her forehead before- she decided to say nothing except. "That is a secret also, spy."
Demeter chuckled through her nose. "Very well, sprout, let me tell you what I think, I don't think there is a branch at all. I believe that you and your siblings are all single offshoots from those first genes, whom I am now almost certain belonged to your progenitor, a woman named Damia. I am not sure how it was done in your case, but I'm certain that there was tampering of the chromosomes as well as mitochondrial DNA, in a sort of parthenogenesis or monogenesis, but still the implications such experime-" Demeter paused, a smile behind her eyes, she had been deliberately complex on purpose. "I'm not going to fast for you am I, Nine?"
"Absolutely not." 934 lied, glaring murderously at Demeter, she was not going to let this woman, however fascinating she was, get the best of her. Demeter was amused both at the girl's stubbornness, interest and sullen fury, it began to remind her very much of herself. She had gone far beyond what she knew the child would understand, and because she did not understand Demeter was quite sure that she should not reveal anything else about herself or what she knew. If she did 943 might just be able to piece together enough to tip off anyone who asked her about this conversation.
'I wish I could find out more about this,' Demeter thought, 'I do not know why all this has been done. Even if it was only with the purpose of creating the next batch of super soldiers, there must be more to this. I can't ask Nine-Three-Four any of this though, even if it would give me a better grasp of the situation.'
There was the sound of young voices in the background. 934 reacted to it with a frown and then a sigh. "I must go. Have to train. Julius does not like it when we are late or slow. I guess this means I will have to take you to him, spy. He is very nasty." 934 warned.
Demeter nodded, feigning demure acceptance of this, however, her mind raced; this situation was fast reaching a boiling point, she could not stay here. This was something she needed to get to the bottom of as quickly as possible. Starting with Dr. Barton.
She stood up and 934 gestured for her to go towards the front of the barracks, the child would be behind her. Demeter was amused, the child had such confidence in herself, but still she was only a child and Demeter was quite sure she could escape from her if she needed to. Just as the med-tech was about to make her move, a tall, thin, dark shape blocked the sunlight coming through the open door.
"What is this?" The man said, in an especially quiet, dangerous tone.
934 looked around Demeter, the older woman blinked, had that been a flash of irritation she had seen on the girl's face? The child quickly stepped around Demeter and faced her instructor in a rigid, stiff posture, heels together and hands at her sides.
"Julius, sir, I captured this spy sneaking around, I was about to bring her to you."
Julius took one look at Demeter and laughed loud and vigorously, stepping lightly into the room. "You children do so insist on these spy games." He brushed the girl back and came to Demeter. Even standing a few inches higher than her, Demeter did not find him all that formidable, but then again she knew just how true the saying 'looks are deceiving' was. But also, she knew that face and knew Julius was a warrior, a warrior must never be taken for granted.
"So, you are our spy then?" Julius asked, eyes narrowing. This would be difficult.
Demeter simply shrugged. "I was taking a look at your facility, when I met Nine-Thirty-Four there. I am not a spy though. I work for the Barton Foundation as a genetic manipulator and med-tech and have every right to inspect this facility."
"A med-tech?" Julius frowned. "I do not recall seeing you ever visiting this facility before, nor do I know your name. You are not on the list of those deemed acceptable to come to this training facility. Now let me ask you this, how did you come here?"
Demeter glanced at 934, who was looking a little uneasy of all that was going on right now. She decided not to give away her hole in the fencing security grid.
"I came in through the front gate."
"Security would never had allowed you to enter-"
"You might wish to check your security then, I just walked right in."
"That is impossible." Julius was starting to get angry now.
Demeter turned and set one foot on the mattress she had been sitting on, pretending to lace up her boot. "Impossible perhaps, but I wasn't stopped by anyone."
"You're lying." Julius said, clamping a hand down on her shoulder at the same time. Obviously, her turning her back on him had annoyed him severely. Demeter felt the warning strength beneath the grip, knew it well, she would have to move quickly.
"I am a scientist," she said, putting as much ranking pride as she could into her voice. "You may not treat me thus, soldier though you are."
Her bluff worked, Julius removed his hand and dropped it to his side, before the soldier could even think of making his next move, though, Demeter had suddenly hopped onto the foot propped on the bed and lashed out at him with her other, aiming and catching him directly in his solar plexus with the heel of her boot. The soldier let out a pained gasp as all the air was forced out of his lungs and he fell back. Recovering a heartbeat later, he turned one his side to break his fall and tried to sweep the bed out from under Demeter with a swinging kick from one leg. However, the move failed as Demeter had thought ahead and jumped off the mattress and came down beside the downed instructor, using momentum to dish out a truly painful rabbit punch to the man. She was tempted to kick him in the ribs, but decided not to push her luck.
Instead she bolted for the barracks' entrance.
934 followed her training and tried to head Demeter off, she was therefore unprepared to be on the receiving end of a well-placed low blow from the med-tech's elbow. The blow caught her between the eyes, and the girl's vision blurred as her brains were agonizingly jingled. Demeter was out the door even before 934 could take one step backwards from the blow.
A tense few seconds later, Julius had gotten his wind back and he rushed to the entrance after his intruder, 934 a stride behind him. Demeter was already on the other side of the fence and running up the hill.
934 surmised that she had escaped through the hole she had made, but was not that concerned. The hole would not be traced back to her, as Julius would think that Demeter had made it, 934 did not mind. If she wanted and when, she would simply create another one for her explorations to what lay beyond the Chikara barracks.
Julius glared after Demeter, but did not attempt to follow, nor was he angry, in fact, thought it was not part of the plan, he was please. It may not have looked like it but Demeter was now a very good ally of his.
934 was oddly glad Demeter had escaped, she had been impressed by the scientist's agile mind and body and mostly that she had struck several very effective blows on Julius himself, something she herself always wanted to do.
934 had a hero now.