It was well past Lights Out, when all good transgenics should be tucked in their bunks dreaming of the next days training schedule, when two small shadows blurred their way past the cameras on their off side rotation toward the med bay. The med bay's doors were unlocked; whether by design or arrogance, it was unknown and not relevant to the task at hand.
I stayed in the shadows, my small body being made smaller so that I virtually blended in, just like we were taught. I glanced over at my partner in crime and caught the slight flash of 493s answering grin. I was the best at stealth, unparalleled in Escape and Evade, and he was the best at tracking, the unequivocal leader of the hunt during Seek and Destroy. Together we were an unmatched team who brought out the best and covered the worst in each other. This mission was right up our alley.
Our mission: To retrieve one or more of the numerous name books that the pregnant nurse Renee has in her possession in order to achieve the higher objective of discovering a suitable name for each of us. The name of the game was Find and Retrieve, with a good dose of Escape and Evade thrown in to make it interesting. It wasn't going to be easy, as we didn't have accurate Intel on the location of said mission objectives. It was a risk just making it into the med bay without a legitimate excuse.
493 gave the signal and we slipped inside the open med bay. I left 493 to his own devices, heading instead directly to the messy pile of papers and books and binders on top of the desk where the head nurse and doctor sat. This "Renee" nurse was the head nurse, and if she took after most ordinaries, she would have left something lying around. Ah-ha! Success! There, underneath two binders on the human genome and a zoological research report. My mission objective was sitting right in front of me. Two books, one thick enough to have been at least an inch and a half, the other had a picture of several babies, one having a thought bubble that said 'Give us a good one, Ma!'.
That definitely raised an eyebrow on my part. We were taking Common Verbal Usage, but certain phrases and colloquiums still confused us. Give us a good one? How ridiculous a phrase was that! Carefully, I retrieved the two precious books, and 493 was suddenly by my side to help. He held the books as I made sure the stack of papers and binders didn't tip over and that it looked about the same as it had before I took the books.
Mission almost through, now we just had to make it back to the barracks before we were discovered. We slunk out toward the doors when our sharp hearing heard the telltale sound of footsteps drawing close. No time to dart down the halls without being spotted by the cameras. 493 and I shared one brief look before we took off back inside the med bay and dashed towards a far cupboard. There was a small nook between the wall and a large cabinet that the both of us managed to squeeze into.
Just in time. Two nurses, a doctor, and a trainer came in, one of them the infamous 'Renee'. They were laughing and gossiping and having an all around great time. The other nurse and the doc and trainer went to a cabinet almost caddy-corner from the one that me and 493 were hiding in, and we both held our breath and hoped to the Blue Lady that they couldn't hear the mad pounding rush of our hearts.
The doc unlocked the usually tightly closed cabinet and pulled out some glasses and a huge bottle of some kind of drink. I used my telescopic eyesight to see what was on the label of the bottle. Chardonnay, whatever the heck that meant, it must not have been allowed from the way they were all carrying on. It was like they were sneaking something, and that's when 493 gave me an amused look and signal: contraband. Our stalwart examples had smuggled some type of contraband, called alcoholic beverage, inside the walls of Manticore where it was expressly forbidden. We both had to hold in our giggles. What they were doing was almost the same as what we were doing from the way the four were carrying on.
"You know, you're not supposed to be drinking this, Renee," the trainer, one named Osborne, commented as he took a long swig of his chardonnay. He gave a belch that shocked us; Trainer Osborne was the one who was always ragging on proper mannerisms, and belching was definitely one of those forbidden mannerisms. 493 and me gave each other wide eyes. This was something we just had to tell the others. As soon as we were able to get away that is.
"Oh, Ozzy, don't be such a killjoy," Nurse Renee snorted, obviously well on her way to being inebriated. "I mean, it's not as if this brat is something…special like Deck's precious kids."
"Are you going to get rid of it?" the other nurse asked, as she took a long drink of her own drink.
"Yeah, I mean, we do it all the time here, Renee," the doc agreed, and my opinion of this doctor suddenly dropped. I might have been six, but I knew about babies from the Outside Behavioral Class that helped to explain how children would react to the addition of a 'little' brother or sister's arrival. I also knew that some parents chose to get rid of their baby, a thing called abortion, and I couldn't understand.
If you were going to be stupid enough to do the deed that would create the baby, why punish the baby by aborting it? The cavalier attitude that the doctor and nurses had toward this…innocent child, was disgusting, especially how they had that power of life or disassembling, that was what Trainer Rutgers would call perverted. My brother and I gave each other another look, this one a shared look of disgust.
"I got a bunch of baby books," Renee slurred, shrugging her shoulders. "My guy is under this impression that a brat would be good for us. Y'know, he wants the whole 2.5 kids and little white picket fence and wife who cooks and cleans. I know I didn't spend half my life and a small fortune getting into the most prestigious medical center only to play Suzie Homemaker. I mean, I love the guy an all but kids? Sheesh."
"Yeah, know what you mean. I have four of the little buggers running around at home, and let me tell you, they are a pain in the you know where, especially when they get older," Donna, the other nurse, mumbled into her cup. The four Manticorian staff sat around, pouring each other drinks, and they just gabbed. 493 shifted slightly beside me, rolling his eyes at the mundane and increasingly outrageous topics as the foursome got slammed.
There was a sudden klaxon of alarms and the smashed foursome hurriedly drained the last of their contraband and hid the evidence. As the foursome left the room, 493 and me took the opportunity and made our escape. We were nearly giddy with relief as we ducked and dodged all the excess guards and staff that were coming out of the stonework in response to those annoying alarms. We slipped back into our barracks and were greeted by anxious pack members, and just as suddenly, the klaxons stopped. We saw one of our sibs had a small wire hooked up that was obviously connected to the alarms. How clever.
We all raced to the bunks and acted like we were still asleep when the guards came to check on us, then waited several tense minutes when they left before we all crept out of the beds to group up in the center of the room.
"Mission accomplished," 493 handed over our objective to 599 with a flourish. I couldn't help it; the tension of the past hour and a half had me laughing like an idiot. 493 and I couldn't help ourselves and we were helpless with out mirth. Once we had calmed down enough to give a report, there were more than one-muffled bursts of laughter.
599 stalked over to his bunk and the rest of us hurriedly gathered around, climbing over and on top of each other to get as close as we could. For the next few hours, we listened as he rattled off all these names. The sheer number of names available was staggering, and that was only with one book with over 10,000 names.
"How are we going to choose names out of all that? I'd almost prefer my number," X5-732 groaned, her male entourage consisting of 692 and 698 nodding in agreement. As much as I hated to admit it, I had to agree. But I still wanted a name, I wasn't a stupid number, I was real.
"Well, I liked Ben," 493 said slowly, and I turned and looked at him. Ben. Not 493, but Ben. I liked it.
"Ben," I tried it out on my tongue, and I slowly started to smile. "Ben. It fits you."
"My name is Ben," Ben smirked, hazel eyes twinkling with mischief and pride.
"I want a name!" 417 mock-pouted, but he was also pretty serious. He thought for a moment. "Oh, what was the name of that pirate on that Disney movie about the Caribbean?"
"Jack?" 798 stated as if he were dumb for not remembering.
"Yeah, Captain. Jack. Sparrow," 417, now Jack, did a terrible impression of the cocky movie star's character. There were some chuckles and muffled laughter at that. 599 gave a groan and rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"All right, we have a Ben and a Jack, anyone else?"
"Six Nine Two can be Ashton after that actor who played that vain boyfriend on that movie Cheaper By the Dozen since he's always looking at himself," Two Zero Five snorted in laughter, causing ripples of amusement to run through the pack. Six Nine Two…no, Ashton, blushed but he grinned and didn't protest.
"732 can be Vada, or was it Vader, since she seems to like the dark, passionate side of things," Jack snickered.
"Vader?" 732 wrinkled her nose in disgust and raised an eyebrow in disdain.
"Not Vader, Vada," Ashton remarked, giving her a cheeky grin, and it was Vada's turn to blush.
"Vada, I like it."
"In the spirit of the television names, I want to be Seth, after Seth Green the funniest guy on TV," 353 announced with a puffed out chest, causing all of us to groan.
"Thiz iz idzane," Two Zero Five mumbled before he sneezed. He sniffed and suddenly I had an idea.
"Idzane? That's kinda zany. I dub thee…Zane!"
"Zane?" Two Zero Five looked at me, scrunching his face in thought.
"Zane, zany. Zany is like crazy and that fits you," Ben laughed.
"Yeah, Ben, Jack, Seth and Zane," Jack grinned.
"The Quad Squad," I quipped, sending us all into peals of muffled laughter, quickly halted by 599s warning glare.
"All right, in light of such amazing good reasons, I accept thee dub."
"You're such a moron!" I giggled.
"And you're a maximum pain in the butt!" Zane sniggered back, and then he stopped, eyes wide.
"That's it!" he grinned at me, then, put his hand over his heart and assumed a dramatic pose and voice. "I dub thee Max!"
"Max? Max…" I repeated, running it over in my head. Max…not X5-452, but Max. I was a person now, not a number. Max is who I am. "Max."
"These names are all great, but they're also kind of…plain," Six Five Six commented thoughtfully, stroking 392's hair, who was nodding in agreement.
"Tinga," he spoke softly and we all looked at him. "What? Tinga is exotic and suits 656. It's pretty and made up, just like we are."
"Tinga…. I like it. I'm Tinga."
"I am Jason," 798 announced, but 599 shook his head.
"Jason is masculine, and while I have every confidence in your abilities, you wouldn't be taken seriously with such a name," he glanced over at her. "Jace. It's a derivative of Jason, but appropriately feminine."
Jace blushed under our alpha's glance and we couldn't help but notice the pleased look on her face. Of us all, Jace had what the trainers would call a crush on our alpha, and it was as plain to us as an ink spot on white paper. Only 599 would be able to get away with calling Jace feminine. She was notoriously a tomboy, and challenged any male just to prove that girls are not the weaker gender, especially if that girl is transgenic. We all held back laughter, for Jace was not one to provoke, much like 599 in that respect. In my mind the two deserved each other, each so serious and duty oriented.
"Name me Tinga," 392 begged, looking up at his adored sister. "I want something to match yours."
"Hmmm…how about, Kavi?"
"Kavi? I like it, where'd you come up with that?"
"Probably the same way you came up with Tinga," she teased, and there was a feeling of goodwill and camaraderie that swept through our pack.
"What am I?" 210 bounced on the bed in excitement.
"You're X5-332340090210, toy soldier," Seth chuckled and 210 and me hit him with 599's pillow.
"How about John Dee? Or is that John Doe for an unknown person?" Ben mused and I elbowed him while 210 halted in mid-air the slap upside the head she was about to deliver. She got a thoughtful look on her face.
"John Dee, I like that. But that's too masculine," she continued to head off 599s protest, "so you can just call me Jondy."
"Max and Jondy," I smiled at my closest sister and we shared a hug, including Ben in it for his part though he protested but we knew he was secretly pleased.
"So we have Max, Jondy, Jace, Seth, Tinga, Vada, Kavi, Jack, Ben, Ashton, and Zane. We have 734, 599, 471, 701, 766, 204 and 698 left," Ben remarked and we all looked at the Nameless thoughtfully.
"I like Brin," 734 said kind of shyly, which was slightly out of character. She might have been quiet, but she was rarely ever shy.
"Brin is a beautiful name," Tinga smiled softly which earned an answering grin back.
"Brin it is then," 599 nodded. He turned to my 'brother' and his permanent attachment. "You two are next."
"Krit," 701 stated, looking up at 471. "His name is Krit."
My brother – Krit - smiled down at her and gave her a nudge.
"Syl, because it's sly all messed up, like her sense deviousness," he winked down at the now blushing Syl. Syl wasn't one for being sneaky; she was just too blunt and forthright. She'd rather resort to physical violence and intimidation rather than sly and cunning words to get her point across, especially if it's someone she doesn't like, which was a lot of people since anyone not pack or Colonel Lydecker she doesn't give the time of day.
"Anika," 204 spoke up with surety, Zane's twin sister, and her shocking green eyes twinkled. "It means beautiful one and that sure as the sun rises is me."
"What about me?" 698 asked in general but his eyes were on Vada. She cocked her head and looked at him thoughtfully.
"I think I'll call you…Taz."
"Taz…it suits."
"Looks like big brother is next," Seth quipped, slapping 599 on the shoulder, the only one who could get away with that sort of thing.
"No, I am," 766 stated, her big blue eyes peering out through thick lashes. Jace may have been more militaristic, but there was an undeniable air of command about 766 that was unmatched by any save 599, which was why it was no surprise that she was 2IC (second in command, or Twic as Kavi had coined it, reading 2IC as two i.c.)
"You shall address me as Eva," she decided after flipping through the second book that she'd commandeered from 599 and had been reading during our naming game. That didn't mean she hadn't been aware of it though.
"Eva. It has a nice sound to it."
"Of course, I picked it out," Eva stated, the soft hint of a smile gracing her elfin features. If 599 and Jace were the harsh elements of command, she was the more relaxed half, and she balanced 599's rigidness with just the right amount of flexibility that we didn't choke on it.
"For our beloved leader, I got it…Alfie, since he's alpha male!"
A chorus of 'Jack!' greeted this remark, and Krit shoved him off the bed. He should have landed on his butt with a thunk, but transgenic grace and a great deal of kitty-cat in his cocktail allowed him do an improbable twist just inches from the floor and he landed more or less on his hands and knees.
"Alfie is most certainly not in the running," 599 grumped, but there was a slight twinkle in his eyes, a sight that was rarely seen as our devoted C.O. rarely let anyone see any emotion on his face, in his eternal quest to keep the pack safe at the cost of himself. And for that alone, we did not begrudge Jack his stupidity…well, not very much anyway.
"What was the name of that one trainer who the Colonel said was the best darn soldier he'd ever met?" Syl mused aloud, consciously censoring the forbidden swear word. She might have been outspoken, but swear and curse words were a line that she would not cross. It was so déclassé.
"Zack, Zachary Vaughn, Master Gunnery Sergeant, United States Marine Corps, Special Ops, Force Recon," 599 repeated by rote, and we could all see the figurative wheels turning in our leader's head. Master Gunner Sergeant Vaughn had made quite an impression on us the few times he'd come to visit, he was ruthless but he was fair, and he never treated us like we were dirt or beneath him.
He treated us like adults and experienced soldiers, expecting us to understand, he didn't insult our intelligence by coddling us. He was never friendly, that wouldn't do at all, especially for a career military man like Vaughn to fraternize with subordinates. But he never gave us reason to dislike him either, he was a wonderful leader who instilled a willingness to serve him. If he would ask any of my pack to do something, we'd gladly do it, no questions asked. He was that kind of man and he had our trust. We knew he did everything for a reason, even the most obscure of commands had a purpose that we would find out eventually.
"Zack. My name is Zack," 599…no, Zack repeated to himself, much like I had. I looked around and felt an unusual swell of pride surround me. Our pack had names, we were real, and there was no doubt that we all felt that much closer and united than ever before.
