An entire curving wall of monitors was the only light in the cavernous room. Dark outlines of figures sat before them, their hands moving over holographic keyboards, but otherwise not speaking. Behind the work stations a single figure, a young man in a knee length white labcoat stood with his arms crossed surveying the monitors.
He was young, barely out of his teens, with pale skin and short styled blonde hair. His expression was flat and emotionless as his eyes snapped between the scenes being played out.
He commented in a cold voice, “Tighten up the controls on that patient. We don’t want another corruption loss. These patients don’t grow on trees.”
A screen blossomed to life in the air in front of him. It said, “UFD Simons”.
With a casual wave of his slender fingers the young man accepted the call.
A video feed of an older man in a dark blue military uniform appeared. He had an officer’s cover tucked under his arm. He had a thick black mustache, lined and scarred features, and thick black hair that was touched with white at his temples. A young person with bright red hair in blue scrubs stood behind him with a nervous look on their face.
The officer said, “Doc, command understands your request for isolation for project kick off but the Admiral wants a sitrep for Project Dominus.”
The young man did not look down at the screen. He pointed at one of the screens and muttered, “Shut that one down and clean it up. See if it can be salvaged.”
With cold indifference he turned to the video call and said, “We have a retention of ninety five percent so far UFD Simons. Some of these candidates are not mentally capable of handling the transition.”
Simons looked to the young person behind him and extended a hand to them, “Technician Ceres here worked on Project Rictus,” the tech handed him a folder and he continued, “they wanted me to send over some data they have been working on from the subjects in that trial.”
Doc’s eyes snapped to the young person in scrubs and he said, “I suppose I should thank you for paving the way.”
Ceres stood up a little more straight and swallowed hard, “It wasn’t easy but hopefully it saves some lives.”
Simons thumbed through the file folder and his jaw tightened, “We can all hope this was worth it,” he closed the file and nodded, “sorry to distract you Doc. The data is on its way.”
Doc offered the screen a nod and said, “We’re going to save the human race.”
The officer saluted and then the screen went dark. Doc’s eyes snapped back up to the screens.
–
December 9th, 2022
Phoenix, AZ
A commanding and cold voice intoned, “Wake the hell up!”
Her eyes flickered open slowly. She was looking up at a white plaster ceiling. She groaned and rolled onto her side. There was a rectangular window with no glass in the far wall. Loose white curtains shifting slightly in the breeze.
Where was she?
Looking down she saw that one of her arms was in a full cast save her fingers, the tips immaculately painted obsidian. She could feel binds and bandages across her chest covering aches and pains that she tried to ignore the origin of. Fatigue and pain filled her entire body. Besides her bandages she appeared to be wearing a simple gray t-shirt and a pair of similarly colored pajama bottoms. She shook her head and gritted her teeth.
Who was she?
Someone cleared their throat.
She sat up sharply, immediately regretting it, and looked toward the sound.
A young woman, petite with short styled strawberry blonde hair and a wide smile was standing in the doorway opposite her. Her dimples were a bit on the extreme side, and she had broad hips and a slender upper body. She was wearing white nurses scrubs and holding a tablet against her chest.
The woman met her eyes and Maria flinched away as she asked, “Is it ok if we talk today?”
Maria coughed and shook her head muttering in her naturally husky voice, “Where am I?”
The woman walked up to her bed and set her tablet on the blankets at her feet as she said, “You are at the Sonoran Health and Wellness Facility in Phoenix, Arizona.”
Maria opened her mouth to speak but felt a sharp pain in the side of her head. She winced and put her free hand to the spot.
The young nurse studied her for a moment, her smile fading a bit, before saying, “That discomfort will pass.”
After a moment she slid a finger over the screen of her tablet and said, “Can you tell me your name?”
The pain indeed started to fade and after a few long moments of thought she nodded and said, “Maria Emilia Rossi.”
The young nurse smiled kindly without looking at her and flicked her finger through more menus, “How old are you?”
Her memory was rushing back quickly. She looked around the room. There was something important she had forgotten. She muttered, “Twenty eight,” her voice trailing off.
Finally, she turned to the woman with wide eyes and spoke rapidly, for some reason slipping into Italian, “Christie, what the fuck happened to Christie? She was in the car with me!”
The young nurse’s smile never faded and she held up hands to forestall her rapid questions. She looked down at the tablet and spoke as if reading, “Christine Lovell survived the accident with very minor injuries.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Maria was relieved but rambled quickly ignoring the fact that the nurse spoke fluent Italian, “I have to talk to her. I have to,” she started to turn and heave herself out of bed but nearly tumbled to the floor.
The little nurse was there with a hand on her shoulder to keep her from falling, “Whoa, somebody is still in recovery here.” She helped her back into the bed. Maria’s head swam and she blinked away the spots in her vision. Extreme fatigue hit her. Suddenly she could barely keep her eyes open.
The nurse, whose name tag she now noticed said ‘C. Parker, R.N.’, put a comforting hand on her shoulder and nodded, “No more getting up ok?”
Maria nodded and closed her eyes, switching back to English, “How long have I been here?”
The nurse gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder and said, “You have been here a while. I can’t really go into details right now, but I promise we will discuss it.”
She shook her head and studied the strange nurse, “Can I call someone?”
The nurse started to speak but was cut off when a woman’s scream echoed from the hallway, somewhere distant. She put a finger to her ear and Maria could see that there was a small bluetooth earpiece there.
Nurse Parker grimaced and then turned back with her smile, “We will discuss calling family tomorrow. I have to run now.”
Maria started to speak but the woman shook her head, “Please rest. I think you should maybe get some more sleep.”
She watched the nurse turn and hurry through the door, her fatigue sweeping over her rapidly. She struggled to keep her eyes open as her head fell back onto the pillow. After a moment her head fell back onto the pillow and her eyes flickered closed.
–
December 23rd, 2022
The nurse rolled Maria into the courtyard in her wheelchair. She flinched away from the light and growled. She tried to raise her arm to block the light and was further annoyed that she chose the one still firmly bound in the cast. The cast was now covered in messages from family, from Charlie… hell even Layla had driven in from San Diego to visit her with her girlfriend. The bitch had written, in Italian, “Sono una puttana pigra, non ascoltare le mie bugie.,” or, “I’m a lazy bitch, don’t listen to my lies,” just for spite.
While that memory made her smile being reminded of Charlie and their last discussion struck her and dispelled it quickly. Her girlfriend hadn’t been the kind of person to let something like a major life threatening accident gloss over the painful discussion that they had been on the precipice of.
“Maria, I am glad you are ok. Honestly, I do love you but… I don’t think I can let this go.”
She had been standing in the doorway pointedly looking anywhere but at her as she said, “You lied to me. You disrespected your sister.” When she finally looked up and into her eyes she said, “The worst thing is that you did it all for someone who would disown you if they knew the real you.” Charlie had stood, waiting for a response for a long time. Maria just studied her and tried to think of what to say. Charlie left her there, still not able to find a way to respond.
She flinched at the memory and turned her attention to her surroundings. The courtyard was full of other patients. A lot of them were just sitting idly on benches in the shade. The facility had a strict no cell phones rule for all patients so most were either reading, drawing in sketchbooks or just keeping to themselves.
Connie leaned over her shoulder and beamed a smile, “No more cooped up in the room for you.”
Maria gave her a wry look and grumbled, “I told you like three times that I could walk on my own.”
The nurse gave her a light pat on the shoulder and said, “And I said that Doctor Anton has to clear you for that, also three times. In addition, at least twelve times over the last two weeks.” Maria could practically hear Connie hop with excitement behind her as she said, “But look now, some genuine outside time!”
Maria took a deep breath and shrugged, “Ok then, take me to some shade at least. We’re in Phoenix for fucks sake.”
Connie hummed happily as she pushed her down the orange brown gravel path and under the boughs of the mesquite tree at the center of the area. There was another figure in a chair there, an extremely overweight young man, maybe twenty, with greasy mid length black hair only covered by an angled santa hat. He was running his thumbs over an old style handheld video game and didn’t note her arrival.
Just off the track to the right was a young trans girl, very early in transition, with short red hair in slightly modified patient’s clothing playing hacky sack. She had applied fanciful patches of flowers, rainbows, acid bears, and at least one anarchy symbol to a vest she wore over her drab gray t-shirt.
Maria briefly considered whether she should assume the girl’s gender, but she so reminded her of Layla’s early days of HRT that she was willing to take that hit in her own mind.
Connie knelt down and whispered in her ear, “I will be right back.”
Maria dragged a small notebook out of one of the wheelchair pockets and thumbed it open as Connie moved to talk to an older patient who seemed to be struggling with a crutch. There was a list of items scribbled throughout her book, many of them struck through with heavy pencil marks. It was a list of personal goals.
‘Talk to mom,’ was circled.
‘Visit dad,’ as well.
‘Belize,’ and ‘Canada Move,’ had question marks. The last two were longshots. She imagined what her dad would have said about that and sighed. The man had been a patriot and a soldier. No matter how bad things were, and she had no doubts that he would have been livid about how things had turned out with the coup and the new government, running away from a fight wasn’t in a Marine’s DNA.
The way things were going in the US these days it seemed safer to be anywhere else. The far western states were reasonably safe, as was the northeast but things were shifting fast. She was a lot more worried for her sister than for herself. Layla was still in the midst of her transition and any DPS asshole who looked her way was sure to cause trouble.
The few times she tried to talk with her about it had not gone well. Layla was stubborn and put on a brave and confident face. Her last response on the matter had been to say, “I will never run from these people. I will face them on my feet if they come for me.” She wondered to herself how proud her dad would have been of Layla.
That thought was disrupted by a very distinctive sound. Footsteps. Heavy booted footsteps across an iron grate. She perked up and looked sharply behind her toward the archway she had just come through. A man was passing. He was nearly six and a half feet tall with bright red hair and wearing a uniform. It was bright blue and black with a prominent bronze badge on its breast. There was a radio microphone clipped to the other breast. The man was glaring in her direction and casually carrying a baton on his shoulder and a smirk on his mustached face. He was glaring right at her.
Something solid impacted the side of her head and she flinched away with a cry, “Oi!”
“Ohmygod I’m so sorry!”
The young red haired girl rushed over and knelt down studying the side of her head where the hackysack had hit her and babbled rapidly, “I swear I didn’t mean to do that. I’m such a clutz.”
Maria gave her a wry sidelong look and shook her head, “Don’t worry I guess. I was more surprised than anything.”
Up close, she noted that the girl was quite pretty. Her short red hair was wild and unkempt. She had soft gray eyes, full dark lips and an upturned nose. Her smile suggested she did so often. The girl studied her for a moment and extended a hand in fingerless gloves with light pink fingernail polish, “I’m Mia. I promise I didn’t hit you with a hackysack to introduce myself.”
Maria narrowed her eyes at the girl and then chuckled, “If you did I suppose that would have been pretty slick.”
Her lips quirked into a smile and she said, “I guess it's still nice to meet you.”
Connie returned slightly out of breath and beamed a smile at Maria, “I see you met Mia.”
“Well, she hit me in the head with a bag but that led to our meeting I guess.”
Mia winced and retrieved the small bag from the ground before whispering to Maria, “We should hang out sometime. The cafeteria does a mean mashed potatoes.”
Maria watched her go and shook her head before tucking her book back into the chair’s pocket.
