Last hope: One on one

Would anyone care to join me in a one on one? I’m a little rusty, mind you, or else I would have made this into a group somehow. Ah well, baby steps. If anything needs to be explained in greater detail, simply ask!


The year is 4013, and the world has changed. People are different, now more than ever. Race and gender do not matter…only species, and point of view. Humans aren’t the only thing out there anymore. A new species populates the Earth now, and Humans do not like it. Magic, technology, strength, stealth and intelligence are all factors in the new battle. The battle for Earth.
The leaders of the world gathered in 2792 when new life began to contact earth. They came, in ships and with new technology and wisdom, and for a while the Humans were simply curious. However, seventeen years ago things grew out of hand, motives were formed and people died. A war was announced, on every being that was not Human. “Overpopulation,” said the leaders of the world, “Earth could no longer hold so many beings.” But this was not the case. The Humans grew jealous of the other species and their abilities, and decided it was best to be rid of them, or most of them. The Humans did not account for the beings to rise up, and a war began.
Now, the war is over. The armies returned. Humans are the main species of Earth. The beings are still around, yes, of course there was not a genocide. However, with the war over…the battle still rages on. No bombs, no armies this time. Two people, opposites with the same intentions hold the fate of Earth in their hands.

You work for a secret organization, called RDTech. Specialists in Researching and Disposal technology. Research and disposal of what, you may ask? Tamerans. Genetic testing has not stopped since the war ended, and after the testing…no survivors were found. You are the head of the disposal department, looking over all of the…patients…that have ended their tests. You dispose of the bodies, no questions asked. Until now. More Tamerans are being tested on now, more than ever. At this rate, the species won’t survive. Without you. For the past year you have been smuggling patients out of the tests, putting them into hiding and saving hundreds of lives.
One man stands in your way. Robert Greene, developer of RDTech, millionaire and murderer. He now knows you’re the one saving the Tamerans, and he plans to put a stop to your little game as quickly as possible. Which means the battle has begun. You plan to go to the one place that is safe these days. The Hall. It’s a place for Tamerans, the small government that they have. A peace treaty was formed after the war, bonding Humans to no longer cause harm to the Tamerans. The last thing you need is evidence.

That’s where I come in. I was born when the war was starting, and all I have ever known is pain and death. When the war ended in 4011 I thought I was safe, I thought that finally…finally it had all ended. One month ago, as I was walking home from work…the cars came. Two black, sleek cars with tinted windows. Four men surrounded me and the rest I can’t remember. I woke up in a laboratory, in a hospital bed with tubes in my arms and conductors on my temples. For the past four weeks I have been starving, slipping in and out of consciousness, and forced to perform my abilities over and over. I was marked when I came into RDTech, my number is 0632998, and you are my last hope of ever getting out of here alive.

Your plan is rushed and flawed, however it’s your only choice. Take a patient, and their research papers to The Hall, save the Tamerans, and save yourself before Robert Greene can get his thin, bony fingers around your neck. It’s a few thousand miles and a three hour boat ride from RDTech to The Hall, can we make it in time?

Details:
Humans have highly advanced technology in this time, buildings are hundreds of thousands of feet high, the ozone layer was destroyed by pollution hundreds of years ago, however there is now an artificial layer keeping humans alive. Cars are equipped with many different functions, almost any imaginable. Household appliances range from personal artificial-intelligence droids to kitchen sinks that can make your water taste like lemon, rose, or anything you request. Clothing has not changed much, however.

Tamerans: Humanoid beings. They look close to humans at first glance, however if you look closer, one would see how enchantingly strange they look. Tamerans give off a powerful hormone that attracts Humans and animals to them, although one can resist this feeling fairly easily. Their skin has an almost-glowing quality to it, their flesh imbedded with microscopic facets of light-reflecting bio-material. Tamerans are known to be peaceful creatures, only fighting when they need to. The war was difficult on their species, because they had never fought anything before the Humans. Tamerans have deep magic flowing through their veins, the ability to communicate with their environment, shifting wilderness and things around them. Tamerans can sense the mood of every living creature around them, however they can only manipulate plants. Humans figure that the hormone they give off has something to do with their ability. Tamerans originally left their planet, Julimar, because of a natural disaster that caused all of the plant life to die, leaving them with no food and nothing to feed their ability.

If there are any questions regarding this setting, please don’t hesitate to let me know! Help is appreciated greatly.

I have to say that I really enjoy the setting. I don't think I've seen it before! If no one else is interested and you don't mind having a female roleplaying with you, I would be interested in this lovely little roleplay. I would have to create a new bio and tweak it a little bit. (If you would rather have a male character I can do that) Since I am in another roleplay, I will warn you that my replies may be spaced and I have a little sister that sometimes causes me to have to leave for awhile.

So, what do you say? Am I eligible?

Of course, thanks for stepping up! I don't mind roleplaying with a female. And time isn't an issue, everyone is busy.

thanks so much. I like making my bios as detailed as I can. I will try to hurry and shorten it a bit. If I have any questions then I will post them on here.

Alright, my bio is in my signature! I'll start whenever you're ready, and any feedback on the setting is appreciated

I do have one question, but it's a question for a little later on. What type of disposal is done at RDTech. You can dispose of a body in different ways after all.

Body bags and a lake with a waterfall on the edge of the property is what I had in mind. If you like you could go into the history of RDTech's disposal issues, how their past means of disposal weren't satisfactory and stuff like that, I'm not picky when I write settings. Whatever you feel would fit is fine by me.

Name: Mira La’Mar
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Bisexual
Age: 23
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 127Lbs

Overall Appearance

Body Form: Mira is what someone would probably call a average looking person. Her body isn’t incredibly shapely, but the curves of a woman are very apparent in her form. She’s got the average bust for her size. Her legs are long compared to most which it probably the most apparent feature of her body.
Skin Color: Mira skin color is just a little darker than a cream color. The skin of her face is quite clear, but she has sun freckles on her shoulders.
Eye Color: Mira’s eyes are a very deep shade of green.
Hair Color: Mira has hair color that is a deep shade of brown. In normal lighting it looks black, but in the lighting of the sun you can tell faintly that she has brown hair.
Hair Style: (This includes facial features as well)

Spoiler:

Clothing: Mira is more of a skinny jeans and sweater kind of person. Since she isn’t really required to wear any special uniform except for a thin coat that had the company logo on it, she wears whatever she wants that is fitting for what she does. In her situation, most people would be wearing thickly soled shoes to work, but she wears heels and is actually able to pull it off. They are her favorite pair.

Spoiler:

Tattoos: None
Peircings: Besides from her ears being pierced, Mira has no other body piercings.



Background
Mira never knew her parents. She grew up a highly intelligent orphan. She had learned how to hack into the terminal in the old speed train station when she was only twelve. When she was a little older than sixteen, Mira decided that she could make it better on her own instead of in the orphanage. Making many friends on the streets, she was informed of a job at an invisible company. She didn’t have to have a name or any real credentials. She simply had to take a test and she was promised a job. Unknowing what the job would pertain to, Mira took the test and ended up being placed on payroll. Once she found out the monstrosities that were being done in the company, she had no chance of leaving the company. For that reason, she kept in silence, did her job, and thought of ways to help the people this RDTech was hurting.

Personality
Mira is very closed with her thoughts. Most of the time, she will sit in the back of the room and watch people from afar. Of course, she knows how to use a gun and is the type to break a man’s arm for touching her. She has no real friends except the android bots that help her transport the bodies. Since talking to androids isn’t the most stimulating activity to do all day, she has very rough people skills. She doesn’t trust anyone the first time they meet. Unless you’ve helped her on the street or helped her transport something under the radar, don’t expect to get much information out of her. She is a woman of her word however, and if she makes a promise than you better bet that she’ll keep to it. She’s not the backstabbing type, but if you betray her you better expect brutal retaliation.

Weapons: She keeps a 10mm pistol in a holster on her hip at all times, a .44 magnum in the glove box of her truck. It’s simply for precautions, but she never knows when she’s going to need to defend herself.

Alright well that's that! I'm going to start now, however I'm falling asleep on the computer here so I might be packing it in soon. Just a point, when Mira finds out that Robert Greene is after her, it would make sense if she had hacked a colleague's terminal for patient notes, and found an e-mail, eh??

Shall we?
IC:

“Push!”
“I can’t!” Sobbing “I c-can’t do this anymore!”
Noise.
Shouting.
Crying.
“Push, Angela! One more push!”
The woman collapsed after one last push, a Tameran baby born into a fresh hell. The crumbling building shook, slivers of light pushing through boarded up windows. The first of the bombs fell a few hours ago, causing Angela Avalon to go into labor. Her husband, Barry Avalon did the best he could to make his wife comfortable, but after delivering the baby he knew something was wrong.

“She’s not crying.” Angela gasped after a minute. “She’s not breathing. The baby isn’t breathing!” She was screaming, and Barry frantically raised a finger to his lips to silence her. The building shook again, and Angela’s frightened eyes were locked on her baby girl. She was dead. Angela Avalon had given birth to a dead baby. She began to cry, and her husband Barry folded the blanket over the baby girls face, closing his eyes so his wife wouldn’t see the tears beginning to well up.
“We have to go before someone finds us.” Barry said after a moment. Angela nodded weakly, wincing as she tried to stand. Barry began to put the small corpse in his arms down, but he felt something move in his hands.
The sound of a new born baby’s cry echoed through the small room, Angela and Barry stood, stunned into silence, before Angela began to laugh.
“Fiona.” She took the baby from her husband’s hands, looking down at the red faced bundle lovingly. An explosion in the building next to them sent ceiling tiles and bricks crumbling down.
“We have to go.” Barry Avalon took his wife under his arm, eyes darting around. “Now!”

_________________________________________________________
Seventeen Years Later.

I gasped for air, this was the fifth hour of displaying my abilities, and my body was shaking from exhaustion. They had me dressed in white cotton pants and a white cotton tank top, I had no idea where my normal clothes and personal objects were, probably long gone or stored in a secret place. The room was painfully bright and I had gotten over the cold weeks ago. I tried to look in front of me but the scene kept fading and swaying. I had just grown an orchid from a seed in seconds for the twenty-sixth time.
“She’s done. Give her some meds and send her to bed.” A voice on the intercom buzzed as I hugged my arms, lips cracking as I winced. For a few minutes I was alone, and I simply stared at the ground. I wanted to die. I wanted to feel nothing, to be nothing. My body began to shake harder and I fought the urge to sink to the ground in a broken pile.

Two women came and walked me to the small white bed in the corner, next to a monitor and a cabinet full of bottles filled with pills and liquids. One of the women was heart breakingly gorgeous, at least from a distance. Up close you could see how damaged her dyed blonde hair was, the amount of makeup she had was caking her pores, her false eyelash on her right eye twitched every time she blinked and she had red lipstick on her tooth. The other woman was horrifically hideous, one of her eyes was drooping slightly, her teeth were grey, her hair was stringy and mousy brown, falling just past her chin. And I knew that in a way both women hated themselves, one for wearing so much makeup, covering her true self up so no one could see. The other for not being pretty, even without wearing any makeup. And even though both women were strange and alien to me, I knew they hated me much more than they could ever hate themselves. Because I was a Tameran, because I wasn’t human. I would never be anything close to them.
“Put her under.” The woman to my right mumbled, and before I could beg them not to, I felt a prick on my inner arm, and as I fought the darkness surrounding me, I could feel the demons and nightmares closing in.

“I’m sorry Mira, but it seems that you’ve been denied your request for an incinerator. They say that we don’t have enough money in our budget for that.” The android looks up from where it’s peering at the portable information unit that we carried with us. A quiet growl escapes my lips as I stand beginning to pace in front of the truck.

“That’s the third time you know! If they wait any longer before deciding that our request is worth their time, we’ll have Tamerans on the banks of the lake!” I bring my hands up to my temples. It was like this every day. Most days, the job was slow, but sometimes it seemed that the scientists just decided one day that he was having a bad day. Some days we would have one unsaved Tameran, and some days we would have seven. “Get in the truck” I speak simply as I walk around the side of the truck, getting in on the driver’s side door. Three androids piled into the seats of the truck, ready to head back towards the testing building.

The three androids that sat quietly in the car were probably the closest things to family I had. When I had been hired, the three were high tech bodies with nothing more than a regular operating system. They were designed to be robots and nothing more. So, with a little bit of help from an old friend, I fixed them up and got them all personality chips. Peter, Don, and Samantha were the closest things I had to friends. Just like the droids, our budget was in need or dire repair. All of the money was going to testing and facilities. Hell, janitorial got more money that we did!

With a small push of a button, the truck reads my fingerprint and turns on. In a few minutes we would be back at the testing labs where we would sit and wait for the next information chip to come through, telling us that we had another pick up that needed to be disposed of.

“I guess send them another reply message telling them-“
“Telling them that we are grateful for them considering?” Sam interrupts me and I give her a sour look.
“Yeah, just go with that.” I grumble quietly as pull us off the path and into the back parking area. The truck cuts of just as quickly as it roared to life and we were out in no time.
“You know, if you were reassessed by a different person in budgeting then you might get better results?” Don chimes in quickly, trying to get his word in before someone cuts him off.
“I know, but it seems anytime one of us sends in request it gets sent to Cheryl and she hates androids” Peter was the one always getting left out of the conversations. It surprised me that he had gotten a word in before either of the other two started again.I sigh at their chatter. The combination of personality chips that I had received seemed to always lead to a lot of talk between them.

It never fails though, the moment we step through the door of RDTech they get quiet. It was very obvious that most people that worked for RDTech had a thing about hating anything that wasn’t human. The only reason that they had droids is because they could carry more. It was a good thing when it came to getting patients out of the area, since they could easily pick up a bed and just carry it out with them. They had definitely made getting help to these Tamerans much much easier. They didn’t might the work either, it was just another thing to help Mira with. It was just another job that she needed help with.

We make it through the maze of hallways until we make it to the small closet of a office that I had recieved. The next door down was a testing rooms that were down the entire hallway. If one of the subjects flat-lined, then we were there to take them out so the doctor didn't have to get his hands dirty.

Somehow we made fitting all four of us and a desk and chairs into the small office. It was cramped, but it was home. I take my place behind my computer while the others take their normal seats.

"I wouldn't have to actually go into anyone else's office this time. I figured out how to access the mainframe from my computer so I can get into anyone's account without having to move." There is a hum throughout the room and I laugh. The hum was of jealousy from the three of them. They had been trying to do that for at least a month now to no avail.
"It just takes a magic touch you guys"

(Yes, I'm starting to get quite tired as well, that's probably why it's taking me so long to post. Go to bed whenever you need, I'm not stopping you)

It was shocking that my body had enough energy left to dream. But slowly the images came, forming around me like smoke, choking me, burning me as I shifted uncomfortably in my sleep.
The dream formed, and I was back in the alley. I hadn’t seen my mother and father since I was nine, we got separated in a raid and I never really knew what happened to them. Dead, probably. Like the rest of my people.
A Human woman took me in. She was old, ancient really. However, she was all alone, just like me. I worked at one of the local droid arenas, cleaning and repairing broken bots used to fight each other. I guess humans got tired of fighting each other and decided to let the metal do the fighting. I hardly made enough, but the old lady and I survived.

I was walking home when they took me. It was late, probably around one or two in the morning. I had scrapes and scabs on my knuckles and palms from fixing up an old Titan3500, and the only thing I wanted to do was have a cup of tea with Ruth and go to bed.
Suddenly, their hands were rough, two men were grabbing me, the other two were just standing there. I screamed, panicking as my legs kicked out. I was never a fighter, always too small to do any damage, but I could definitely give out a bone chilling scream when I needed to. Slowly I took in a deep breath, but as another scream was on my lip, a white hot pain on the back of my head stopped me, and everything went dark.

Jumping, my eyelids fluttered open. The room was white, too white. I raised an arm to shield my eyes, but it was too difficult. My arm felt like it was a hundred pounds, and I was too weak. I could feel my hair sticking to my clammy forehead. My breathing was getting labored and I knew that soon I would be done here. There was nothing left after this place.
Someone came in, with a tray of food. I could smell it from there and my stomach made a gurgling noise. It was a man, young, handsome, tall. He looked at me with pity, and the slightest bit of disgust.
“Why?” I whispered. It was the only word I had said since I came in here, and my voice was too high, cracking and sounding pathetic.
The man froze, he had just set the tray of food on my lap, and he was beginning to walk away but he didn’t. He stopped, looking at me. “I don’t know.” He said in a defeated voice, before leaving. That man would never forget me. He would never forget the teenage Tameran girl he helped kill. Poor man, he probably hadn’t signed up for this. Either way, he was probably one of the last faces I’d ever get to see.

The food felt good, made me feel a little more awake, a little bit stronger. I ran my thin, shaking fingers through my hair, trying to fix it up a little bit because I knew I was a mess. These lights made my skin paler, veins prominent through my arms all the way up to my chest. I hadn’t looked at my own face for weeks, and I didn’t want to. There was no point in seeing such a damaged thing, it would only make my upcoming death that much more bitter.

Three men and one woman came into the room a little while later, holding sheets and white boxes in their hands. Testing materiel, no doubt.
“0632998, are you able to stand?” One of the men asked me.
I nodded, slowly bringing myself off the bed, and standing about ten feet away from the four people, keeping my distance.
“Can you talk?” The woman asked with a small, nasty smirk. This woman was familiar to me, she had come in numerous times asking me questions. Perhaps it was time to give them what they wanted, there was nothing left of me, no stubbornness, no strength, just an empty shell.
“Yes.” I murmured, my voice sounding more childlike now more than ever.
“0632998, would you please tell us the mood of the room? What each of us is feeling?” One of the men said, slowly I looked away from the people, and to the inside of my left wrist, where they had tattooed a bar code and the numbers 0632998 when I had come here.
I looked at the woman, fingers wiggling and flexing slightly as I felt the air. “Arrogance.” I said, balling my hands into weak fists and standing, waiting for their reaction.
“Miss, if you are not going to cooperate with us, please do not lie.” The woman sneered, and there was no point in trying to explain. The four left, leaving me alone. Slowly I sunk down to the floor and curled myself into a ball, eyes open wide like a mouse listening for a cat, body shaking hard…
Shaking.
Shaking.
Darkness.

The other women talked of her a lot. She wasn’t like them. She wasn’t condescending or malicious to the Tameran people that they were. She didn’t have to put pounds of makeup on to look beautiful and she didn’t have to have any of them as friends to be happy. Oh, and she kept those Androids with her at almost all times! In the back of their hearts, they knew they were afraid of her. She had been the street wanderer and for all they knew, she could kill them in an instant.

What troubled them most about her was the care she took, making rounds to all of the rooms about once, twice, and even some three times a week to the Tamerans, whether they had lived or died and new ones replaced them. She said that she wanted to see them before she threw them away later on. She wanted to at least know their names. The head doctor of the facility allowed it, only because she gave them hope. That once a week visit to most of the Tamerans was enough to give them hope that not all the people in the facility were bad. That hope would spark a new life in them that they could then stomp out with more tests. That’s why the nurses feared her most.

She gave them hope.

---

“Show us, Mira!” The Androids all pushed each other, trying to get a view at the screen so they could see me work my magic. I sigh quietly, shaking my head. They were so fascinated with technology that sometimes it was astounding that they didn’t sit in the office all night tinkering with my computer. It had surprised me that they couldn’t get past the security and into the mainframe. They worked quite well with computers.

“Fine, if you’ll leave me alone about it I will show you” I roll my eyes quietly as I start typing quietly on the computer. The screen lights up their faces as I work and they watch me. It takes a few minutes to get in, simply because the security on the mainframe in the facility was a very tough one to crack. After about five minutes of typing code, I make it into one of the other terminals. Since I had just randomly picked a terminal just as proof to the androids, I didn’t know the man whose computer I was now on. His name was William Burkes in a department that I didn’t even know existed. I shake my head, there wasn’t really much to look at. His communication files were all about numbers and accounting and really, it didn’t seem like there was much of anything of importance. This man was a dud, but other terminals I could get into would provide better results.

“I told you that I could get in.” They all gasp and begin chattering amongst themselves again. They hadn’t thought of the code the way I did. It was a complicated mess, but I understood it. That’s pretty much all I understood about it though.

After exiting out of my programs, I rise quietly, pointing towards the doors. They all start filing out so I would have the opportunity to get into the hallway. Like every week, I pulled the small package of cheese and peanut butter crackers from inside the drawer before following the Androids out.

“We need to make our rounds you know.” I smile as I turn, walking down the hallway. This was the best part of the week. Every Monday we made rounds to see which of the many Tamerans we could save. It was a very slow process, and it took a lot of planning to get one out. We could yield one or two a month, and if we were lucky we could get four. It didn’t matter if it was one life or a hundred lives we were saving, the small things were helping this race survive. Our group was helping them, one Tameran at a time.

We start at a random door. I never did like going in order or really in a specific pattern. We would go from one room near the beginning to the back of the hall to the one right next door. It depended on where each other Droid stationed themselves while we were inside.

I slide the keycard that hung around my neck on the scanner and the door unlocks. I was allowed to bring one Droid in at a time, but most of the times they stood in the corner, watching to see if the person was violent. Usually they weren’t. These poor creatures were on so many drugs to keep them docile it wasn’t even funny. With each room I went into a different Droid followed me in. These three were all about fairness and if Peter got to go in one more room than Sam then she would be complaining.

The door slides open quietly as the two of us walk in. A nurse stands in the observation room, looking at a grouping of charts and papers, not minding watching the patient who lay crumpled in the floor. With the sound of the door, the nurse looks up, turns, and gives me a small nod. There is no smile with the nod and she doesn’t acknowledge me further. I am fine with that. I knew none of the nurses liked me. They were here to work for the ‘betterment of humanity’ and I was just the garbage girl.

I look back to see that Sam followed me in. It seemed that they had already worked it out between each other and downloaded the order on their memory chips. It was a good thing too, I hated their fighting.

“Is there anything to know about this one?” I look to the nurse, my hand on my card. Just as normal, she snorts shaking her head as if it were a dumb question that she wouldn’t even grace me with a response. I didn’t know why I asked every day that I came in here. It was just a waste of time.

With the quiet slide of my card through the second door, the door pulls itself open quietly. I am greeted with the bright lights above us, making the whole room look white and clean. I take a few steps in, my heels clicking dully on the floor. I can hear Sam walk past me to stand quietly in the corner.

“Well hello there” I put on a small smile, looking down at the ball of crumpled up mess that seemed to be sleeping on the floor instead of in her bed.

The tests were taking their toll on my body and mind. My eyes fluttered open at the sound of a voice, and I looked up, sitting on my knees like a broken ragdoll. I stared up at the shadow, my eyes slowly adjusting to the painful white, small dots sparking on my pupils like fireflies chasing each other. As soon as I got the woman’s face in my mind I simply looked at the floor, hugging my bare arms and shivering. If she wanted something, she would take it. Like the rest of the humans. Take, take, take. I had never hated anyone before, but I think this was a pretty close feeling.
Minutes passed, and it was evident that the woman wasn’t going to say anything else. Slowly, I rose, feeling small and weak. My eyes stayed at the ground, and loose, nappy ginger red curls covered my face.

Her shoes were nice. Slowly my eyes looked over the woman, focusing on the gun at her hip. Interesting, no one else had come in here with a weapon. Not like I knew how to use one, but I suppose it was precautionary.
She was very beautiful, in the way that she wore little makeup but somehow there was something naturally nice about her. I told myself not to be deceived by looks, and stumbled a step back, leg catching on the side of my small white bed as I tripped, falling back onto it. I raised my knees up to my chest, hugging them and slowly brushing my hair off my face, tucking it behind one ear.
As I sat there, like a wounded animal, I tried to stop my hands from shaking. Something was odd. Something was strange about this girl. The mood in the room had changed so drastically now that she was here, it stunned me.
“W-w-what…” I tried to speak but I couldn’t form the words. It took me a moment, and I licked my dry lips, taking in a shaky breath. “What do you want with me?” I murmured, looking at the woman through my eyelashes, not wanting to meet her eyes.

She didn’t dress like the others. She didn’t hold herself the way a scientist or a researcher would. Why was she here?
I swayed slightly on the bed from exhaustion, and my eyes caught on something in the corner. A bot. My completely neutral face broke, and I felt my eyebrows raise up in surprise. I hadn’t seen an android in weeks, and this one was a prime model. As I watched it shift its weight, I noticed one of the neck joints was slightly crooked. My fingers twitched slightly, remembering how I fixed the old bots in the arena.

I blinked, breaking myself out of my little daydream and looking at the white blanket below me. Waiting for an answer. Waiting for the woman to do something.
Without realizing it, I was feeling the air again. Her emotions were so complex, confusion, curiosity, strength…it was strange to feel something other than disgust or anger. But why was she curious about me? I realized I was probably a strange sight, a broken pile of shaking nothingness. I bit my lip, starting to get frightened as I let my eyes wander back to her face.

I stand there for quite a while in the silence. The ones that they tested on more didn’t think highly of anyone that walked through the door behind me. She was still balled up in her own little world. It was almost a minute before she actually looks up to me. The moment our eyes catch she looks away again.

Reactions like this happened often. It would take a while before this Tameran would to more than simply look at me in fear. They all thought that anyone that came in to them was a monster. We were all people that came to hurt and that was it. That was the main thing I was trying to change.

After about five minutes of silence she pulls herself to her feet. It was people like this that we were trying to save. The weak ones that didn’t have very much longer were always the top on our list. Of course most of them were weak. They had started giving their subject less and less food than normal. They wanted to spend the least they could on these people and still keep them alive. The girl’s hands shake and she is quite thin. I watch her, knowing that she had been here less than a week. Not only that, but they were already starving her. The tests that they did were long and strenuous with barely any rest in between. They might get to close their eyes for five or ten minutes before they were forced back to work. I give her a small smile, but she trips backwards onto her bed. I don’t reach to grab her, simply watching her actions. She was clumsy in the state she was in, and for the longest time is seemed that she pulled herself onto the bed, curling into a ball again. She wanted me to go away. All of them wanted me to go away at first. Until they learned what I could do to help them, then they were all too happy to speak with me. The problem was it was hard to show them what I could do to help simply because there was always someone listening.

Soon the girl starts to mutter words, questioning me. She can barely get the words out at first, and it takes her a few moments before she is able to complete her sentence. I sigh quietly and a light giggle could be heard from behind me. I turn slightly to give Sam a ‘be quiet’ look before turning back towards her. She was giddy knowing that I wanted to help this girl, just like all the rest. They just didn’t know it yet.

“I don’t want much from you. I want one thing.I want to know your name. If you give me more, then jolly, but it's up to you what you give. I’m Mira.” I take a few steps toward the bed, making my way around to the side. I watch her a moment and notice that she eyes the bot in the corner. Normal people would just be worried that it was a bot. I sigh quietly; there was much to this girl, just like there was to every other Tameran in the facility.

“I see you’re eying my bot over there.” I wave Samantha over to us. Most were so lost in wondering why there was a strange woman in there room to realize that there was even a bot in the corner. “This is Samantha, one of my Androids” I smile to her and of course, instead of being quiet, Samantha giggles. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss” I look at her with a quiet chuckle. Usually she didn’t get to talk to the patients before they ended up in the back of my truck. This was a special case and she was very much excited.

I stared forward, eyes twinkling with thoughts as I processed what this woman was saying and feeling. I always felt safe around bots, so a slow calm was starting to wash over me. Even in the arena there was no reason to be frightened of an android, I knew almost every deactivation code. This one was different, wrong personality chip for this model, although it worked…it would just be more difficult to figure out the code.

“Fiona.” I said. That was the first time anyone had ever asked me my name, usually it was my patient number. It was drilled into my brain at this point, as well as marked on my skin. I rubbed my left wrist where they had tattooed me.

Slowly I stood, knowing that there was no reason for me to do this, although I felt like I had to. I walked toward the bot slowly, letting both of them know that I wasn’t going to lash out and cause a scene.

“Be still.” I murmured to the android, touching it’s smooth, artificial jaw line to tilt it’s head up, finding the loose neck joint I had seen earlier. With one twist of my thin fingers I tightly fastened the bolt, nodding slightly with a stiff, emotionless smile.

I sat back down on the bed, bringing my knees up and crossing my legs like a child does. I was wide awake now, nervous, excited, frightened…something was different about this woman. I tilted my head to the side as I stared up at the two figures, eyes lingering over the android’s neck. Biting my lip, I knew I wasn’t going to say anything else. If they wanted to know things about me, they could check my file. I wasn’t about to tell them my personal information…what if they got to old Ruth back at home? My eyes darted to my hands, folded loosely in my lap. What if they already got to her? I felt my chest tighten at the thought of the old woman in danger, of how I probably put her in danger.

Kill me. Just kill me. I thought to myself, drawing my knees up again and hugging them to my chest, burying my face in the soft white cotton they had dressed me in. Self pity wasn’t a good color on anyone, and this was hardly such a thing. I simply had no reason to live anymore. All I knew was suffering and pain. I assumed that’s what this lady was here to do, end it all. What else was I to think, a stranger coming in suddenly with a bot? It was over.

The girl isn’t as afraid as she had been. For the moments that the bot spoke, the way she sat relaxed for a moment. Now, the Droid sat in silence as it waited for the next order. Even though I allowed them to roam free and do whatever the pleased, they still felt as if they should only do things when ordered. That was simply how bots were programmed.

The girl musters up enough energy to tell me her name. I smile quietly, it was a nice name. It was a name that could roll of the tongue with such ease. I nod, looking to the bot again before back to the girl.
“It is quite the-“ I stop talking for at that moment, the girl gets up and starts towards Sam. For a few moments my hand draws towards the weapon on my hip. Not because I was afraid that such a person could hurt me-no- I was protecting my droid. It was like a mother protecting her child really, nothing would come between them. The girl walks slow, showing us both that she was not threatening us. I let my hand fall as I curiously watch her for a moment.

The girl reaches Sam, pulling her head up to look at a neck joint. I only noticed it now that it had been pointed out to me that it had been coming loose. The droid giggles quietly at the touch as the strew is turned back into place.
“It tickles!” She exclaims with quiet excitement. Of course, they had no nerves and no way to feel, but it made them feel more human if they said they could feel it. The little gesture makes me chuckle at her. She was getting more enjoyment out of this than she probably should have been.

After a moment the girl turns once more and makes it back to the bed. It was almost like she thought I was there to kill her. That of course wasn’t the case, but she didn’t know that. She just pressed her forehead to her knees in silence, waiting for something to happen.

“Thank you. I hadn’t seen that it had come loose. Well, Fiona, you’ll find that I am probably the closest thing to a friend that you’ll find here. You can trust me and my bots. I don’t really have anything on me now, but here, take this as a token of my gratitude” I pull the cheese and peanut butter crackers out of my pocket, placing them down on the bed beside her. Inside one of the crackers was a small, edible but of paper that would explain everything to her that she might need to know. I had decided, with her gracious move to fix my Droid, that she would be one of the few I would try to save this month. It was a small operation, but it was more than what most were doing to save the Tameran.

My ears perked up slightly as I heard the woman place something down beside me. Clicking footsteps sounded, the buzz of the bot faded and I was alone again.
Slowly I opened my eyes, looking to my side where I saw a few…crackers. With cheese and peanut butter. Slightly, I smiled, giddy with excitement at the gesture. I knew I should be suspicious and hesitant, but that wasn’t the nature of Tamerans. Slowly I picked up a cracker with peanut butter and inspected it, no pills, no weird smell.
It sure tasted like peanut butter.

I wanted to laugh, to smile, to jump and do cartwheels but my body couldn’t handle it. I let one corner of my mouth turn up a bit, and took another cracker, one with cheese, inspecting it like I had done the last.
In between the cheese and the cracker was a small, white…thing. My eyebrows knitted together slightly as I took the edge, and slowly eased it out. It was a piece of paper.

Quickly I balled it up into my fist, staring straight ahead with a dead expression on my face. They had cameras, they were always watching. It wasn’t safe now. As fast as I could I shoved the rest of the crackers in my mouth, the strange combination of peanut butter and cheese not phasing me even slightly. My mind was too focused on the note, and my new…friend. Slowly I laid down in my bed, rolling onto my side and shoving the paper under the stiff, uncomfortable pillow.

Night came quickly, well, at least I think it was night. They gave me sleeping pills and shut the lights off, so that probably meant it was night. Tonight, I hid the pills under my tongue and shoved them under my pillow, waiting until they turned the lights off and left me alone. It felt like hours until I slowly let my fingers find the piece of paper, heart beating into my chest. I pulled the covers up over my head, the tubes in my arms connected to the monitors stretching and pinching my flesh.

Slowly, I unfolded the paper, squinting in the dark to read it.

My name is Mira La’Mar.
I work for this company, RdTech. This place tests on Tamerans, disposing of the bodies when they are done with the patient. I won’t let that happen to you. Next time you see me, follow my instructions and act as I tell you. Destroy this paper after you have read it.
See you soon,
Mira.

I was numb for a few minutes, reading the small slip of paper over and over again, processing it in my mind. Was I dreaming? Was I dead already? It took a while, but eventually my body reacted. I closed my eyes, sighing and smiling, wigging my toes under the blanket. Quicker than the crackers, I shoved the paper in my mouth. It dissolved quickly, leaving a strange taste behind. I hardly noticed. My body was singing. Mira La’Mar, you are an angel.

After a moment I turned toward the door, motioning for the bot to follow. She knew that it was this girls choice whether or not she took the offer. As I walked out of the sliding door, I checked the watch on my wrist. We had spent a lot longer in the one room than expected. The other bots were posted up outside different rooms, but I waved them to come on back down the hall. I had work to do before it was time to leave to the day.

I sat in my office the rest of the day, typing away at codes and getting into different terminals in the building. Of course, the first place I went was the budgeting department. It was easy once you gained access to simply do what you wanted. I gave the disposal department just enough to buy a brand new incinerator. It was nice being able to transfer money around without having to sneak into people’s offices once they left. After spending an hour simply moving money around it got boring. It was a blessing that I hadn’t been called out to get rid of more bodies, but sometimes it was sickening being cooped up all day.

For the remainder of the work day, I simply get myself into the security message receive system. It was nice to see what kind of problems they were having with security. None of them seemed very dominant. A few attempted escapes by one of the Tamerans, but other than that there was very little. One email does catch my eyes though as it is closer to the top of the list.

---

To: Security Officer Benjamin Fredricks
From: Robert Greene
Subject: Our little problem

::It has come to my attention that you have seen our disposal team taking bodies off the grounds. Not only is this violation of security code, but we also have reason to believe that this Mira La’Mar has been smuggling the subjects out of RDTech. We are not sure how she does it yet, but there is correlation between her visits and the patients dying. We still don’t have all the information we need. I need you to take Miss La’Mar after the half day shut down on Friday and dispose of her like we dispose of all the other trash we get coming through this place. Five days will give us enough time to find a replacement. ::Robert Greene

---

I stare at the message for a while; just reading and rereading until it completely sink in that I’ve been caught. It didn’t surprise me really. I had been getting people out of this place for a year now and only now had some loose strand had finally fallen out of place.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” I mutter the words quietly. The only place I could think to go was the one place that I would have been safe. The Hall of the Tamerians was a place for their governmental system. There had been a treaty between humans and Tamerians long ago, but RDTech had been breaking such a treaty. If I could get something to them, showing them that they were breaking the treaty…I might be safe. The plan was messy and quickly thought up though. Usually I would plan things out for months before deciding on anything. Hell, getting ready to help the people in here took me well over six months just to get everything ready. It would take a lot of friends from the streets to get me there, and I still needed evidence. I take in a very small breath, pulling a hand through my hair as I lean back. I knew just the evidence I needed. A small smile pulls from my lips. I pick up all my things, walking to the door. It was the end of the day and no one would mind if I slipped out a little early.

“I’ll be back tomorrow okay? Don’t cause any trouble while I’m gone.” I make my way out into the hallway with three goodbyes as I shut the door. It would take thinking over all the fine details overnight to get everything set in stone. I had one girl with one pack of crackers. I had to only hope that she would be good enough. None of the other patients yet had received anything. It was good, three deaths in a row would sure cause some suspicion. I needed to just do what I normally did. I needed to smuggle one of these poor souls out with me. It would be easy, except the problem that I was acting very quickly for my own liking.

I squeezed my eyes shut, grinning to myself. Tonight was different than all the other nights, tonight I had no wish to sleep. I was ready. My ears were perked up, listening for sounds down the hall. It was exhilarating, thinking about escaping. I would get to see Ruth again. I would get to feel my garden, know how much my plants had missed me when I was gone. Hopefully Ruth had watered them…if not I could probably whip up a new rosebush in no time.

Suddenly I heard a man’s voice, it was harsh, and it frightened me. “Where is she?” Pause, someone mumbling a response to him. “You don’t know?” The man’s voice was getting sharper. “How could we lose one fucking girl?” I flinched as the man cursed, his voice like a whip. “Check her office. Ask her droids. Find her!” Running footsteps. My heart was pounding in my ears, it was the only sound I could hear now. I gasped, forgetting to breathe. Were they looking for Mira? She was my ticket out of this place.

I froze as more voices became audible in the hall. “I heard she’s with the Tamerans. She’s helping them.” It was the cake-faced lady. “She’s long gone, if I know Mira. She’ll be halfway to Mexico or Hawaii by now.”
My heart sank, and I felt like throwing up.

_________________________________________________________


Benjamin Fredricks was shouting orders at the security staff of RDTech. They had a rogue worker on their hands, and he wasn’t about to let her get away. He got news of Mira La’Mar’s actions that morning, and was working out a plan to calmly confront her. However, time had run out. Night had fallen and she was already slipping through their fingers.

Benjamin and two other security staff were at Mira’s small office door. It was locked. “Miss La’Mar. Please open the door.” He said, hand on his gun. No answer.
“Mira!” he shouted, knocking hard on the door. After a few moments, he backed away, then suddenly gave the door a good kick, knocking it down.
"Looking for someone?" One android purred, sending out an electric shock to the man. The other two bots shocked the other guards, and three bodies were laid out on the ground.
Peter looked at Sam, Sam looked at Don, and they all buzzed nervously. Sam pushed a button on her shoulder, sending a transmission to Mira’s radio, hoping she had it on her. “You’d better hurry.” The bot told her master, before all three droids shut themselves into a sleep state.

I had barely made it into the apartment before the comms unit flickered quietly on my forearm. I push a small button, turning on the speaker that was in my ear. The small warning from my friends was enough to tell me that I didn’t have as much time as I had hoped. I had planned on having two day’s worth of time to work, but it seemed that it wasn’t going to happen.

“I need you to get into the laboratory files, like I showed you. Print everything out that you can find on a Fiona something. Sam knows her; the picture should be on the file. We’ll be leaving tonight instead of later.” I apparently had grown very popular in my absence. A deep breath filled my lungs as I walked quietly towards my back bedroom. I pull a duffel bag from under the bed. I had done much traveling, trying to get all of these Tamerans safe from RDTech, but I hadn’t gone as far as I was going to have to. In the bag I two changes of clothes, the small cache of ammunition and weaponry that I had stocked up and the stickers.

The stickers are what I used to get people out. When placed on their bodies, the sticker released a drug into their blood stream causing the heart to stop. The doctors would presume the subject dead and I would get them. It was a very easy way of getting them out, but they were very expensive. It took me awhile to even save enough money to get them and most of my paycheck had went to these small stickers ever since. They were the reason I was living in the small shabby apartment, but I didn’t mind it.

I pull myself over to the computer that sat silently in the corner. With a few pushes of the button, all the information on it was lost and gone forever. I turn quietly, pulling the bag from where it sat on the bed. I press a small button back on the ear piece.

“I’m on my way back to the facility. I need you to make sure that there’s nothing in that office that they can use, okay?” My voice is quiet as I make my way down the steps and towards my truck. I pull the driver’s door open, throwing the bag in the back seat. The next place security would go in search of me was my home and I was already two steps ahead of them.

---

I pull quietly up to the facility. The lights of the building were all off. A few night lights were on throughout the halls and a small room of doctors sat waiting. If anything wrong happened to the patients, then they could be there to help them. Really, they never did. They might get a warning by one of the machines, but they were much too worried about sleeping to care about it. I am fast to make my way into the building. It would take a bit to get into the room where she was held. I knew that there was the chance that they had already canceled my key card, but for now, I was more worried about getting to the office.

When I make it up to the floor and down the hall that I called my own, I can see the small shadow of feet from where I stand. I shake my head, pulling the weapon hurriedly from the holster. There’s the quiet chatter of the Droids inside and there’s tapping on the keyboard. I knew that it might take them longer to get into the files. What I don't know is that they've just started. In their sleep state, my words took longer to get to them than had they keep themselves on. I pull myself into the doorway, looking down at the men. I can’t help a smile in greeting as the others continue their work.

“It seems that you’ve gotten this all figured out. Now look, when I get back I need you to have the papers printed. I’m going to take your personality chips with me, but I can’t keep you in your bodies. They’ve got trackers on you. I’ll need you to help me get that girl into the truck and then I’ll take them out. Sam, I need you to come with me” The bot looks up at me from where she's standing behind Don. She follows orders very well and quickly makes her way out into the hallway. My words are frantic, but at the same time they are calm. I haven’t done something like this before; I had been in enough situations with people trying to kill me that I didn’t freak out.

I holster my weapon, turning quietly out of the room, knowing that they were probably far too busy working to hear me. It wouldn’t be a surprise to any of them that I wasn’t taking their bodies. They were property of RDTech and could easily be replaced. I stop a little farther down the hall, turning back just long enough to pull the key card off one of the guard’s necks. I would use it to get inside.

I rush back down the hallway to the door that I had been going into only hours ago. I take in a short breath before sliding the key card in the first door. After a quiet click, the door slides open. There is no nurse standing at the window, looking into the dark room. There is no one but me and Sam this time. I take fast steps forward, sliding the key card into the next door. The door slides open quietly and I take a few steps inside. There is nothing but the sound of the bot behind me as the door slides closed behind us. I’m unsure if the body on the bed is awake or asleep. I hadn’t expected such an encounter, but this was a fast getaway. I walk over to the bed, my heels quietly clicking on the floor. I place my hand on the bed, a small smile on my lips.

“Fiona” The quiet word passes my lips and escapes into the cold room.

For hours I tried to slow my heart beat, breathe normally but it would not work. Counting to ten over and over, counting sheep, remembering my parents faces. Nothing worked. I was stuck here. Tomorrow would bring a new hell, maybe they would be slicing into my skin again, getting another ‘sample’ of my flesh, figuring out what made it glow slightly.

If they were going to kill me here, it would be on my own terms. Slowly I felt under my pillow for the sleeping pills, and held them in my fist for a good ten minutes. I would save up the pills until I had enough…then off myself. If they wanted me dead, they got it. I wouldn’t be their guinea pig any longer. Maybe one more week, then I’m done. Maybe I’ll even get to see mum and dad again.

I curled up on my side, knees balled up to my chest tightly as I felt the familiar knot forming in my throat. I hadn’t cried since I was separated from my parents, but…now that I was finally letting go, it seemed like a good thing. Before I could even control myself, hot tears were welling up on my eyelashes. A small whimpering sound in the back of my throat made me begin to shake, and it came.

Fast and strong, small, silent sobs. I had no strength left. I had no shame left, nothing left. The tears burnt my freezing cheeks. I raised my tattooed wrist to wipe them away, sniffling as I heard footsteps. My door opened and I froze, cheeks still wet.

One word.

The being spoke one word and instantly it felt like the sky was breaking and the sun was streaming down on my skin, the cold and sadness was replaced with warmth and hope. No one other than Mira called me by my real name.


Weakly, I drew the covers off me, sitting up on my elbows and blinking at the woman. Cheeks glistening with tears, eyes still glittering. My hair was a tangled mess, more than usual, and a few dry kinky curls fall over my eyes, but I daren’t move.

“Time to go?” My voice was hardly above a whisper, sounding like a wounded child.

I hadn’t noticed the sound that was in the room until I spoke and it stopped. Was it the sounds of crying that I had heard? I took in a short breath, watching the form a moment. It lay still for a moment before she began to move, first pulling the covers off her and then sitting up. The light from the Androids eyes illuminates the room just enough that I can see small tear stains on her cheeks. I sigh, clicking my tongue and shaking my head at her.

“There’s no reason to cry! We’re getting you out of here” I smirk quietly, walking quickly to the girl. I round her bed, the dull clicking of my heels still very prominent. I start pulling the random cords and pads off her body. They had her hooked up to so many machines that it was almost impossible to know what they all did. It took me a moment before I am able to scoop my arms up under the girl, picking her up. “Didn’t I tell you I was going to be the closest thing to a friend?” I smirk quietly at her, picking her light body up off the bed. I turn with her, carrying the five or so feet to the Android that stood with her hands held out. I place to girl as lightly as I can in her arms. “Take her out to the truck. If anyone tries to stop them-”
"Zap them within an inch of their life?" I can't help but laugh as her giddiness causes her to cut me off.I nod quietly to her. The girl could handle herself quite easily. She turns quietly, with girl in hand and starts out of the room. I followed suit quietly. Once out in the hall, I walk beside her the short distance to the office. “Sam’s going to take you out to my truck. I’ll be out there as soon as I’m done. If I’m longer than five minutes then Sam will take you someplace safe okay?”

I don’t wait for the girls response. I walk into my office, seeing that a large stack of papers are now in a neat envelope. I smile to them a moment before pressing a small chip into the computer. It downloads all the same files onto the small chip that a place in a different envelope, a much smaller one.

“Thanks for your help. Once I get you all Droid suits, I’ll put you into them, but until then I can’t risk it” The two nod quietly to me as I turn them around, pressing the small button to open up to their paneling.
“We understand Mira. Keep safe okay?” I smirk quietly, nodding more to myself.
“I’ll try.” With the two simple words I pull the chips out of the two android’s heads. It doesn’t take much to make it where no information can be taken from the short term memory. I do the same to the computer, but it was inevitable that they would see what they had doing. I left the two personality-less droids in the room, pushing the two men that were still in the hall in with them. I sigh a moment before pushing the door closed and locking it behind me.

I didn’t speak, biting my lip as she gently pulled the tubes out of my arms and wrists. Quickly I grabbed the two sleeping pills hidden under my pillow, pocketing them just in case. As I was rubbing my inner elbow, suddenly she scooped me up. Eyes wide, I simply held on. She was strong, toned and I wouldn’t last two seconds if I were to start lashing about. And she was helping me, there was no reason to be scared, right?
She put me into the stiff metal arms of the bot, and I wrapped my arms around its neck, burying my face into the poly-metal materiel that made up its torso. It was cold, but not lifeless whatsoever. She told me not to cry, so I held my breath.

It reminded me of when I was a small child, no more than six or seven. The war was raging, danger was everywhere for my people. Tameran children were being plucked from their mothers bosoms, pregnant women were being slaughtered like cattle. My mother and father and myself were hidden in the country side for years, the soldiers hardly ever came and I was taught by my father how to read and write properly. It was all I knew.
One day, the troops did come.
We hid in the cellar, and I remember crying my eyes out. My mother told me to hold my breath, don’t make a noise. And that’s what I did. I held my breath until my lips turned blue.

Now, it’s just a knee jerk reaction, whenever I try not to cry, I hold my breath until I’m gasping for air. I breathed deeply into the androids chest for a few minutes after a silent gasp, looking over to Mira. A small nod was all I could manage, and soon I was outside with the bot. She took me to a large truck, setting me down on my feet.

“You look freezing.” The bot buzzed. I recognized it from earlier, Sam, I think was its name. The droid opened one of the back doors and fished out a large, oversized black jacket. I took it slowly, looking up at its glowing eyes and touching its neck joint I had fixed earlier as a gesture of thanks. No words came to my lips.

I put the jacket on over the white cotton pants and white tank top, feeling the warmth immediately and hugging it a bit closer. This was the kindest thing anyone…anything…had done for me in a long time. Mira and her droids were definitely a strange bunch.

Spoiler:

At this point, I wished I had gotten at least a few hours of sleep. The exhaustion was causing me to sway, eyes drooping, vision fading.
“Uuh…” I murmured, trying to protest my body shutting down, but I swayed, stumbling slightly. Strong, metallic arms caught me and I heard the buzz of worry running through the android’s system.

“Where is that girl…” Sam hummed nervously, as I struggled to stay conscious.

I was moving as fast as possible out of the area. The whole building was deadly quiet and I rushed to make it to the doors. As I jogged towards the end of the hallway and out into the lobby, I let the two personality chips drop into the same envelope that the memory chip was in. I fold it up tightly, shoving it in the pocket of my black pants. Darkness covered the surrounding forest in thick shadows as I made my way out of the building. Any second security could awaken and run after us. It was only a matter of time before we ran out of options.

As I walked out towards the truck, I searched the communications unit on my arm for a name. It takes me a moment, but soon I find it. Pushing his name on the screen, I begin the call through. It rang three or four times before being picked up by with a grumble.
“Yeah?” The thick flowing voice of a woman could be heard on the other line.
“Hey Xandra, it’s Mira. I need a favor” I speak easily into the earpiece that was still in my ear as I made my way around to the passenger side of the truck. I can hear the fans buzzing in Sam and I watch the girl as she teeters on the edge of consciousness. Sam is only barley able to hold onto her and I reach around her side to try and help her a little better.
“Oh, hey, Mira! What do ya need?” Her voice is chirpy on the other line, happy that I’ve called. I grunt quietly, looking to Sam for a moment.
“Put her in the Passenger seat and turn around” I speak quietly to her before going back to my conversation. “Look, Xan, I’ve got a…package to transport. Things got a little hot and I know that I’ve got people looking for me. Anyway you could hook me up with a place for the night?” By the time I turn back around to the two, Sam is setting the girl down on the cloth seat. I sigh quietly, looking at her weak form a moment. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get this girl all the way to The Hall without killing her on accident.
“Sure sweets, just stop by! You know where I am” I sigh quietly, at least that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about for the night.
“Thanks, Xan, I owe you big time. I’ll be there soon” I push the screen, ending the call quietly as I walk around the Android, pulling a blanket from under the seat. I look to see that Sam had turned around and I smile. I would miss my friends, but I had to do what had to be done.

“I’m sorry Sam. I would take you all if I could. I’ll get you a bot soon okay?"
"It's okay, Mira. I understand" I pull open the small door on the back of her head, looking around. I find the personality chip and the short term memory wire. I disconnect the wire, pulling the chip from her head. She powers down instantly and I let her fall into my arms with a quiet grunt. She had been much heavier than I remembered. I set her down on the ground before walking to the girl. I place the blanket on her lap. “Just in case you get cold” I speak quietly, pulling the two doors closed. I walk around the truck quickly, getting in the driver side and pushing the small fingerprint recognition button.

“Seatbelts” I remind her quietly before pulling out of the lot.

Fading…reality was fading and becoming something else. A dream? No, a nightmare. One minute I was in a passengers’ seat, the next I was hiding from human soldiers. In my mind, the war was still fresh and blooming. It would never go away.

When I was nine, there was a horrible raid. Mother, father and I had abandoned our country home a few months ago, it wasn’t safe anymore. We were in a warehouse, with a dozen other Tameran families. Children, elderly, wounded…they were all there right in front of me. A couple humans were around, helping our people get food and medical care. There was a traitor amongst them, and by the time we found out it was too late.
I remember screaming for my mother, being ripped out of my father’s arms. Hair pulled, face being crushed into the ground, blood streaming out of my nose and into the back of my throat.
Blink.
Swallow.
Stand.
Swallow.
Blood.
Blood.
Blood.
A group of us made it out, no more than twenty. Mother and father weren’t there. No one knew what had happened to them. I replay that moment in my mind so often that I can still remember the smell of gunshots, the sound of energy weapons.

Mira’s voice made me blink, and I slowly clicked on my seatbelt. I was too weak to hold my head up, and I felt myself sink into the seat of the truck. Gingerly, I pulled my knees up onto the seat, hugging my legs close to my chest like a child. I felt safer this way.

“Thank you.” I whispered, eyes closed, forehead pressed against my knees. I turned slightly toward the window, comfortably fitting my small body into the seat and leaning against the door. The hum of the engine put me to sleep in a blink, and I was out cold. No dreams, no nightmares, no gunshots, no screams.