Prohibit (2 page)

“That isn’t what happened.”

“Recruiter Norz indicated that it might cause a bit of rage or fury in the general population to know that we have removed you without your express consent.”

She turned and stared into the cameras of his features. “You kidnapped me.”

Helbri bent forward until he was inches from her and she could see her reflection in the lenses. “No, Cleo. We stole you.”

Helbri prepared a meal for Cleo, and she sat in sullen silence while she ate. The food was good. It was similar to a stir fry with a weird starch layer that she couldn’t match to anything she had eaten before.

Their shuttle was flying while heavily cloaked, and Helbri returned to the helm after he had gotten her meal ready.

She was trying to pout, but there was no reason for her to make faces when there was no one to see them. She finished her food and put the tray in the disposal slot. The eating prongs went into another receptacle.

Cleo went exploring into the depths of the ship and found a huge exercise mat that obviously was meant for her, as Helbri was a robot.

The bathroom was similar to the ones she had used on the base, and aside from doing everything in four square feet, it wasn’t too bad.

Cleo checked out the small, neat room with her bunk, and when she was done, she silently stalked back to the command deck, sitting in the navigator’s chair with a scowl.

Helbri paused in what he was doing and handed her a tablet. “This contains the information as to why we have done this. Read it, and we can discuss the situation.”

Cleo looked at the tablet and then out to the vistas of space. After a moment, she started to read.

Two hours later, she had consumed the history of the Lrrko and understanding had dawned.

“There isn’t a choice. I get it.” Cleo smiled slightly. “So, you are really asleep on Lrrko somewhere?”

“Sleep is not the word that I would use. My flesh body is dormant.”

“Right. Okay.” She pondered how to ask the next question. “What do you actually look like?”

“The body is in similar size and shape, my skin is a deep matte grey and my hair is a shade darker.”

“What about your eyes?”

“Black. I was designed to be camouflaged so I do not stand out when I am on assignment.”

She blinked. “Oh. Right. Yeah. I guess you are actually designed.”

“Four of my kind every fifty years. I am the sole survivor of my gestation grouping.”

“Wow. That... that is sad.” Cleo frowned. It was really sad. Family had always surrounded her. Her mother’s sisters and her cousins had been part of her life. They still were; she just had to get a hold of them and explain that she had been stolen.

“It is the way it is. Lrrko lose more of their population on assignment than ever succumb to old age.”

“Oh. Well, based on what I learned, that makes sense. It is a dangerous life.”

“Yes, and I am supposed to be in retirement.”

She glanced at him. “Supposed to be?”

“It will depend on the situation. Unlike the others, I have skills that are not easily replaced, and none in the current generation have mastered as much as I have.”

“That sounds arrogant.”

“It is fact.”

Cleo didn’t want to show interest, but she had to ask. “What is your specialty?”

“Covert extraction or destruction.”

The two things didn’t seem like something that could be done covertly. “I don’t understand.”

“I am a long-range shooter, and I can camouflage myself against most surfaces. I blend into the shadows.”

She frowned. “If you do that, then why do you have the bot?”

“Not everyone likes to pay promptly. Sometimes, it is necessary to insist, and the bot can take more damage than I can.”

She chuckled. “I have had to do the same at the garage, and I can only imagine what happens when lives are at stake.”

“Lives, inheritances, breeding partners, they are all high-emotional events. If they don’t send the payment before I leave the surface, I have to pay them a visit in person. The bot works best for that.”

Cleo snickered. “It makes a certain sense. Will I be getting a bot?”

“No. You won’t be leaving Lrrko once you arrive.”

“How about you?”

He shrugged. “It will depend. If I am requested or the Elders assign me to a project, I will have to leave.”

She was still trying to figure this out. “So, I will get a new keeper at that point?”

He tilted his head. “No. Medical has arranged storage for you.”

“Wait, storage? I am not luggage. You can’t just put me somewhere and forget about me.”

“I will not forget about you.”

“What will happen if you don’t come back?”

His head tilt changed direction. “I will come back. I always complete my missions.”

“Humour me. What if you don’t?”

Helbri nodded. “Well, I suppose I shall have to show you how to defend yourself against those who would force themselves into your life.”

“Really?”

“Really. Shall we begin?”

“Now?”

The cameras shifted focus. “Now is as good a time as any. You are alert and fed, and I do not need to rest.”

She nodded and got out of the chair, heading to the rear of the vessel. The area with the mats was well lit, and she got to the centre of the room before turning to face Helbri.

“Where do we start?”

He beckoned her back to the bench near the hallway she had just walked down. “You haven’t been on your feet for days. You are going to start with weapons training until you build up your stamina.”

“Weapons? In a ship?”

“The walls are shielded and the rounds are blanks. You will be aiming at sensor points on the targets.”

He pulled out a small pistol of smooth material, and he checked the unit’s power supply. “It is ready and primed for your grip. Once you use it, you will be filed as an authorized user and you will be able to wield it without my supervision.”

She smiled and took the instrument. It hummed as she closed her hand around the grip. She carefully aimed it at the floor, and Helbri nodded in approval.

For the next two hours, he corrected her stances—standing, crouching and kneeling. When she was finally allowed to fire at the targets that began to move around at the end of the space, she was more than ready to shoot.

There was no kickback, so she was able to continue firing until she struck the target. The first target took her seven shots. The second took three, and after that, she was able to focus when she shot, and she hit the target every time.

“You have a knack for this. Now, do it while kneeling.”

She nodded and fired again. It was more difficult to focus as her kneecaps were aching, but within the hour, she could hit a target at a hundred feet.

“I wish we had a larger space or a holographic projector, but we don’t, so short range will have to do.” Helbri nodded as she got up.

Cleo crouched and fired. It was the worst position of them all. By the time she was competent to Helbri’s consideration, her body burned with fatigue.

“I am done for the day, if that is all right.”

Helbri nodded. “Of course. Come with me; I will get you a meal, and you will be able to rest for the rest of the day.”

Cleo nodded. “That sounds delightful.”

She stretched carefully, never aiming the weapon at either of them and then walked to the storage cabinet.

“The selection of weapons here is amazing.” She set the small gun down in the slot that was waiting for it, and it hummed lightly as she released it. “What was that?”

“It is reset for me once again. It will always take a moment to set itself for you.”

“So, this is your collection.”

“It is. It travels with me at all times.”

“Ah.” She locked her hands behind her back. “Well, you said something about food?”

As they returned to the galley and he set her up with a meal once again, she had to wonder if the weapon she had just used had ever been used on another living being. She was a little shocked by the fact she wasn’t disturbed by the idea. Life as an assassin didn’t seem a reach for her. It was as if it had been part of her all along.

The short time in the tank seemed to have woken something. Frankly, she didn’t know if it was the treatment she should blame or herself for having it inside her the entire time.

“Your expression indicates dark thoughts.” Helbri spoke and she jumped.

“I thought you had returned to the flight deck.” She jerked her head up and stared at him.

“No. I remained to keep you company now that you have shaken off your mood.”

“Oh. I was just thinking.”

He sat across from her and cocked his head. “You are feeling something, are you not? Your mind is distancing itself from those around you. You are becoming Lrrko.”

She nibbled at her meal for a moment before glancing at him. “Is that what this means? There is a riot in my brain and I am accepting violence with a bland, casual attitude that shocks me. I am changing, and I don’t know if it was the treatment or if it has always been me.”

He paused before answering her thought. “You have always had the Lrrko bloodlines within you. It may have passed through you and landed in your children or grandchildren, but it would have risen. You got the line from your father?”

“It would have to be. My mother doesn’t look anything like me, so the line must have come through my father.”

“I am going to ask you a difficult question, but you might want to think about it.”

“What?”

“Are you your mother’s child, or are you a strange egg laid in her nest?”

Cleo scowled. “I didn’t hatch.”

“I will show you your genetic profile and that of your parents. You can tell me what you learn, and when you have questions, you can send them to the Alliance, and they will seek them out.”

She was stunned, and her hands remained on the table. “That is ridiculous. Mom and Dad would have told me.”

“I am sure they would have, but why else would they fear your entering the Volunteer Project? Your genetics would be examined in detail, not just the light scanning from that ancestry group that you joined. You would know where you came from and from whom.”

“I think I need to lie down now.”

Helbri got to his feet. “You haven’t finished your meal.”

“I will have something later if you don’t mind. My appetite is gone.” She smiled and got to her feet.

She left him and went to the small room, sitting on the bed while she fought her way out of the clothing.

When she was naked, she crawled between the sheets and wished for the lights to go out. It didn’t work, so she pulled the covers over her head and hoped for sleep.

Cleo woke with a jerk of panic. She sat up and stared at her surroundings. “Right. Spaceship. Stuck in space.”

She got up, used the lav attached to her quarters and got dressed. It wasn’t too difficult to find her way back to the training area in the dark.

The weapons locker was closed but not locked, so she opened it and took out the small gun again. She triggered the targets and started firing.

It wasn’t her normal way of waking up, but it definitely got her up and running. She was alert, her body was sore, but she was invigorated. It was quite the confusion of sensations, but she didn’t mind it. That worried her a little.

Helbri was waiting for her in the galley, and he got to work on her breakfast when she arrived.

“So, are you ready to upgrade your weapon today?”

“Sure. It seems like the best course of action considering that we are stuck in this ship for the next few weeks.”

“Excellent. After you are checked out on all the weapons, we will begin sparring.”

“Sounds wonderful. What else can I study?”

“Whatever you like. History, etiquette, cooking, spaceship repair. Take your pick.”

“Seriously? I can just choose something and pursue it without paying?”

“It was part of the arrangement organized by one of your own. The other four females of your species are rather aggressive negotiators.”

Cleo blinked. “Four others?”

“Yes. You saw the file; you are the fifth and final trace of the Lrrko on Terra. The process has been begun to try and get pure Terrans in to see if a blending of our genes can create a new branch of our species.”

“Wow. That is... Would the women know what they were getting into?”

“They would be offered a choice by the Alliance. A choice between a life as a human or something more.”

“I liked being human.” She sat back as he slid her breakfast in front of her.

He paused and tilted his head before putting a steaming cup of tea down in front of her. “I can understand that. I have never been anything other than Lrrko, but I can see the problem from your end.”

She prodded at her meal, but eventually, hunger drove her to eat.

The tea tasted rather tannic, but she swallowed it nonetheless.

When breakfast was over, she was handed a bag of water, and they returned to the shooting gallery.

It was the first day of many that involved increasingly heavier weapons and faster targets.

The day that they switched to combat, it was a relief to be able to hit something at close range, even if it was her only companion.

Sparring took up the better part of six hours until she was bruised and exhausted. Helbri coaxed her to the shower and helped her take her clothing off. Her entire body was stiffening rapidly.

“I will give you a massage when you finish your solar shower.”

She was too tired to argue. Naked, she stumbled into the stall and activated the solar cleansing with the smack of her palm.

The heat flared and her skin warmed, loosening her muscles. Cleo groaned, and when the light faded, she stepped out into Helbri’s arms. He lifted her and carried her over to the med bay where a table had been folded out of the wall. He laid her face down on the bed and smoothed oil on her back before he began to massage her muscles with strong but careful motions.

She groaned. “Do they take you aside in high school and teach you this?”