Daughter 4254

Chapter 27

“Wake her.”

“She’s already coming to sir.”

“Good. Make sure she is stable.”

“Vital signs look good. She is responding to the serums quite well.”

“They should never have used such a high voltage on her, she’s much too small.”

“Sir, they said she was about to jump off the cliff. There wasn’t time to …”

“Enough. I will finish alone.”

“Yes sir.”

The voices weren’t altogether strange, although it was strange to be waking to them. The darkness was parting slowly and a shooting pain was creeping into my head in it’s stead. I moaned as I tried to process their words and the status of my body all at the same time. I was not dead. Death could not be this painful.

“4254. Can you hear me?”

I moaned again. I seemed to be in some sort of chair, reclined, and as I tried to lift my hand to my face I realized, retrained. I blinked, grateful to have use of my eyelids again, and grateful that the lighting was low and soft.

Who ever was in the room with me started shuffling around above my head. Finally he asked, “Does that feel better?” I felt a warmth radiate from my wrist up my arm and into my head then through my whole body, like a blanket smothering the pain. Putting it to sleep for the moment.

“Yes,” I croaked.

“Good. You no doubt need water.” A straw was placed in my mouth and I sucked eagerly, wetting my parched tongue and throat. I tried to look up and see who my captor was, but the angle was wrong and he moved again too quickly.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply again. It was a sterile smell, not unlike the Secondary School. I thought of the crisp mountain air I’d feasted on .. how long ago had it been?

“You have caused us much grief my girl.” He was speaking again. His voice was so familiar, and yet different. There was something off. “I had to call in several favors to get you assigned to my chair.” A slight chuckle followed this confession.

“Where am I?”

“A Mind Wipe chamber.” The direct answer with no hint of reverence for the severity of it’s meaning finally gave away my companion. He stepped around a table of instruments and sat in a chair at my left, in full view now. The hood of his golden robe was pushed back onto his shoulders leaving full view of his face to confirm what my ears already knew.

“789.”

“Yes. We have a lot to discuss.”

His strange tone of voice was back. I almost didn’t believe it was him. Although it looked like him and sounded like him, his mannerisms were all wrong. All of his superiority and ego seemed to be erased. This was, in fact, the man I thought I would meet when I first encountered him that day in his office. My confusion must have translated to my face because he repeated himself and began to explain. Only the explanation terrified me even more than if the harsh man I had once known were standing in front of me.

“We have a lot to discuss. You have caused an incredible amount of trouble. You are here today because your mind is no longer necessary, rather, YOU as a person, are no longer necessary because of your complete lack of contribution in any way to the community. And I am therefore forced to … delete... as it were, you and make good use of what’s left so that at least your body can be made to contribute.”

“It is a rather painful procedure, and one that cannot be reversed. I am therefore permitted to make my own final judgement on your mental and physical status to determine if you are fit and able to withstand the process.”