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Tayden Lark emerged from a portal inside of the crystal room and fell to the floor. She had been gone a long time and she was confused as to why the room looked no different than when she had been strapped down and forced to jump. She looked around frantically and then down at her body to see if anything was different.
She smiled when she saw that she was still in the colorful uniform of the Imperial guard of Leir. She had recovered her memory during a brutal battle but had retained her composure and survived it to the end. Once they were moving around giving deathblows to the wounded, she held the crystal to the sky and it pulled her back to the world she knew.
A number of footsteps could be heard outside the door and she steeled herself for what was to come. She had jumped back with the weapon she’d fought with, so she hoisted the spear and took a step back, ready to kill anyone who didn’t look familiar.
Arn Stryker stepped inside and she lowered the tip of the spear. He was smiling, a feat she would have assumed impossible, and he stepped forward and embraced her warmly. “I never would have guessed that you would be the first,” he said to her, and the other jumpers fell to a knee in front of her. “Number five, you have earned your name and can walk amongst us as a person.”
“Thank you, director,” Tayden said dryly and stepped past him to see if anything was different.
The first thing she noticed were the familiar faces of some of the recruits that trained with them. They were still in the same uniform and were busy moving about, cleaning the temple and seeing to the jumpers that wore the colors of persons. The sight of this saddened her when she realized that they had not earned the right to the final test. Who would’ve thought that going against the rules was the secret to ascending in their organization?
“How long?” she said, and Arn looked at her quizzically. “How long have I been gone?”
“It’s been a year, Virulian time, which would be fifteen months on Vestalia.”
Tayden nodded and thought about her jump. On Leir she had been without memory for what seemed like a long time. She had seen children become adults while she was there, and she wondered about the difference in their time.
She still had her wounds and she did feel older, so her assumption that it was all a simulation didn’t hold. She had been to another system, she had learned their culture, and she had given up two years of her life to become a “person.” The thought of this made her angry and she started to march towards a door.
Arn called after her and she turned to him slowly, and his face took on a look of disappointment. “You hate me for our methods and the things that you were made to do. I hope in time you will learn to forgive us,” he said. “You will find your new uniform, weapons, and belongings in the room you once shared with number three.”
Tayden nodded and walked to her room and locked herself inside. The uniform was beautiful, a shimmering white 3B suit with a pearl colored sheath for the accompanying las-sword. Inside a chest she found weapons of every variety, and a pin with her name that would stick to the suit. She snatched up the uniform and went to the bathroom and took the longest bath of her entire life. When she was finished she dressed herself carefully; she had earned her graduation so she was going to enjoy it.
When the ceremony for her ascension had come and gone, she went to the cafeteria to eat with the others. They all seemed tired and welcomed her back, but none were as friendly as when she last left.
“Has Rafian or Camille come back from their missions?” she asked a woman named Willen FAY.
“No, agent Lark, we haven’t seen three or eleven. We hope they’ll return to us very soon.”
Tayden noted the robotic way in which she spoke and saw that the fire had gone out of her eyes. This was a woman who was the pride of her fleet, just like every recruit that had come to become spies. It was a sad thing to see a warrior broken like she was, so Tayden grabbed her lapel and stared into her eyes. “Are you a coward?” she asked the woman, who looked around frantically. “I’m not asking them, Willen, I am asking you if you’re a thyping coward.”
Willen seemed confused and pulled away from Tayden, but when the little woman wouldn’t let her go she grabbed her wrist and twisted it. Tayden, who had spent the last year fighting off strangers, countered the twist by rolling across the table, taking the woman with her.
The other recruits jumped back as food tumbled from the table, and the two women tussled on the glasslike floor. Willen’s docile act gave way to survival and she screamed with fury and clawed at Tayden’s face. The women rolled around until Tayden pulled free, and then ran forward to deliver a kick to Willen’s abdomen. She screamed but got to her feet and came at her again, but this time Tayden caught her by her throat and choked her until she tired of fighting.
When Willen was about to pass out, she sat her down on the bench and brushed the food that had gotten tangled in her hair. “I love you, sister. This is why I had to wake you up. We didn’t come her to play servant. Take a chance and stand up for yourself.”
The other recruits looked on with awe as Tayden walked past them to exit the kitchen. To them she seemed to have come back from her jump as a wild animal, ready to pounce on anyone who crossed her. From that day on they kept their distance, but Willen started to speak up for herself and went as far as slapping the director in his face.
This last act earned her a terrible beating, but she was taken to the crystal the very next week. Arn saw what Tayden had done for the girl and was not happy about it. He sent for her to have a talk and she appeared in front of him wearing similar robes to the ones he wore.
“Where did you get that robe?” he asked her as soon as she entered the room.
“A person likes clothes so this one went into your closet and picked a robe. I’ve taken it in, since I’m a lot smaller than you, but you would be lying if you said I don’t look good in it.”
“You’re taunting me, Tayden, and I don’t know why. Are you intent on provoking a fight to take out your anger on me?”
“Why would I bother? You would just teleport away. A warrior does not concern herself with weak, old bullies that hide behind gadgets and an army of brainless fools.” She rocked back on her right leg and rested her hand on the hilt of her las-sword and stared him down as if she dared him to make a move. “Do you think after all you put me through that I care about death? I’m a person now, right? So I’ll just clone and keep fighting you until you turn it off. What sort of precedence will that set for your organization? You’re a thyping fool to think that we could be broken.”
Arn looked tired and he shook his head, then turned his back to her and commanded a chair to appear so that he could sit. “I’m an old man, Tayden. I’ve been director for over 200 years, and I was old when I first got the dark education. This is why we recruit young people, no older than 25. We want the clones to be young and strong, not feeble old men like me.”
“What is the point?” Tayden asked, reaching into his fruit bowl and grabbing an apple. “You’re old, so what? Why should I care? You sent three officers to worlds where they had no memory, and no cloning facilities to keep them around. We became soldiers to win back our home and you are out here hazing us to join your fraternity. Where does the Geralos fit into what you’re doing?”
“The Geralos are a microcosm in the world of a jumper. Our responsibility is to a much higher power.”
“Some sort of god? Is that where this is going?”
“No, foolish girl, the higher power is life itself! Did you hear nothing when I gave you the education? Did you not listen when I spoke of the universe? We are given great power to protect the worlds, Tayden, to snuff out the wicked who threaten the innocent.”
“Wicked? Like taking away a woman’s ability to become a mother, and forcing her to have sex with strangers? I think that you’re full of schtill. People can do everything you’ve said without going through what we went through. You’re just a sadistic old man with no respect for life.?
??
“That’s enough, Tayden Lark, I’ve heard enough. Get out of my temple and go for a walk. You can hate me all you want, but you will respect me, and you will prepare yourself for the work you came here to do!”
Tayden took a last bite of the apple and dropped it on the floor. Then she did as she was instructed and left the temple. She donned a breathing mask and pulled the hood up on her cloak, and began to walk a straight line away from the building. She had wanted Arn to come at her when she spoke; he would have won their fight but she wanted the chance to cut his face. She put one foot in front of the other and scanned the orange sky. It was dry and dusty, but it felt good to be outside.
Her mind ran to Camille, who had been the second to jump and she wondered why she hadn’t returned as of yet. Rafian had been first and he was still missing, and she wondered what was different; why she had come back and they were still gone. Had Rafian and Camille ended up in the same world, remembered one another and decided to stay? It would be an odd coincidence that was ultimately romantic, but she knew it was very unlikely.
“Hurry up and come back,” she whispered into the wind. “I don’t know how long I can stand that old man.”