matter-of-factly.
She looks back over her left shoulder quickly, and when she looks back I can see the hint of fear in her eyes. From what Caterine said, she was too afraid to involve the police. So why is this girl here?
“Who is Caterine to you?”
“I really messed up,” she replies, slapping her right hand to her head. Then extending her right arm, palm up, she continues, “I’m supposed to be her body guard. But…”
“She didn’t let you guard her.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be her choice. But no, she didn’t. I was really thrown off when she teleported from inside the car.” Car? So Caterine didn’t teleport to my office from the same spot she teleported to. Yep. She just has to make it difficult. She planned to make a break for it. “Amazed really. But she didn’t come back and after two hours, I didn’t know what to do.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Tell my boss that. She’s pissed.” Right after she says that, her eyes go wide and her lips purse out in an ‘O’ shape. She let something slip. I don’t really care. I no longer need to know who sent Caterine to me. It’s not really germane to the case anymore, especially since Caterine and those who took her are down there somewhere. I begin walking as she continues, “Forget I said that.”
“Already did,” I reply walking past her.
She hurries after me. After catching up, she says, “You know, I only just started with the New Manhattan Civil Police Force. Yesterday was like my second day. I just transferred from Los Angeles.” Los Angeles is the largest base of operations for the World Military. Only the World Government can actually have a standing military, although sovereign nations, under the World Government, can have civil defense forces. Many nations, like the East Land Empire, do. It’s really how wars are still fought in some parts of the world. But when it happens the World steps in and shuts it down. But it’s interesting that this girl actually transferred from the military. Not impossible with what has been done to her and given what might be her skill in combat. But it’s interesting.
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen. But I turn eighteen in six months.”
Damn. She’s younger than Maggie. And the process that she went though, to end up as a Type 9. The process is torture. And the experimentations ban on children would still have been put in place when she went through it. The ban has laxer controls now, as it was deemed more harmful not to allow minors to undergo certain lifesaving, or improving, procedures. But something like what she went through, there’s just no way in hell that it ever would have been allowed. Not without some kind of World Government approval and very close ties to the World Military.
“When did you become a Type 9?”
“When I was 12,” she replies. “I suffered from TSF.”
TSF, or Total Skeletal Fusion, is a very rare genetic disorder where all of the bones in one’s body start to melt. It’s a fatal condition with a one hundred percent mortality rate. No one survives. Except for this girl. Hmmm. I guess the pain associated with the Type 9 process isn’t as bad for some. Not when you already have a very, very painful, terminal condition. Over the last one hundred years, TSF has claimed the life of over 10,000 people worldwide, and there’s no cure. When less than 40% of people survive the Type 9 conversion process, it will never be considered a cure. But with the lax controls on child experiments, it’s looking more and more likely that terminally ill child patients will be granted robot bodies. Some adult patients already are.
Frankie is a different matter altogether.
“I didn’t want to die and I already was always in pain. So I said yes, when my parents asked me about it. They have a friend that’s pretty high up in the military. And their friend needed young volunteers for a program. I wasn’t the only one who entered. There were other terminally ill patients, or severely injured or worse, and we all knew the risks. So, when someone died because of the process, it wasn’t really sad. They had a shot at saving their own life and they took it. We knew going in that not all of us would make it. But more than half did. Out of like thirty. Thankfully, I was one of them. We didn’t do anything for the military. We weren’t old enough. But we trained like all the time and went to school and stuff. And after graduation, it was time to choose a path. Well, you can guess what I wanted to do.”
Thirty. And more than fifty percent success rate. They’re getting better and identifying potential candidates, it looks like. At least a little. I just wish I knew the reason why the World Military sought to use young people for their experiments. They had to have had a reason.
“Yea. I’ve always wanted to be a cop. But then I got sick.”
Maggie would like her. But then Maggie likes to talk a lot too.
“A lot of the candidates ended up staying in the World Military. But a couple disappeared. I shouldn’t have said that, but I don’t really see the point in keeping that from you. I read through your entire file this morning and I know if you wanted to find out all about me that you’d do so. But there’s a lot missing from it. Your file.” She side glances at me, asking, “You didn’t have anything to do with that did you?” Looking back straight ahead, she finishes, “Of course you did. Don’t want anyone to know what you got going on inside. I can tell though, you know. I can scan you. I don’t know what you have in you, but it’s weird.”
I stop, and she walks a little more before stopping herself. “What’s your name?” I ask of her. Type 9s are good. But never having met one, I really had no idea. Just the fact that she could even scan me is proof enough. My dampeners will need some work.
Damn. Wish we had more time to talk.
I power my internal systems, and feel my muscles tense. The look of shock on her face, and the briefest hint of fear she registers, tells me she really can see what’s happening inside me.
I lunge forward, just off of my feet. It’s like lightning. She tries to block me, but her reaction time is just too slow. In less than an instant, I’m right in front of her and poised to attack. I strike her hard just below the ribs.
She goes flying.
to be continued…
About Ashley
Ashley Grace Carpenter is a new writer, living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Origami St.Claire is her first published work. Her love of comics and anime helped inspire her decision to write episodic, or serialized, fiction.
As a pre-op, and as yet pre-transition, transsexual woman, Ashley remains relatively private. However, you may follow Ashley Grace Carpenter on twitter at @Hey_AshleyGrace, for updates on her writing, tv reviews, and future updates on her transition. Ashley Grace Carpenter also has an author page on Goodreads.com: goodreads.com/author/show/14415399.Ashley_Grace_Carpenter. This is where you can find more updates on her writing, excerpts from future issues, cover reveals, and more information on the world of Origami St.Claire.
Ashley Grace Carpenter will soon begin work on her first full length science fiction novel.
Copyright holds no claim over stock art used in cover design, which is licensed through Adobe, and is owned by Adobe and/or their respective authors.
Next time:
Why did Origami turn on the Type 9 from Special Unit 7 so quickly? Who in the NMCPF sent Caterine to Origami? Origami loses himself in a fight with a man covered in skeleton tattoos. And Maggie enters the net to meet with someone who claims to have worked with Caterine on the portable teleporter.
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