Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Nineteen

The grass in the prison yard was lush. Despite the fact there was a twenty-foot high brick fence surrounding the perimeter with armed guardians looking down in watch towers, one might actually forget they were locked up.

Alex was a little sore, but other than a few contusions, she made it through her first prison brawl without taking any serious damage. With the incident behind her, she now had the next three hours to talk with her mother. They slowly walked out to a far corner of the prison yard and took a seat on a bench.

"Any word on when you're getting out of here?" Alex asked.

"No, but I don't expect it'll be anytime soon."

"Couldn't they just wipe your memory?"

"They could, but my debt to society is too great. They would rather have me suffer some more. I'll probably serve the rest of my life in here."

"Don't say that."

"If they haven't figured out by now that I'm actually Alexandra Gray, they soon will. When that happens, I can kiss any chance of freedom goodbye. As I'm sure you're aware, altering one's accountability chip is a serious crime, tantamount to fraud."

"So where's your original acc. chip?" Alex asked.

"We stuck it in a pig. For a few years, I continued to pay taxes under my legal name. The pig's cholesterol was through the roof, which cost me a small fortune in taxes, but eventually the pig died, as did Alexandra Gray."

"So you changed your name?"

"I became a creature of the underground, almost like a rodent. I changed my name to Mara because I think it represents me in some ways."

"How so?"

"Aside from being cute and agile, a mara is a naturally occurring hybrid. It's essentially a cross between a guinea pig and a rabbit. Their behavior can be friendly if domesticated, but if they are scorned by humans, they will avoid them at all costs and only come out at night."

"So now that I've shown up in your life, they're likely to make the connection that you're Alexandra Gray and not Mara Miletus?"

"I have a modified accountability chip so my phony info comes up if I ever get scanned, but I cannot be tracked. I'm off the grid... well, not exactly," she laughed as she looked around the prison, but I think you know what I mean."

"So what's your story?" Alex asked inquisitively. "What happened with the whole... you know?"

Mara took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Where should I begin? Well, the short version is I met a man – your father – and we fell in love. Your father was a very powerful man and when I got pregnant, he abandoned me because he didn't want an unauthorized birth to jeopardize his position. He took off and I never heard from him again.

"I laid low for nine months and thought I would just have you without anyone knowing about it. I knew that when the time came, my hormone levels would spike and alert the guardians of my labour, so I decided to run. I thought they would just search my apartment, I didn't know they could track me."

"So what happened after that?" Alex asked curiously.

"After I was arrested, they told me you had died. I spent the next five years inside this prison, mourning your death. I was also sterilized to prevent me from having any more unsanctioned children. That didn't seem right to me. How can you take away a person's right to bear children? Does this system not allow for a person to improve themselves? As hard as it was to spend five years of my life in prison, it made me become stronger, both mentally and physically. I educated myself, made some connections, and when I was released, I vowed to spend the rest of my life avenging your death."

"How's that plan working out for you?" Alex joked.

"Despite my current situation, I've actually made a lot of progress. As I mentioned before, I've made many friendships and have built an entire army that has rejected the ways of this tyrannical Leadership."

"About that," Alex paused. "I found the box."

Mara looked at her a moment, then asked, "What box?"

"The box that was hidden in the floor of your bedroom."

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're referring to."

"You had a full schematic of a space exploration ship along with plans to mine minerals from other planets. There must have been over forty pages labeled classified. I imagine it was printed on paper so there would be no digital record of it. Then I wondered how you got a hold of these documents... until I found several pictures at the bottom."

"I have no recollection of any of that. He must have erased those memories from my brain."

"Who?"

"Maxim Morrison – your father."