Daughter 4254

Chapter 29

I walked to the door and opened it myself, half expecting to see him in his flowing gold robe carrying devices of torture. But he stood before me in simple clothes, not unlike the ones I held in my arms.

"I need to dress," I managed to sputter. My voice was a a bit strangled from lack of use and crying.

"Please, do." He motioned to the wash room and I walked away, stepped inside and locked the door behind me. I took my time. I brushed my hair and washed up then changed into my new clothes. I even found a tooth brush and luxuriously scrubbed every tooth. This was something I had not had in prison. It felt so good to rub and clean my sore gums. I never thought I'd be so grateful for a toothbrush.

I had done everything I could short of taking a two hour bath. I still hadn't decided what to say to this strange man waiting for me. I wasn't sure I could take another heart break or shock. I wanted to climb back in the huge bed and sleep for another day or two, or I wanted to finally be free to run far away - never looking back. Preferably never meeting another person as long as I lived. I just wanted to be alone with my grief.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. He was seated in the chair fingering one of the flowers in the vessel on the table. He turned and smiled at me. I guessed it was an attempt to set me at ease, but it had the opposite effect. I froze in the doorway.

"Please come sit down." He motioned to the bed. "You have a decision to make."

I stared at him blankly as I moved towards the bed. I did not feel like speaking to this man. I did not feel like ever speak again actually.

"I did know your mother." He paused for a moment and looked at the floor before continuing, "She and I were in a government program together many, many years ago. I apologize for not having told you this before."

"I already knew." He wasn't going to have the satisfaction of seeing me shocked or hanging on his every word. "I guessed by the way you overreacted when I asked you about her."

He didn't seem phased by my insult, "She was a very dear friend of mine, in fact at one point, I think we might have loved each other enough to start a family. But that was not to be our fate."

789 took a deep breath, shaking off the past and his rising emotions and looked me squarely in the eye, "She and I were given a research task. We were to find and root out those people in the communities who were revolutionaries. We were also charged with rounding up any cultural artifacts and destroying or archiving them. We were chosen for our high level of intellect and control of our emotions. Also, for our dedication to our communities and our way of life. However, the more we were exposed to the truth of our people and our past, the more we realized that we could not continue hiding it from the rest of the world."

This had peaked my curiosity. I couldn't imagine my mother as any type of Security Officer.

"We gathered a few friends we knew we could trust and we organized our selves, made plans and created a group known as the Blue Star Rebels. We also took on our own personal names instead of identification numbers. Your mother revealed her name to you, my name is Hamen." He rolled up his sleeve and exposed a small piece of white fabric with a blue star embroidered in the corner. "This was our sign, to let others know we were to be trusted. When we were sent on assignment, instead of gathering and hiding works of art, music and literature, we re-purposed it, archived it and divulged it subconsciously with help from our friends in the Mind Wipe program. Eventually we all agreed we should each become proficient Mind Wipe officials, but your mother couldn't do it. The year had been hard on her. Always lying and keeping secrets, feeling like every AutoEye in every building was pointed directly at you. She started the training but when she saw what they actually did to other human beings, she cracked. She was forced to take the assignment you grew up with."