Find Violet Hyde: Secrets In Space

Enough

Lucille usually went directly to her study when returning home and Frida knew to look for her there, first. Soft classical music played quietly on her caretaker's private floor, and the rising and falling melodies soothed Frida. Lucille's study reminded her of the Library back at the Farm, in some ways. The differences in the spaces were dramatic, though.

An immense window spanning half of the circular room's wall space served as a semi-transparent monitor. Equations, diagrams, informative clips, maps, blueprints, and pictures of people swarmed in color across the glass. Lucille usually stood on a hover disk, maneuvering up and down across the room, physically moving through the information. Once, Frida asked her why she didn't just sit and flip through her work and Lucille's response had came quickly, "I think better on my feet." She had said, as she tapped a black tipped index finger on her temple.

This time, though, Frida found the place empty. The domed ceiling of the circular room displayed the image of the constellations, as seen from the Moon Colony, each star twinkling artificially. The walls were painted eggplant with automated rivers of silver liquid trickling to the floor, pooling at the shiny black baseboards. Frida took a deep breath, savoring the scent of furniture polish and paper. She tiptoed across a plush emerald rug accenting the tall archway leading into the room. She stood, frozen by indecision. She squeezed the soft green fibers of the rug between her bare toes, remembering the feel of grass, a wonder she had taken for granted on the Farm.

Then, she heard a voice. Gentle, sweet, and barely audible. It was repeating her name. She blinked in surprise as a fluttering sensation spread though her chest and waves of warmth raised goosebumps on her arms. Every breath she took slowed her heartbeat. Suddenly, the only thing she could think about was Violet. She looked around the room, searching for the owner of the voice, but she was alone. Something compelled her to observe the room, take in the details, she noticed things she never been interested in before. A happiness took her over and she grinned widely. After a several moments of confusion, and just as quickly as it had come, the strange feeling left Frida.

How odd, she thought. Frida walked forward, still a bit dizzy from the experience, and sat at Lucille's desk to wait. It seemed to rise from the floor, with two slabs of black marble supporting a thin crystal monitor. Hesitantly, Frida dared to tap the screen, sending soft blue script scrolling across the surface. Password, it read. That gave Frida pause, she brushed a sandy blond lock of hair behind an ear and leaned closer. She did not know the password. Footsteps clicked into the room, startling the girl.

"Hyde," Lucille's tight voice rang from the doorway, "the password, if you must know, is Hyde." She stood there with her arms folded, a slick black cloak clasped with a small blue and green globe still draped across her narrow shoulders.

Instant panic froze Frida. "I, I..." she stammered, "I'm sorry. I was looking for you."

"In my desk?" Lucille stepped towards the girl slowly, a half-smile creeping up one side of her angular face.

"I didn't see anything." Frida shrugged and lowered her green eyes.

A single eyebrow shot up as Lucille sat on a long low bench by one of the many bookcases,"Dear, I am not upset, don't fret. I simply want to know why you felt the need to launch an investigation in my personal study." Her words were harder than her tone, she sounded almost amused.

"I was waiting for you in here. What do you do all day when you're gone? I miss when you go." The admission surprised Frida as it left her mouth.

The more time she spent with the woman, the more Frida admired her. But missing Lucille? She often had to remind herself not to become attached, even though she had been kidnapped and drugged by the President. In the beginning she only pretended to like the woman, hoping that someday it would buy her freedom, but now...thinking kindly of Lucille came naturally.

"Oh, I should be the sorry one." Lucille patted the bench for Frida to sit down, "Would you like to know what I did today, then?"

She sat beside Lucille and nodded, pulling one of her legs under her, and leaned back on a teal cushion.

Lucille's hands worked at unpinning the elaborate braid-work that formed a headband across her scalp. "First, in the lab I addressed my staff, made some communications and finished a few projects. Then I met with the Ickwall council, which was an absolute nightmare, don't get me started."

"What did the council talk abut?" Frida still hadn't visited Ickwall, a place she had been yearning to see since she arrived at the Moon Colony.

"The Farm Project, you shouldn't worry about it, you are no longer a part of the movement."

"The movement?" Frida considered herself bright, but she didn't understand Lucille's meaning.

"Yes, the Farm Project has a handful of bases on Earth," Lucille smiled and spoke in a tone more posh than usual, "...each Farm a integral point of wide-scale regional recolonization." Her laugh was almost bitter when she finished.

"Oh, you never told me there were more..." Frida's stomach dropped and she felt duped, even betrayed. She couldn't let on though, she didn't want to risk Lucille sensing discontent. "Where do all the kids come from...and are they all filled with just kids?"

"They come from Ickwall, a place I know all too well. The children can either stay there once they are adults or try to make it on their own in the vast empty landscape. Either way, humanity needs to go back to where it belongs, it is safe on earth now." She spoke slowly, with her eyes distant.

The girl was confused, "But have you been to my Farm? Or any of them? And why don't we remember the Moon Colony, if that where we all came from?"

"That is enough." Lucille's nose jerked up as she stiffened and cut the girl off, "You're simply too young to understand how these things work."

Frida missed being taken seriously. At least on the Farm there were only children, no one could claim superiority based on age alone. "I didn't mean to pry, I'm sorry."

"You are quite alright. I only want to spare your perfect little brain from such maddening nonsense. Would you like me to read to you for a bit? Perhaps we will pick something light tonight..." She stood and began reading off titles from the bookshelves.

Frida chewed her bottom lip, thinking back to her life on the Farm. It was definitely much more difficult to live there than in the Moon Colony and now she knew there were probably thousands of people struggling on Earth, and she was here beside the woman responsible. With that in mind, Frida decided that as soon as an opportunity arose, she would go back to the Farm she came from and tell them the truth.