Lucia and Aster Henry

The Day of the Disappearance

November 21, 2354

The morning sun rose slowly, twinkling rays of light flickering through the giant marshmallow clouds. I silently sat, staring at the large metal chunks whizzing past my window. Mesmerized by the rows of cars stacked on top of each other which were flying at speeds far past the speed of sound, my mind wandered listlessly. The magnetic field powered by APART, Advanced Programming and Engineering Technology, had done a good job thoroughly testing their latest show stopper. Turning away from the street view while accesing my house's live video feed, I scanned the neighborhood in my mind through our spy drones, searching for the unique orange and black dusted car. A gangly, freckled boy's car skidded to a halt in front of our driveway. His carrot-ruby red hair flamed out of his window, and his green eyes gleamed when he saw one of my thumb-sized drones, AERIE flying back to the house from a mission. I changed mind channels, the metal chip in the nape of my neck producing slight and soft vibrations. Harnessing AERIE's main computer network I controlled the drone to fly back into the house, where it would be automatically delivered into my glasses-sized safe of other spy drones. As Aster stepped into the gleaming airtight glass cylinder in our front lawn, the house's security system buzzed me in the corner of my mind: Permission to allow Aster Henry citizen 2000.1237 to teleport in room 221B? Imperceptibly in habit I allowed him access to my room, as easily as I mingled my mind, deepest thoughts, and emotions with him. In the nanoseconds that I waited my restless mind clicked on his name and citizen number, and scrolled through his public profile; the publicly accessible file filled with routine government information. Another link connected a glowing holograph of my room along with the placement on an interactive map of the world's 21 provinces. Seconds later I switched back into reality when warm, thick muscular arms wrapped around my slim waist. The fabric of my simple sea-green woven spider silk gown swirled around my lean legs. I breathed in deeply as the smell of sea breeze wafted up my nostrils and I slowly turned in his arms to find lime green eyes playfully-

I shuddered and shook, my pale, frail body joining into one with the cold linoleum floor. My head jerked up at an odd angle and I pulled my thick coffee colored cloned bearskin around me tighter. A deep, masculine voice like syrup interrupted my thoughts. Stormy grey eyes hidden under intimidating bushy dark eyebrows met mine. Broad shoulders connected to rippling muscles which leaned threateningly close to my fragile frame. I glanced around the closet-sized empty room. I was surrounded by invisible energetic radiation bars which formed thick impassable walls. A bright artificial white light filled the room from the ceiling.

"Listen to me Lucia," his deep voice thundered in a voice that broke bones, "remember the surveillance I kept on Aster-I knew how close you two were: do not play dumb with me child, my power and influence reaches far beyond the range of this province."

An effeminate voice like wind whistling through chimes rang out in ripples behind him, "Lou-chee-ah darling, for the namesake of the Henry family, we can not have this disappointing and cowardly disappearance be known publicly".

Waves of my roasted almond hair curled in waves out of my face as blasts of air streamed from the mouths of the agitated Henry's. The Ward's main security created of super elite artificial intelligence glowed with warning as the lighting in the cold room switched to a deep ruby red.

"Mr. Henry and Mrs. Henry citizens 1600.159 and 1600.71211" a mechanically programmed human voice duly reprimanded. Trying o sound sympathetic it slowed down and spoke softer, duly intoning, " although we feel empathy for your loss, your improper conduct in violation of law 200.13700 will cause an immediate and final termination to your provisional license 2345.1021400. [The provisional license of a high impact case grants the Ward to review a citizen's mind memories for the allotted time of knowledge in accordance with law 2100.4125500]

Breathing heavily, Mr. Henry stepped away from me, mentally sharing ideas with the silhouette behind him. A few seconds later, the sharp scent of citrus filled the air. A thin, tall figure with a cream colored spider silk suit sashayed forward. Meticulously arranged tight blonde curls bounced around her head like springs. Her complexion was as smooth as freshly churned butter and her toffee gray eyes were slanted in calculation. She smiled and waved at me as if we were old friends sitting at an old fashioned café sharing old stories around pounds of fattening pastries.

" Remember how when we first met I said we were going to be like sisters?" she slowly purred. Indeed I remembered when after months of persuasion, Aster unwillingly dragged me up the steps of his cold unforgiving house. Instead of teleporting right to his foyer, Aster insisted on ascending from the base of Mount Everest. During the haul up, the conditions were too windy and rough to hold drones, so Aster explained more about his "beloved family"; a topic of which was previously much avoided. I know how much you love children and someday want your own. You can not imagine the pain of having not one but two children ripped from your breast.