Descending From Paradise: Cyberslave.

Euphoria

It's a cold dark night. The street is empty and quiet save for a single van that drives up the road and parks in front of an orphanage. Several people get out of it, one of whom is carrying an unconscious girl. The van drives off leaving everyone to walk into the orphanage. The front door opens and they enter a large lobby. No one is around to greet these people so each one go to their own room. A girl leads the guy with the sleeping girl in his arms.

"Are you sure this was a good idea? I mean right now she can't even stand. She's just going to demand we put her back in paradise when she wakes up." C says to Nessa as he carries the sleeping James.

Nessa looks at C as he carries James to her room. She walks with him in silence for a while thinking about what he just said.

"You're wrong." Nessa finally says confidently. "James has always known that world was fake. She was just surprised that's all, I'm sure she'll be happy to be out of that hell."

"I hope you're right. It's going to take her a while to adjust to everything?" C tells her with an uncertain tone.

Nessa looks down at James and sees her smiling. This makes Nessa feel confident about what they're doing.

"Yeah, but James can do it for sure. It'll be hard at first so we have to support her as much as we can." She speaks out determined to do all she can for James.

Nessa opens a door revealing her room and C takes James to Nessa's bed where he puts her down. As C walks out he looks back at the pair. Nessa is on the bed next to James looking at her with cheer in her eyes.

"Tomorrow you should remind everyone how she's supposed to help us free her kind. That might make it easier for them to help James adjust to her new life." C explains waiting for a response from Nessa and then says.

"I'll tell Dad the rescue was a success." Says C hoping to get a response before he walks out.

Nessa sits in silence looking down at James then leaning down to her ear Nessa whispers "welcome to my world James. After years of watching you in yours, we can finally be this close to each other." She pulls some blankets over James and sits by her side, watching all through the night.

*****

In the den the others that came with Nessa sit in wait for news about James. A young boy in the far end of the room tells the tale of how he, his brother and the rest of the team rescued a girl who spent her whole life thinking she was a boy. Muffled laughs can be heard coming from where they sit.

Then a silence falls over the room as a an elderly man walks in. Everyone sits down, all looking at the man who now stands in the center of the room.

He's a tall figure with a strong build. Short gray hair grows from the top of his head with a bushy gray mustache under his nose.

"Was the operation a success?" Asks the man in a deep voice.

" It was a complete success, we had no casualties and we were done faster than we anticipated." Reports C who walks in behind the man and takes a sit. "We rescued James and she's resting in Vanessa's room as we speak."

" Ok have Vanessa escort her to my office as soon as she's awake." The man orders before he turns to walk out of the den.

" Yes sir!" Yells C as the man walks out of the room.

C looks around the room at all his friends. All orphan's and vulnerable to the outside world which doesn't do much to help them. Father, the man that just left the room, has ran this orphanage for 23 years now. Taking kids that have been abandoned by a society that sees them as vermin and left them for dead.