Kayla
As Tarak carries me down the long metal corridors of the ship, I am of two minds. On one hand, for the past few days, I constantly feel like a princess since he will not let my feet touch the floor or leave me alone for more than a minute. On the other hand, this princess has things to do (like finish my plan), and I can't if he is always supervising my every move.
When we get to Rigel's office, Tarak unleashes me and places me on a big pillow on the couch. "I brought everything she should need."
Tarak lays out supplies on Rigel's desk: antibiotics, bowls, a big blanket, and a few boxes of berries.
"Let's go over this again. Every quarter of an Earth hour, see if she wants to eat one of these berries but mash them first."
"That often?"
Tarak clenches his fists. "When I sent you a copy of her pet care instructions, you assured me you would commit to proper pet care."
"I will take proper care of her, and I read the instructions you sent but–"
"How many times?"
"How many times what?"
Tarak growls. "How many times did you read the instructions?"
"Once, but remember, I also got instructions directly from her doctors."
"Only once? How will you remember everything?"
"I misspoke. I read the instructions several times, but this is a workday for me, and I have several appointments today."
"What?"
"Don't worry. While I conduct appointments with clients, she will be secured in this room. She'll be comfortable here, there's a couch."
I eye the desk with the keyboard and the flickering wall. Finally, a computer that I can access! I'm ecstatic. but I feign boredom.
Tarak's eyes go from Rigel to me and back to Rigel. "She will be alone in this cage?"
"This is hardly a cage. I work here."
Tarak huffs. "But she is a human, not a bird like you. She won't be satisfied inside this tiny room."
Rigel's cheeks redden. "For the last time, I am not a bird, I am an Archae Bennuidae and–"
"I don't care about that. What I need to know is: Will she be properly hydrated and fed while you are out there? What about checking on her injuries throughout your work shift? She might fall and those stitches might break open, and then she'd bleed to death in your office, all because you are playing with all the other pets."
Rigel raises his voice. "I talked to her surgeons about her post-surgical care, or do you not remember? They never said she needed to have her sutures checked throughout the day, only that you need to administer antibiotics. All these other instructions are false anxieties that you have created in your mind and–"
"That's it. I will spend the first half my workday here with you, just to make sure she's safe, and then if I think you understand how to care for her properly, maybe I will go to work and then tomorrow–"
Rigel's wings flutter. "I will set an alarm to administer her antibiotics throughout the day and in fact, I already set one. Will that make you happy? I will also leave her with a bowl of water and mashed fruit. Finally, so she gets lots of stimulation, I will leave the wall unit on so she can see lots of pretty pictures."
Pretty pictures? What do they think I am?
"Could you maybe leave your camera on all day?"
"This is my office. Do you need to watch me while I work?"
"No, but if something goes wrong while you are playing with those other pets and neglecting her."
On Rigel's desk is a small camera, which he aims at me. An entire wall fills with an image of me on the pillow. Now I feel uncomfortable. The camera does solve one problem, though. Tarak leaves Rigel's office and goes to work.
***
Rigel puts two bowls near me, one filled with mashed berries and the other with water.
He types away on his keyboard and reviews case files on the wall. It feels like forever, but eventually, he pats me on the head, tells me that he has an appointment with a client, and leaves, the door closing behind him.
Finally! I go grab the keyboard on the desk and I'm ready to start my work. I glance at the wall, where I plan to project the intricacies of the computer system, but instead, I see myself, my fingers perched on the keyboard.
This might be a problem. What might the scourges do if they found out we use computers? Tarak might be okay with this, although preferably he would not find out about my computer projects until much later... My greater concern is how other scourges might view this, which is probably not well. Using the computer to make purchases is one thing, but using the computer to track the movement of products throughout the ship or even find information about the scourges? I don't think Hydra would approve of their pet humans doing these activities, which means that even by being on the computer I might jeopardize other humans.
If I want to do my real work, then, I must do something about that pesky camera to keep it from beaming my face to Tarak and any other potential onlookers.
So, since Tarak thinks I am pet-like, I do what any cat worth its salt would do. I bat the camera off the table and kick it across the room. When the camera lands on the floor, even though the camera arm whirs, it's broken and focuses on the door.
Good enough. Time to start working.
Similar to Tarak's computer, Rigel's is interconnected to a bigger system, so I access my program, the one monitoring the movement of medical products. I also create a new program but modify it to monitor the movement of my translator chip. Alerts will only be sent if I am outside my home range (as in anywhere other than my master's room or work office, Rigel's office, the vet, or the pet park) for a duration of longer than one Earth hour.
Entering these commands seems simple, but after I finish, I feel worse. There are so many ways that this could go wrong. What if I discover something that I shouldn't and get seriously hurt—What would this tracking program really do? Track my corpse? I shudder. Maybe someone would notice a warning before that, although none of the previous recipients did.
So, I make another few modifications and add Lugh's owner, Andromeda, thankful that her contact information has stuck in my head. There's another name I could add, and I pull out the small copper-colored card from my pocket. I've been holding onto this card for a while, never quite deciding what I should do with it.
Should I add this name? I glance at the card again: Sirius Major, director of the Pet Welfare Intelligence Agency. There are so many unknowns. If this scourge is part of a criminal ring, it would be like sending a signal to finish me off.
What if those scourges are investigating crimes? I don't think this signal will be sent out unless I am in real trouble, and... Sadly, even after dozens of alerts have been sent to Rigel and Tarak, they have never shown any indication that they understood the messages, so... I need all the help I can get, and I add the contact information for Sirius and then tuck it back into my pocket. When I finish all my work, I hit run.
"Program activated," announces the computer.
***
Done with my most important work, I no longer want to hang out in this prison, as Tarak had called it.
I hold my fist out, turn it, and the door opens, so I step into the lobby. Rigel is speaking with someone else and memories of the first time I met Rigel with Tarak in this office bubble up. Rigel is working and... I shouldn't interfere. I consider going back the way I came, except Rigel's wings are wide and I cannot see around him.
My curiosity might get me killed someday, but I need to know what's happening. I keep my back along the wall and take a few long steps sideways.
I can barely breathe when I recognize who else is in the lobby with Rigel. It's Loviatar and Ava. Loviatar is holding Ava's leash short and close to him. I think it might be too tight—that or Ava is panicking—because Ava is breathing in short, gasping breaths and the skin on her face is flushed red.
Only now do I understand Rigel's concern.
"A complaint suggesting you might abuse your pet has been filed against you, Loviatar. Is there anything you want to share before we begin the evaluation?" says Rigel.
"You know what humans are like," Loviatar snarls.
Rigel's feathers quiver. "Can you please elaborate?"
"Humans are desired pets because of their beauty, but unless properly disciplined, they are useless."
"May I hold your pet's leash while I conduct the evaluation?"
Loviatar grunts and he lets Rigel take the leash. Rigel takes Ava's leash but loosens it so that her leash has a lot of slack.
"Please come here," says Rigel in perfect Earth English and my mind nearly explodes. Since when has Rigel been learning how to speak an Earth language?
Rigel lays both his hands on his lap and he hunches. What is he doing?
Rigel must be doing something right because Ava scootches toward him. He moves very slowly, lightly brushing her hair out of her face. He gives a command to his computer to have a camera take pictures of her face from different angles.
"Tell me what happened," Rigel says in a soft voice to Ava, once again using Earth English.
Ava stays still and quiet, but I see it; her eyes dart to Loviatar and then back to Rigel.
"Image collection completed," says the voice from the wall.
"How did she get this bruise on her face?" Rigel asks Loviatar, shifting to the scourge language.
"Humans are clumsy," says Loviatar. "They trip and fall."
Rigel leans closer to Ava, squinting. "Is she... bruised around her neck?" He reaches his hand toward Ava's chin.
To me, Rigel's touch looks gentle and as if his finger barely grazes her chin, but Ava flinches and squeezes her eyes shut.
Loviatar growls. "You are upsetting my pet."
"Me? Flinching is one of the behaviors we look for in abused pets. So, my question to you is, how do you interact with your pet on a day-to-day basis?"
Loviatar's tail bangs against the floor. "I need a scourge to conduct this assessment."
"I'm sorry you feel that way but as a Hydra-approved behaviorist, I–"
Loviatar grabs Ava, yanking her backward. Her mouth is agape and she's breathing loudly at a rapid rate; she's hyperventilating.
Rigel reaches for Ava, but Loviatar pulls her away. "Failure to permit me to do a full assessment of your pet means she can be seized for non-compliance."
Loviatar throws Ava on his shoulder and marches toward the door. She is crying and reaching for furniture. None of this stops Loviatar. He drags her out of the office and the door closes behind them.
I cannot believe what I just witnessed. Rigel stands there as if in a daze, clenching his hands into fists.
I tap Rigel, pointing toward the door and raising my eyebrows. I cannot speak but the message should be obvious. Go get her.
Rigel turns toward his wall unit. "I will file a report on her behalf, but I cannot forcibly take her. We have another agency that does that."
She is in imminent danger, and he is... working on a report? What is his plan, exactly? Will he submit a report and then wait for a bureaucrat to read it? Then those bureaucrats might schedule a meeting, file another report for another department, and the process will go on until it is far too late, and Ava...
No, Ava must not be lobotomized. Helping Ava requires being more than being a report pusher. We must act now to get Ava away from Loviatar.
Maybe I can Rigel to help? I grab Rigel's keyboard, but Rigel pries the keyboard from my hands.
"If I interfere with him now, he is only likely to hurt her more," says Rigel, patting me on the head. He sits down at his desk, tapping away at his keyboard.
All I can think about is how this is exactly like Adam's case, even down to Loviatar walking out of his mandatory evaluation.
We can't let Loviatar go. I poke Rigel. Do something!
He stares at the wall, focused on his report.
If Rigel is not going to do anything, then I will. I stand in front of the door, make my hand into a fist, and turn it clockwise. The door opens. Freedom! I take a step and–
Rigel snags me by the collar. "Kayla, what are you doing? You can't go out there. Tarak would kill me." Rigel carefully lifts me and carries me back into his office, nearly tripping over the camera on the floor. He taps away on the keyboard, projecting a film loop of butterflies.
"Stay. I need to work," he says sternly, before turning his back on me and going out the door.
Then it's just me and the pixelated butterflies flying across the walls of this prison. What does he think I am, a cat, easily distracted by pretty insects? No, we need to at least try and stop Loviatar.
I go stand in front of the door, make a fist, and turn my fist clockwise, but the door stays shut. Odd, since Rigel went through the door only a moment ago.
I race to the keyboard. When I type a query about the door of this room, a program called Pet Lock appears on the wall.
Really, Rigel? I crack my knuckles and my fingers flutter over the keyboard. No more Pet Lock.
This time, the door opens with my weight. Rigel's back is to me as he focuses on his work, speaking to his computer. I stay against the wall and creep toward the door.
When I get outside Rigel's office, the long hallway is empty. Loviatar is long gone. Room 2054, the only other strong candidate for where lobotomies may happen, is my destination then. Down the corridors I run.
Hydra is like a maze, with some of these hallways branching so many times it makes me dizzy. When I studied the maps before, the route looked easy. Running the actual hallways is much harder, especially when I go down dead-end corridors, often having no choice but to rerun everything in reverse and try again. The numbers are not familiar, and they don't seem close to my destination. Even though I get tired and want to lean against a wall and take a breather, I force myself to walk, gazing at numbers. Nope, still nope... Keep going.
A loud horn blares, and I glance forward.
The horn blares again, one long and continuous beep. A delivery robot is headed straight at me. Its gigantic eyes spin and it's waving its claws as if to say get out of the way, except for some reason I can't move. It's like my brain short circuits, losing the ability to tell my legs anything.
It's going to hurt when it hits me. I cringe.
I'm lifted into the air.
An unfamiliar scourge gazes at me. Relief washes over me. Thanks to this scourge who picked me up, I'm alive. I take a deep breath.
"Where are you going?" asks the scourge in a high-pitched voice that some scourges use when they speak to pets. "You need to watch your surroundings, or you will be hit. See these signs," he says, tapping on a sign that is likely eye-level with most scourges.
The sign has a picture of a cute little robot with big eyes and the number 65.
He wiggles his finger at me. "These types of signs indicate a bot expressway, so it's not a place for pets to play. Even a big scourge like me is cautious around expressways. So next time..."
He places me gently back on the floor and pats me on the head. I'm still in shock that the robot did not flatten me, so I just gape at him, my mouth hanging open.
This scourge looks up and down the hallway as if he's searching for something. "Where is your owner?"
I'm thankful that I encountered such a kind scourge. If it wasn't for him, I'm certain I would have been struck by one of those robots as they traveled along the expressway. But when that scourge reaches for my collar, I remember my quest: find room 2054.
I run down a hallway. My quest must continue.
Maybe nearly being squashed by that delivery robot gave me the luck I needed because I find myself in a group of interconnected dead-end hallways. The first has numbers in the 2000s, although it is not the elusive number I seek. I keep going, down the second and the third, and...
I take another deep breath. I can't believe it. Room 2054, the room I have been searching for is in the middle of the next dead-end hallway.