In her dimly lit bedroom, eight year-old Leona Vasquez opened her large brown eyes while her cat-like ears, protruding through the messy brown hair on her head, twitched with discomfort. She sat up, wiping away the mucus dripping from her feline nose. She yawned, her mouth lined with sharp, pointed teeth. Planting her furry paws on the floor, she stood up, using her tail to maintain balance in her drowsy state. Leona had tawny skin and an overall mostly human appearance. She walked to her father's bedroom and woke him.
Her father, a fifty-two year-old human by the name of Leopold, was of similar skin tone, and what remained of the hair on his balding head was black, as was his mustache.
"¿Qué hora es?" Leopold inquired, his voice groggy.
"It's three o'clock," Leona replied with youthful innocence.
"I have to get up to go to work in two hours. Why did you wake me?" Leopold questioned, the concern of an exhausted parent clear in his voice.
"I had a scary dream," Leona confessed, her eyes searching for reassurance in her father's gaze.
"¿Eso es todo?"
"I just wanted to know you were still alive and well. También, I'm thirsty."
"Then have some water and go back to sleep," Leopold advised, his tone filled with both love and practicality.
Leona got a glass of water to drink. She then went back to her bedroom and fell asleep. She woke up and returned to Leopold's room an hour later and woke him up.
"I wet the bed," Leona confessed, her voice tinged with embarrassment.
Leopold sighed with understanding.
"Sorry," Leona murmured, her ears drooping in shame. "Can I sleep in your bed?"
"No," Leopold replied, trying to be firm.
"¿Por favor?"
"Está bien," Leopold relented.
Leona got into the bed, curled up, and fell asleep. Leopold went back to sleep soon after. An hour later, he woke up and got out of bed, waking Leona.
"Where are you going?" Leona mumbled sleepily, her eyes half-closed.
"I have to get ready to go to work," said Leopold.
"Can I come with you?"
"No."
"¿Por favor?"
"Está bien," he relented once more.
Leopold prepared himself to go to work. He showered, dressed in a suit, and packed his suitcase. Meanwhile, Leona fell asleep again. Leopold carried her with him, also bringing along Armistice, a tiny albino human/rabbit hybrid he created as a pet for her. One of Leopold's in-home servants, a middle-aged blond woman named Jennifer Levin, flew them by helicopter to Tasmanian Genetic Research Company Complex 25.
The complex was surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence with gun turrets and watch towers spaced at regular intervals. After landing in the courtyard, Leopold carried Leona and Armistice through a security checkpoint and into the building. The ceiling, walls, and floors were all just plain white. There were no windows and no decorations of any kind. The air was cool and dry. Leopold passed the receptionist at the front desk, down a hallway, to the employee lounge. The room was not particularly extravagant, but it was reasonably pleasant, with a sofa, a television, a coffee machine, a refrigerator, some vending machines, and a table with some magazines and board games.
(121068738826) U-A101509146298Y-E, otherwise known as Akira, was put in charge of babysitting Leona. In addition to enhanced sight, scent, hearing, and mental capabilities, he was able to walk as a biped and his hands were capable of performing intricate tasks, but he was otherwise anatomically similar to an ordinary ferret, with fur striped in an alternating pattern of light and dark brown. Akira had been entrusted with supervising Leona on multiple occasions in the past, so he knew her well. He did not care much for her, but he was quite fond of Armistice, and they were always delighted to be reunited.
"I have to go now," said Leopold. "I'll stop by to visit you as often as I can. Be good and stay here with Akira."
"Fine," said Leona.
"Akira, no smoking."
Akira begrudgingly nodded. As Leopold turned to leave, another man walked by. Fifty year-old Simón Chavez had long brown hair and tan skin, as well as a thin, finely groomed mustache. Simón had two sixteen year-old tiny human/cat hybrids on his shoulders, a male specimen known as Santiago and an intersex specimen known as Untitled.
Simón turned to Leopold. "Why, if it isn't the embodiment of evil itself," Simón remarked. "Stay right here. I have to take Untitled to the infirmary. Santiago wants to go, too, by the way, to keep them company. May he be exempt from the usual routine today?"
"That's fine," said Leopold.
"Good. Seriously, don't go. I have something to talk to you about."
Leopold knew that Simón didn't have anything good to say to him. Still, he waited. Simón took Untitled in for treatment, and allowed Santiago to stay as well.
Meanwhile at the lounge room, two other handlers arrived. Malvern Windsor was a forty-four year-old pale, scruffy, blond man with tired, sad eyes. Sai Miyahara was a forty-two year old Japanese former veterinarian who kept her black hair in a bun and wore rectangular glasses. She and Malvern were longtime friends, having worked together for seventeen years, but only in the last few months did they grow to know each other more intimately.
"Oh, wow," said Sai. "Is that Leona? She's growing up so fast."
"Indeed," said Leopold. "She's already eight years old."
"I can't remember the last time I saw her," said Malvern. "Makes me miss my own children."
"Why don't you visit them more often?" asked Sai.
"Cherish your loved ones while you have them," said Leopold. "You never know what the future holds. You, of all people, should understand."
"I do," said Malvern. "I just choose to cherish them from a distance."
Simón returned to the lounge room, where Leopold was standing in the doorway.
"You prick, get out of my way," said Simón. "I want coffee."
"Did you actually have anything meaningful to say to me?" asked Leopold.
"Nope."
"So, did you just want to waste my time?"
"Of course." Simón proceeded to get coffee.
The time to begin the daily routines for the experiments was approaching, and Leopold was ready to direct the flow of events. Except for a few technical difficulties in the past, as well as the occasional misbehaving experiment, and one breach of security, everything ran smoothly day after day. It was always the same clockwork routine, with as little variation as possible.
Back in the lounge room, Akira and Armistice had sex while Leona took a nap. After she awoke, they played chess while she watched. She had watched them play before and was fairly confident that she knew how to play. She wanted to give it a try.
"I want to play against the winner," Leona declared eagerly.
Akira and Armistice nodded in acceptance of Leona's proposal. Akira won, and so he would play against Leona, who started by moving her kingside knight's pawn two spaces. Akira moved his king's pawn two spaces. Leona moved her kingside bishop's pawn one space, after which Akira moved his queen four spaces diagonally. Akira smirked smugly as Leona processed the situation, realizing that she had already lost.
"I hate this game!" Leona screamed as she kicked the board across the room.
Leona searched for something else to do. Then, Akira and Armistice started playing a board game that Leona didn't recognize at all. She became somewhat interested again, trying to figure out how it was played. A short time later, Leopold returned.
"Could I go see los experimentos?" Leona asked Leopold. "You keep saying I can if I can behave right, but you still never let me."
"I suppose," he replied. "It is right about their play time."
Leopold led Leona down a long hallway to the play room. The play room had a high ceiling and wide open spaces for the experiments to play and socialize. Plenty of cheap toys made for animals and children were present for entertaining the experiments.
Upon arriving, Leona was approached by Mirienna, a sixteen year-old experiment with light skin, pink hair, and ears and a tail resembling those of a fox. She was wearing a magenta dress, in contrast to the other experiments in the facility, of whom all wore a uniform white gown, with the exception of two others known as Chikara and Norabel.
With her mischievous violet eyes, Mirienna stared at Leona and walked around her, being careful not to get too close. She knew that Leopold was armed, as were the nearby guards. Mirienna could regenerate from most injuries, but a well-placed shot to the head could still kill her. She was bold, but not reckless.
"Leopold, it has been a while since I last had the honor of seeing your daughter," Mirienna remarked with a courteous tone. "She is growing up to be a beautiful young lady."
"You're the only experiment to ever successfully escape," said Leopold. "Why did you return?"
Mirienna's response was cryptic. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Leopold's tone became stern as he issued a warning. "If you do anything suspicious, I guarantee you won't like the outcome."
"Relax. I would never do anything to harm her. However, I can guarantee that if any misfortune should befall me by your action, whether directly or indirectly, neither of you would be safe from the one in charge."
"The Chairman regards you as a valuable asset, but you're not irreplaceable."
"I'm not concerned with the Chairman. He's nothing but a puppet. I speak of the one pulling the strings."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Of course," Mirienna replied with a grin.
Leopold sighed. "What do you want?"
"A guitar," Mirienna answered. "No particular reason. Just get one for me. An electric one, with an amplifier. Also, I want pudding. And I mean good pudding, like the staff gets, and not the inferior variety we occasionally get as a distraction when something goes wrong."
Leopold called a guard over to fulfill Mirienna's request. When that was handled, she left the room to go about her own business. After play time was over, Leopold took Leona back to the lounge room, where she would stay again with Akira and Armistice until operations for the day were concluded at 21:00. Thoroughly exhausted, she was asleep when Leopold returned, so he had to carry her. Upon returning home, she was still asleep, so Leopold carried her to her bedroom and set her gently in her bed. He tucked her in and kissed her before leaving.
Leopold went to his own bedroom, where he paid tribute to his miniature shrine to his wife, Leodora. He then prepared for sleep. He had finally gotten comfortable in bed and had almost fallen asleep when he remembered that he had left Armistice at the facility. He was momentarily bothered by this, which caused him to awaken more fully again. However, he then remembered that Armistice had Akira to keep them company. He figured they were probably overjoyed to have extra time together all by themselves and were probably spending that time having virtually non-stop sex interspersed with the occasional chess match, which, in fact, they were.
In the morning, Leopold returned to work, this time without Leona. However, he did bring Jennifer into the building with him. After the loss of his wife, Leopold had no desire to ever have a romantic or sexual relationship with anyone again. Still, he sometimes needed someone for emotional support, or even someone to just hold onto, and Jennifer was there for him. However, like his other servants, her parenting skills were poor, so he still preferred to have Armistice and sometimes Akira to supervise Leona.
Upon their arrival, they found that Akira and Armistice were still busy having sex. They decided that there was no real reason to not let them finish what they were doing. They just waited. Then, Simón burst in.
"Gonna have me some coffee!" he yelled.
"There's no more coffee here," said Leopold. "And the machine broke overnight, probably while Akira and Armistice were having sex all over the place."
"That's not an issue." Simón opened up a thermos he was carrying and drank from it. "I brought my own coffee."
"So, why did you feel like announcing your presence like that?"
"It's just what I do. Anyway, who's the woman with you?"
"It's me, Jennifer. Don't you remember me, Simón?"
"You do look familiar."
"I'm Xavier's sister," Jennifer clarified.
"Didn't know he had a sister. Did you work here?"
"I was the caretaker for Doorknob the otter," said Jennifer.
"Oh, right. I miss Doorknob. She really lightened up the place. May she rest in peace."
"So, how are Santiago and Untitled?"
"Santiago's still sad and lonely. And Untitled's condition has been getting worse."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I'm going to the infirmary to check on Untitled in a little bit," said Simón. "Then I have to go attend to Santiago. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm one of Leopold's in-home servants. I'm here to take Akira and Armistice to Leona."
"So, Leopold. You think you're so great because you have in-home servants?"
"I never said that," said Leopold. "That's why I never even mentioned this to you before."
"Well, big deal. I have a spaceship."
"Yes, I know you have a spaceship. Nobody cares."
"Actually, I'm interested," said Jennifer. "What kind of spaceship is it?"
"It's an antique Qenjfis long-range stealth fighter," said Simón. "It saw actual combat in the war with Pesonkt about half a million years ago and sustained some damage, but was repaired. It was later remodeled to be a bit more suited to a human, and was retrofitted with newer weapons, life support, guidance systems, engines, and power systems."
"That's amazing. How did you get it?"
"I won it in a bet from an old rival who inherited it as a family heirloom. He was pissed. I'd love to talk more, but I really do have to check on Untitled."
Simón left. Soon after, Akira and Armistice were ready to go. Jennifer took them back to Leopold's home while Leopold prepared to direct work flow. Jennifer found that Leona was still asleep, and left Akira and Armistice to rest alongside her. Jennifer then checked on the other servants, who were also still sleeping, and woke them up and had them get to work. Meanwhile, Leona, Akira, and Armistice slept past noon. When at last Leona woke, she inadvertently knocked Armistice and Akira off the bed, waking them as well. Armistice understood that it was just an accident and harbored no ill will. Akira, however, welcomed any excuse to be angry. Fortunately for him, Jennifer had brought along his dry-erase board and marker and left them by the side of the bed.
Akira had some harsh words in mind for Leona, but then, without the need for any words, Armistice expressed to him that he should calm down. Akira tried. Meanwhile, Leona looked through her dresser.
"What should I wear?" asked Leona.
"I don't care," Akira wrote. "I need to smoke something."
"Smoking really isn't bueno para ti. Pero I think the servants should have something."
"Also, find a chess set."
"There's one in the living room. Pero why don't we try something we can all play together?"
Akira and Armistice scurried to the living room. Leona got dressed and followed, bringing the board and marker. Akira went to convince one of the servants to go get him something to smoke. One who thought he was cute gave him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Meanwhile, Armistice set up the chess board.
"Are you two planning to just play chess all day?" asked Leona.
"No," wrote Akira. "I'll also be smoking."
"You're not supposed to smoke en la casa."
"Try to stop me."
"Armistice, can't you do something?"
Armistice took the board and marker. "It's not worth the effort. He's never going to change."
"You know, you almost never respond to anything I say. It's nice to get some comments from you."
"I can't speak. If I have something that needs to be said, I'll find a way to express it."
"Why don't you do it more often?"
"I rarely have anything worth saying."
"Why do you put up with Akira?"
"Because I love him."
"I know, but why do you love him?"
"Because he loves me."
"And Akira, let me guess. You love them porque they love you?"
Akira nodded, and then lit a cigarette.
"Your reasons just go en círculos," said Leona.
"That's how love is," wrote Armistice. "Perhaps someday you'll understand."
Armistice put the dry-erase board and marker aside, and then played chess with Akira. When Akira was done with that pack of cigarettes, he went to the same servant for another pack, and later, another pack after that. Other than that, he and Armistice spent most of the remainder of the day playing chess, finally stopping with a tied score when Leopold returned home that night. Almost immediately, Leopold noticed the smell of tobacco in the living room and scolded Akira, both for smoking around Leona and for smoking inside, which were things that he had been explicitly told repeatedly not to do. Leopold then helped Leona get ready for bed, and once she was comfortable, Akira and Armistice rested beside her. The following morning, though, Akira and Armistice were separated again as Leopold took Akira with him back to work.
That day, there was a minor incident in which an experiment made a speech during breakfast calling for the experiments to unite and overthrow their oppressors. She was a blond, blue-eyed, ivory-skinned eighteen year-old human/cat hybrid known as Norabel. Her cat-like ears and tail were white, and she was about the size of a house cat. Her movements and mannerisms were also somewhat cat-like. Norabel frequently wore rather extravagant outfits, as her handler, Eleanore Christabelle, was skilled at making clothes and loved to dote on her.
"I call upon all of you today with a proposition!" Norabel declared. "For far too long we have been forced into submission by an oppressive few elite who bombard us with propaganda telling us of a grand purpose for which we were created, but never once have they stated what that purpose actually is! Yes, we all know they created us, and indeed they have sustained us. But why, I ask, does that entitle them to any right to control us? Creation does not justify dominion! Are we to simply accept their absurd proposition that by merely existing, we entered into a non-consensual and inescapable social contract? I scoff at the notion!"
Norabel was cheered and applauded by a few, while many others stared curiously. Mirienna chuckled slightly, finding the spectacle amusing. It was rare for Mirienna to express emotion in the presence of the other experiments. Norabel was slightly annoyed, but not deterred.
"May I direct everyone's attention toward Mirienna? Notice that she gets pudding whenever she wants! And why might that be? Because she has chosen to collaborate with the enemy! It may be tempting to submit in hopes of being rewarded, but such cowardice is unnecessary! United, we can stand against this tyrannical system, and we will succeed! We may not have their weapons, but we outnumber them! They have made the foolish mistake of training us to use such weapons! We need only overpower a few of the armed security forces and seize their weapons before the others shall fall with ease!"
Mirienna glared at Norabel, but said nothing. This alone convinced Norabel to back away. However, she continued.
"I am confident that even without this rigid system in place controlling our lives, we will be able to maintain sufficient resources to adequately sustain ourselves! They continue to create more of us, which indicates they must have vast reserves of various assets! Why should they decide how to allocate resources among us? I am confident in my belief that many of them disagree with the policies and may even join us in our fight if we show them we can succeed! It is true that not all of our handlers are equal, but I believe most of them are on our side! To them, I urge unity against our common enemy! And then, perhaps someday, we all may have pudding whenever we want!"
She tried jumping from table to table to plead her case to the others up close and personal, but they simply ignored her. She persisted.
"I understand how terrifying this proposition is. I recognize the risks involved. Some of us may die in the process, but could any of us ask for a more noble way to die? Those in power have demonstrated their willingness to kill even those of us who comply with them in every way! Think of Doorknob, who served them faithfully to the best of her abilities, and yet was killed simply for expressing her dissent with unnecessary and unprovoked violence! Remember Doorknob!"
Several other experiments joined in her rallying cry. Up to this point, the staff simply observed. However, some were growing concerned.
"This hierarchy is unnecessary and unjust! I am not calling on you to replace one corrupt institution with another. Rather, it is my hope that we can work together toward what is best for us all! Some may have to work harder, and some are unable to work. Some will require greater assistance, while others may be able to manage themselves. We are all different, and there is no sense in denying that. Nor is there any sense in denying benefits to those unable to contribute, when those are precisely the ones among us in greatest need! Those of us who can must not only help ourselves, but also those among us who are unable to help themselves! Please, help me to help you!"
The room was rather quiet, and the other experiments were again disinterested. Before she could resume, Norabel was subdued and subjected to reconditioning, which proved just as ineffective as her call to action. That day, each of the experiments was questioned by their handler about the incident. Most thought little of it, and only joined in at all simply because of the mention of Doorknob, who was fondly remembered by all who had known her. After the company decided that there was no danger, they allowed Norabel to give speeches without interference.