The Halfbreed Threat

Part 2

"Of course. I should mention a few things though."

Peter rolled his eyes at the delay attempt.

Vincent swiped his hand over the table and a file was sent to all eleven Keepers.

"As you can see all the measures have been taken for Keeper level containment at the current location."

8 – 3.

"The cost is high and we have nothing to gain by supporting this, without direct access to the subject," a new voice said.

"I would agree if you handle it totally, including costs," the African woman said.

"I did not ask for, nor do I expect financial support."

"You can't possibly afford to keep that level of containment without help for long! Common Vincent, be realistic about this!"

"Would you be willing to bet money on that claim, Peter? Because I will match any sum you put down. How about you don't formulate financial expectations on the amount of money you think I have available."

6 – 5.

"You still can't win this Vincent, even with your vote!"

"One second," Vincent asked and swiped his hand over the tablet again.

5 – 6.

"You can't be serious! Who did that?" Peter fumed.

"Thank you for your trust in me. I will abstain from voting at this time since it is obviously unnecessary. You will all receive continuous reports on what is happening. This meeting is concluded," and with that and a swipe of his tablet, all the holoprojectors stopped functioning.

"I'm sorry I did not think of this sooner! Cassie, would you have liked to be taken to the neutral location?"

She finally looked up when the holograms ceased and was now watching him.

"No. Though I do not know what you expect me to do."

"Learn and recover. Learn control, about yourself and what you are and why."

"Do you know what is happening to me? And why?"

"I have some ideas. We can work together on that."

"Why?"

"Because it would be easier if you let me help, and even more so if you help me help you."

"No. I mean why are you helping me? Why did you keep me from the others? What's in it for you?"

"A decent amount of mistrust is good for survival. To a certain point but we are not there it. To put it simply, you are interesting."

"Are you some kind of perv? Like Marla said?"

Vincent's face cringed for a moment, before getting it under control.

"No. Nothing like that. I mean you are an enigma for me. Like a puzzle I want to solve. How old do you think I am?"

"30 something. I don't know. Why, are you older?"

"A bit," Vincent chuckled and continued "how about you? How old are you?"

"I... I don't know. How old do I look?"

"Honestly with the amount of makeup girls wear these days I don't have a term of comparison. If you were wearing makeup and look like you do, id say you are 12. Without it who knows. Could even be as old as seventeen. I'll have a doctor come by and take some scans."

"NO!"

"Hey, hey didn't mean to upset you. Sorry! But honestly, when is the last time you saw a doctor?"

"I... I don't remember that either."

"Really? Do you have some kind of memory loss? What do you know about yourself?"

"I..."

"It's ok, you can tell me. Remember the thing about helping me help you? I could use anything can give me. Throw me a bone!"

"A what now?"

"A bone. Oh never mind, it's an expression and means give me some information so I can make something of it."

"I honestly don't remember more that a few months back."

"OK, I can work with that. Anything else?"

"I want to go back to my room."

Vincent sighed, hearing the request.

"OK, we can do that too."