Mother's Hand

Chapter Two

"Here are your things 828-Kal." The nurse placed my old clothes on a chair and came over to my side, unclasping the restraints on my wrists. I scooted upright, pulling the side rails of my bed to get up. The feeling of disorientation was nauseating. Pain radiated from behind my jaw, where they had pulled out my bio-rig. Across from me was a poster, red and black with Mother's hooded face. Underneath was written; Service is Life.

I let out an involuntary shiver and swallowed hard, feeling bile swirl in my gut.

A small part of me wanted to throw myself back into the quicksand of never-ending dreams. Doing things like putting my trousers on in this cold hospital seemed really confusing and hard right now.

The nurse stood back and looked at me, like a scientist wondering if its creation would survive.

I managed a smile, "I'm fine."

"Are you?"

That was when I noticed the cobwebbing pattern of blue lights on her neck. She was a bio-worker. An unqualified human who checks in their mind in and has a computer program do their job for them for the week. Despite how awful it sounds people, especially those in Section Two, were desperate for these roles. Turns out living large for two days a week was well worth five-days of weekly service.

This nurse's mannerisms were so real, so human-like, it meant either someone had entered her mind and taken complete control of her. Or... I was speaking directly to Mother.

Which was impossible.

Mother could command any bio-worker at will, inhabit them and she could control many at a time. But I doubted she would be speaking to me now. In this room.

Kal, you have been away for four years, the bio-worker software must have got better.

I swallowed and took a few shaky steps towards the chair. My whole body felt different, it felt used. Sore. I fumbled with the hospital gown, trying to reach behind my back with limbs that wouldn't quite work the way I wanted them too. The nurse stood watching. The same pitying smile on her lips. She stepped forward and tugged at the strings.

"Thanks." I shrugged it off, exposed and naked and managed to organize my movements enough to reach for my old t-shirt.

That is when I looked down at myself. The shock of seeing my own body caught me off guard. Beefy chest, ripped abs, forearms bulging and legs that were loaded with muscle like a show-horse. I straightened out my right arm, it was swollen with muscle and veins. Wow. Before I realized how much of an idiot I must look like to the nurse.

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't be. It's my favorite part. Watching you see the benefits of your service. Enjoy it."

While it lasts. The famous bonus of service. As the saying goes; You'll leave in the shape of your life.

They'd shaved my head. My hair was cropped, buzzed tight to my head. My skin was paler than usual; like I hadn't seen the sun in years. Like most in Mother's City I was mixed from several of the Old World races. My hair would grow in tight dark curls on my head and my eyes shone hazel in contrast to my skin which was a copper brown, but if it hit the sun, would go dark immediately.

My father was mixed but Black, darker than me, but with the same hazel eyes that were prone to seriousness. My mother was mixed; Anglo-Asian, with the loudest laugh of anyone I had met. I had inherited her impressive height and straight teeth, but her laugh had died with her.

I smiled grimly, thinking of my parents and saw the crow's feet around my eyes had deepened and the thin lines of aging had spread across my forehead too.

Then I noticed the scars.

Two small round scars in my chest like someone had poked me with red-hot fingertips.

Holy skiff, I've been shot. In the chest. Twice. Recently.

I guess I had been sent somewhere 'active' and immediately wondered where. Fighting the Scynthians or policing humanity? What if I had shot back? What if I had killed someone or something? The thought brought on another wave of nausea.

Woah, take it easy Kal.

I focused my energy on tugging on my jeans, now skin-tight over my ridiculous stallion-like legs. I managed to pull the t-shirt over my chest without ripping it.

I'm going to need to get some new clothes.

But as I took stock of my situation, I started to feel pretty good.

I'm alive. My service is done. I'm in great shape. The last surprise will be the amount of credits that I've earned for my time away.

I could go back to my old life. Playing Mother's great game, hiding and surviving in my little house in my town of Around the Lake and ignoring the world.

Like the universe had somehow noticed my spirits rise the nurse spoke again.

"There is one final thing Kal," she said with a small, proud smile. "You have been chosen to take part in a media event. You will be photographed with Prince Rufus and he will ask you some questions. You will answer them politely and you will smile for the cameras. We have included the full details in your debrief kit."

The thought of the last time I saw the Prince flashed in my mind, over eight-feet tall, handsome, with unbreakable skin and a planet-crushing intelligence. Mother's sons were our generals, celebrities and keepers.

I remembered our naked shuffle. The firm hands of the Mother's Hand who pushed me down into the gel. Mother and the prince put me there.

With years of practice I had learned to fight back any natural reaction to my inner thoughts and feelings. I forced a smile for the eyes that were connected to Mother's system through the bio-worker.

"Of course," I said clearly. "That's an honor."

"Indeed, it is," the nurse said. She gave out a little huff, a kind of discrete satisfied laugh to herself. Then her face changed. The sharp focus melted, and her eyes clouded, vacant. She turned her attention from me to my cot and precisely began folding the bedding.

The change had the most bone-chilling effect on me.

Had I been talking to Mother? No. That was impossible. I was disorientated and confused. I tried very hard to dismiss the thought and focus on being happy to be in control of my own body once again and to be alive and done with my service.

The nurse turned to leave the room.

"Nurse?" I said.

But she did not reply and glided away.

The thought came before I could stop it. Why was Mother holding the cymonacide needle when I first woke up?