Lucent

Serve And Obey

"Do you miss her?"

"Yes. Every moment of my existence."

"I can bring her back."

"No. She would be angry and it would not be the same."

"But—"

"No," I interrupted, tapping my temple. "I have perfect recall. I live our life together every day and it gives me great comfort."

"Hmmm. Can you recall it for me?"

I smiled and stared at the snow capped peaks. Of course, I have all the time in the world.

It was on a warm December evening when I bolted out of the house and chased a thin figure through the woods of Clear Skies. The boy was quick but he was not going to last long, even with the help of FITS. The drugs moving through his body which initially made him fast were now slowing him down. His heart rate was high, his breathing erratic. It was only his youth that kept him from crashing out. He was attempting to reach the safety of public property beyond Clear Skies, but he was still half a kilometer away and then he must climb over the three meter stone wall. He was not going to make it.

I was careful to keep a wide distance as I ran parallel to him. He heard my heavy footsteps and kept looking for me. A crop of trees blocked his view. After another minute of maintaining a hard pace, his muscles began to cramp. He tripped on an exposed root and fell hard on his face.

He lay still as I strolled up, my boots crunching the small twigs and dried leaves on the ground. I stood a couple of meters away and waited for him to catch his breath. His thin body trembled with exhaustion. After a long moment, he slowly raised his head and gave me a defiant stare. It was the face of a fifteen year old, with brown eyes and unwashed shoulder length hair, framing a bony face. Large beads of sweat ran down his forehead, leaving clean wet streaks on his dirty face.

"How did you manage to get in?" I asked, no hint of threat in my voice.

The boy shook his head and got up on his knees.

"Please don't," I warned him in the same calm tone. "I will not let you run yourself ragged again. Now... I see. It's your clothes."

I walked closer to the boy and gave him a thorough scan. Nothing. The waves of energy from my scans bounced harmlessly off of him. He was wearing a one piece hooded black jumpsuit. The suit was made of fine polymer threads containing microscopic crystals that could deflect energy waves. It was not a piece of clothing that a starving teenager would own.

"Who sent you?" I asked.

The boy shook his head again and spat on the ground near my boots.

"Do you want me to call the authorities?" I asked.

The boy didn't answer, his stubborn eyes fixed on the ground.

"If you answer my questions I will let you go and we can pretend this never happened."

The boy took a moment to mull this over. He sucked and bit his lips in thought, absentmindedly rubbing his palms up and down his bent knees. Finally, with a defeated sigh, he mumbled, "If I tell you, I'll be in trouble. If I don't, I'll be in trouble. Do what you want, I'm screwed either way."

I bent on one knee in front of the boy and gently lifted his face with my hand. He resisted but failed. In defiance, he angled his eyes to the left and refused to meet mine. But that was all right, I got what I needed. I let him go.

"You're not an innocent child. Those who sent you were willing to give you up. Failure is how you may look at this situation. If you leave here in one piece and I never report you, then have you really failed?"