3170: Artificial Crimson

3170: Artificial Crimson

YEAR : 3162

“Look at you, getting so big already.” Aella’s care-overseer, Merrudan, spoke.

She carefully tightened Aella’s ponytail, and smoothed back any loose hairs. As Merrudan straightened out her black uniform, making sure that the pleated skirt was unwrinkled and straight, Aella turned her head to face her.

“Why does every girl have to do this once they’re my age?” she asked expectantly.

“Aella! You know you need to stop asking questions. If the Thanax officials heard all of your questions, they would release you.” Merrudan responded with a harsh tone.

“I know. Sorry. I just don’t understand. Like, why can’t I be as tall as you are. You’re so tall. I’m so short Merrie. I hate it.”

“And there you go again. But you already know the answer to that question Aella. We might not know how it all works, but we do know that someone chose how you would look, how tall you would be… they took time to make every part of you. You’re just as special as everyone else even if you’re not as tall as you wish you could be.”

“But everyone was made like that. So no one is really that special then. And besides, have you ever wondered what we really were created from? I mean, you can’t just put together some random stuff and make a person.”

“Aella. Enough of the interrogation. Your mind must have developed wrong as the creators would not have purposefully made you so imploring.” Merrudan said with a sigh, “We need to get you ready for the Therracenn ceremony without your silly questions.”

Aella’s deep green eyes lowered to the floor in disappointment. She had lush brown hair that flowed to her waist, despite it currently being held up in a ponytail. She was not that tall, but perhaps it was on account for her age, as she had only turned nine today. But she still was shorter than the average nine-year-old girl within her city. Merrudan was in her early thirties, and looked the exact opposite of Aella. She had bright blue eyes that sparkled in the Sun, and had such light blonde hair that it looked almost white.

Merrudan turned Aella towards her, with a hand planted on each shoulder. She positioned herself directly in her line of sight, forcing her to look up.

“Now Aella. Remember what I told you. One, do everything they tell you. Two, it’s not as scary as it might seem. Just remember that it will be over before you know it. Ok? Can you do that for me?” Merrudan said firmly, staring hard at Aella as she held her hands on her shoulders.

“Yeah.”

“Just...” Merrudan’s voice took on a softer tone, “...it will be good. Don’t be nervous or anything. And remember that this is the first stage to taking on your assigned role. Becoming a Vlora! It was an honour for you to be assigned this specific-”

“Merrie, I know. I’ll be fine.” Aella interrupted.

**

One and a half hours later, Aella was moving behind an assembled line of girls, all mechanically moving in a perfectly straight line. They moved along a rocky path towards a massive black wall, that held two large metal doors about two-thirds down. The two metal doors was the entryway into the Therracenn ceremony hall.

She’d been told by older girls that when it had been their time to partake in the Therracenn ceremony, they had walked in and seen red and golden carpets, and that they couldn’t remember anything past that. But even if they had remembered anything, they would be arrested if they said it.

It all sounded so alarming, but the girls who had partaken in it had come out okay, so it must not be anything to worry about. But though Aella acted as if it was no big deal to Merrie so as not to worry her, she was scared. Frightened.

A woman’s voice boomed from the direction of the wall, calling out names as each girl reached the doors. Aella tried to see past the girls in front of her, but her tip-toes could not give her a view that didn’t just consist of the wall and the top of the metal doors. As she got closer and closer to the entryway, she felt her hands begin to get clammy. She could hear a rushing in her ears, and her heart felt like it would break free of her chest.

There were three girls in front of her. Then there were two. And finally, she was about to be first in line.

The last girl in front of her walked through the sliding doors, and they slammed closed behind her with a loud bang.

A woman, who had bluntly-cut short black hair and menacing eyes that were a soulless black, looked up from her clipboard and locked eyes with Aella.

“Aella, person 49753?”

“Yes ma’am.” Aella replied with feigned confidence.

“Walk to the doors and they will automatically open. Then follow the line of girls.” she commanded.

Aella did as she was told, walking hesitantly towards the massive metal doors that looked even more enormous upon being so close. Once she stood within one meter of them, each door suddenly slid open, allowing Aella to pass through.

She could not make out much of what was inside, as the light from outside was directed in the opposite direction and caused the hall to be cast in shadow. However, once she walked inside and the doors slammed closed, her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out her surroundings.

She looked down and saw that there was, indeed, a golden and red carpet, but it was more of a crimson with slight hints of golden. It was made up of intricate designs, and covered the floor in every direction. She glanced up, and saw that the line of girls was ahead, past the walls on each side of her that were black and covered in mirrors. Her reflection seemed to leer at her from every angle, and she made extra efforts to plant her eyes on the line ahead as she hurried to meet the end. Once she stood behind the last girl, she noticed that they were once again moving forward, but this time she had no idea in which direction and why.

After what seemed like hours, Aella was back at the front. This time, a man in a white lab coat stared down at Aella. His eyes reflected the same cruelness that the woman at the entryway had had, and he had a scrutinizing stare. She tried to calm her nerves as her insides trembled in fear.

“Aella, person 49753?” he asked in a monotonous tone.

“Yes, sir.”

“Your creation date, October 15 of year 3153?” he interrogated.

“That is correct, sir.” she replied, her voice wavering slightly.

“So you are nine years of age since creation as of today. Ok.” he glanced down at his clipboard and made a few notes. Then, he continued to ask her questions, “You are only 4’7”? And your weight remains at 73 pounds?” he asked, as his eyes traveled in inspection from her head to her feet and back up again.

“Yes, sir.”

“And have you experienced any abnormal health symptoms in the last few days?” he continued.

“No, sir.” Aella answered.

“Ok. You are cleared.” he said as he wrote something else down, “If you could just walk down the hall to your left, and walk to the very end where you will see a white door labeled “Ceremony Room 25”. There will be someone waiting for you there.” he gestured for her to proceed to the left.

Once she’d begun walking, he instantly began questioning the next girl in line.

Aella turned where the left wall veered to the left, and passed countless white doors on her way to the end. It was all silent. The only sound that could be heard was the fading echo of the interrogation checkpoint she had just come from.

The hallway seemed to go on forever, but after a few minutes it appeared that she was approaching the end. Where the hall ended, a tall figure stood in front of a white door that had the label, “Ceremony Room 25” upon it.

Once almost at the door, she saw that the figure was a woman who was also wearing a white lab coat. She had auburn hair that seemed to glow, and was currently pulled back into a tight bun. Her hair being pulled back accentuated her warm eyes that were alike to the color of golden honey.

The woman smiled down at Aella as she came to a stop in front of her.

“Hello Aella, welcome to the Therracenn ceremony. We are all so excited for you to partake in this significant occasion and take the next step into taking up your assigned role. I am Doctor Lanner. When we go in, you will see a chair. If you could sit down upon entry, and then you will receive a special drink in preparation.”

As she finished speaking, she took out a card and tapped it on the side of the door, causing it to slowly open inwards.

When Aella walked in, she did see a chair. But the chair wasn’t like any regular one. It was golden and rimmed with red stones. The room was not big, but was furnished luxuriously. There was another white door on the opposing side, which slightly pulled away from the richness of the room. The floor had the same carpet, and instead of countless mirrors on the wall, there was a single painting.

After Aella had sat in the chair, Doctor Lanner began bustling around, opening golden cupboards and pulling out odd items, looking over at Aella now and then in a way that made Aella feel like she was being measured and inspected.

Aella attempted to subtly inspect the painting on the wall, but was careful to avert her eyes if Doctor Lanner looked over at her. The painting was of a girl, who looked to be about Aella’s age. She was being lifted by a golden light, and there were wings with faces everywhere. Aella wondered what it was, and what the figures that had wings and faces were.

“Ok Aella, here is a drink I prepared for you.” Doctor Lanner spoke, as she held out a golden glass to Aella that appeared to hold an orange substance within it, “It is something special just for you to have. If you could drink it within the next five minutes please so we can make sure we’re on track with the process.” Doctor Lanner instructed.

Aella took the glass uncertainly and hesitantly sniffed it. It had barely any smell, with only the subtlest hint of orange, so she took a sip. A sweet taste filled her mouth, and she took a larger sip. After taking a few sips, the effect of the initial burst of sweetness began to wear off and it tasted artificial. Aella could taste an underlying flavour that was unpleasant, where it tasted bitter and acidic. It was tolerable but not tasty. However, after five minutes she had finished it, as Doctor Lanner had said to do.

Doctor Lanner had left after two minutes of her drinking it, and had taken with her a case filled with the items that she had pulled out of the cupboards.

Aella held the glass in her hand as she continued to examine the room.

All of a sudden, Aella’s head felt like it had been filled with sludge. Her vision began to blur and her body began to feel like it was tipping over. Her head fell back against the chair, and she attempted to regain control - but was unsuccessful. Her eyes had shut, and her body felt like it was floating mid-space. She heard a door open, and an unfamiliar male voice speak. The voice sounded muffled and far away.

Aella was able to almost clearly distinguish the words spoken at the beginning, but after another minute had passed she began to rapidly flit in and out of consciousness. As a result, she was only able to clearly distinguish some phrases and then had to attempt to fill in the blanks.

“What….you administer Lanner?”

“I had….use a stronger drug instead….general preanesthetic agent. Non-general preanesthetic drug is flunitrazepam.”

Aella attempted to hear what they were saying, but could only pick up snippets.

“Flunitrazepam…? Risky to....must know.”

“Yes, but I still....dosage of a fast-acting preanesthetic....speeden up... Her body...faster….nine-year-old girl I’ve done….examined her records. I administered a different drug…..”

“. Is….fully unconscious?” the deep voice of the man inquired.

“I believe….approaching full….need to move….surgical room as soon as possible.”

“...gurney brought here immediately. I will….team 25 to….procedure promptly once person 49753….secured.” he said in response, and it appeared he had finished, as his footsteps receded and there was a sound of a door opening and closing.

At certain points, Aella had felt like her eyes were open and she was staring down at the room from the ceiling. But then she would feel like she was being pulled back into her body and everything would go black. Slowly, she would fall deeper and deeper into this blackness, until she would be completely out.

But every now and then, her body would graze consciousness, like when she heard the sound of wheels grating against the ground as she felt her body being rocked back and forth, or when she heard parts of what people were saying.

“She’s all strapped in…hold her skin taut....no get the other injection...”

She heard the voice of Doctor Lanner occasionally, but her mind was conscious so briefly that she only heard some of what she said, “Load the dissolving agent...one of you needs to...the gabapentin...mark that area…body is picky...”

After flitting in and out of unconsciousness for what felt like an eternity, Aella suddenly felt like she was being pulled from the blackness and back into the light. Her body felt like it had been zapped from the inside - making her feel like she was on fire with electricity. It was sending pleasurable ripples from her head to her toes. She slowly began to regain consciousness. Her eyes began to flutter open.

But before her body could regrasp control, she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her lower pelvic region, and her eyes rolled back and she lost all consciousness.

**

YEAR : 3170

8.25 Years Later

She aimed. She steadied her breathing, inhaled, and held her breath as she pulled the trigger. There was a bang, and the momentum caused her body to be pushed back slightly.

She was happy to see that the bullet had met its target, where there was a hole within the center of the bullseye.

Aella was standing within a glass room - which was ironic taken the fact that it was where gun training took place, but the glass was made of unbreakable material - and had three different guns lying in front of her.

Her instructor, Official Reginatt, came inside, watching as she aimed again and fired - once again successfully hitting the target.

“Aella, I need your complete attention for a few moments.” Official Reginatt stated.

Aella turned to face him after placing her gun back on the rack.

“You have been training in the Vlora Academy ever since you were thirteen. You barely took a year to complete the introductory phase, you skipped a full year out of the four years of basic training, and in only the past three months you have mastered skills in advanced training that an average student would take three years to master. In my twenty-four years as Head Training Official, I have never had a student progress as much as you have within all of the levels of training. I believe you should be looking into positions within the Supreme Thanax Force.”

Aella’s jaw dropped slightly, but she quickly regained her composure. Most of the girls that were assigned the life-long role of being a Vlora at the time of their creation completed Vlora Academy training and then joined the Vlora Thanax Defense, which was basically the army. As important as it sounded, war was never a prevalent issue, and those within the Vlora Thanax Defense would mainly spend their entire lives dealing with citizen squabbles, educating the citizens of Thanax with the history of their city, and pursuing further personal training as well as maintaining Vlora skills. The Supreme Thanax Force, on the other hand, dealt with criminals, any violations and contraventions of the law, along with working undercover to exploit any illegal activities.

“Um, I am incredibly honoured to have you think so highly of my ability uh, sir. But I do not believe that the Supreme Thanax Force is right for me.” she replied with slight unease, taking care to choose her words carefully.

Official Reginatt stared Aella directly in the eyes as he spoke firmly, “Do not say no so easily Aella. Consider your final answer carefully. I was the second-in-command of the Supreme Thanax Force for the first five years before I took on the role as a Vlora trainer. I know who is suitable and who is not. What I have told you I have not told any other girl. Do not take it so lightly. If you make a foolish choice, you disrespect me. Then I will not make the same mistake with you again.”

Aella felt slightly intimidated, despite her being taller than him. Though she had been short as a young child, Merrudan had said that in the Therracenn ceremony they had administered a drug that promoted her growth. She was now six feet five inches, while Officer Reginatt was just above six feet. But when he was sharing his disapproval on a particular issue, his analyzing look and surpassing authority was daunting, and made him seem to almost tower over even the tallest of the girls and cause them to shrink away from him.

“Now continue your training, I’ve interrupted for too long already.” he added while beginning to walk away, with the sound of his heavy boots thumping against the floor.  

Aella watched him exit through the glass doors as she mulled over what he had said. For years, she had had a feeling of unsettlement towards the Thanax Government, and all those in charge of dictating the laws and societal requirements, standards, and set rules. The Supreme Thanax Force was not any different.

Training to be a Vlora had let her channel all her uncertainty, confusion, and anger into its vigorous exercise and its intense courses on survival, battle-skills, and hand-to-hand combat. But training within a Thanax government-regulated academy also exposed her to the hidden truths of their society. Yes, they were very secretive and did not release much information, but she saw how cruel and merciless they were to citizens if they violated a rule or law in any way, even if it had been unintentional or done in self-defense. She had once, as part of her training, had to go and arrest a care-overseer, an older woman. Normally, the Supreme Thanax Force would be in charge of criminal cases, but they had selected three Vlora’s-in-training, one of which was Aella, to work alongside the Supreme Thanax Force for two weeks to see if they could be potential future candidates.

For some weird reason, the woman that Aella was arresting had lines upon her forehead and had yellowed skin. Aella wondered if it was maybe a deformity that had happened during creation, and maybe that was why she was being arrested. But her eyes were kind, the kindest Aella had ever seen.

After securing the handcuffs on the woman and beginning to direct her away from the house, she saw in the corner of her eye one of the curtains of the front windows move slightly. When Aella glanced back, she saw a young girl looking through the window with wide doe-like eyes, and eyes that appeared frightened and lost.

Aella had been assigned to arrest and then escort the woman to the Thanax Central Hall, where the woman’s fate would be decided, and she had been alone in taking her there. Official Reginatt had convinced the Vlora’s-in-training ST Force overseer that he had full confidence in her ability - as well as that the security of the handcuffs ensured protection if required. Official Reginatt had said that she didn’t need to be watched like a small child not knowing what was right and what was left.

Official Reginatt was right to place trust in the handcuffs. The handcuffs were wired with the highest technology. If the woman had resisted, there were two buttons attached to Aella’s belt that she could have hit. Both buttons, if hit, would cause electricity to discharge from the handcuffs and electrocute the woman throughout her entire body. The first button, however, initiated a high amount of electricity but in a short time, while the other sent out a moderate level but for a longer period, that would result in short-term paralysis.

The woman walked heavily, as if holding a huge weight on her shoulders, and appeared to be filled with a sadness. However, the woman did not put up a fight or scream profanity or curses at Aella - but she did one very peculiar thing. Right before they entered the courtyard surrounding the Thanax Central Hall, the woman halted abruptly.

Aella inwardly groaned with annoyance. Pulling this woman away from the young girl had already been hard enough.

“Ma’am, I really do not want to take drastic measures, but I need to ensure your compliance and follow orders if you do not do what is instructed.” Aella said.

The woman slowly turned around to face her.

“Aella.”

“Uh ma’am, you are not permitted to address me by my first name.” Aella faltered with uncertainty. She had never given her name to the woman as it was prohibited by arresting officers for security and legal reasons.

“Aella. Listen.” the woman spoke, staring into her eyes with a look of urgency, “They do not tell you anything, because they do not want to be held accountable for lies. But they thrive through your acceptance of deceit. Expose the dark, sinister truths of this city. Or else Aella, the world is doomed.”

She was thrown into a state of confusion and disorientation for a couple moments following the woman’s statement. Aella attempted to pass it off as madness, but a part of her had resonated with the woman’s words.

Once she snapped out of her daze, Aella quickly attempted to resume her authoritative stance.

“I do not know what you are talking about. Now continue ahead or I will have to stun you.” Aella ordered.

The woman did not challenge her, and returned to facing the front and continuing the trek to the Thanax Central Hall. But the woman no longer walked heavily, and now walked with an air of calmness. For some reason it also felt as if she had accepted her fate; for there was also resignation in her walk.

Aella attempted to shove the woman’s words out of her mind, but they kept repeating over and over incessantly.

The woman’s words still repeated in her mind. And the more they repeated, the more the pieces seemed to attempt to fit together.

As Aella stood in the gun training room reliving this event, she suddenly felt sharp pain in her lower abdomen. She gasped in shock and panic filled her. Their bodies were made perfect in creation, and they were never to experience any type of pain unless inflicted. She lifted her jacket and shirt slightly, as passerbys could peer in, and saw that her normally-flat stomach was becoming inflated like a balloon. The only time she could remember having this sort of bloatedness was eight years ago. After the Theracenn Ceremony had been completed, they had told her to drink a special juice for four weeks. She had had a bloated stomach, but they told her that it was because they had given her an important medicine during the ceremony that would ensure that she would become the best Vlora she could be. They said she couldn’t remember what had happened as they had given her another drink that would make her forget. They said that otherwise, if she remembered and told, it would spoil the ceremony for the next girls as they would already know what the gifts would be.

Aella still remembered the bloatedness though. And though the pain had felt slightly different, she now had the same bloatedness as then - but the bloatedness was increasing at such a rapid rate that it was beginning to be even worse.

The pain only intensified, and she hastily secured the guns back into their set places, grabbed her black duffle bag, and attempted to run down the hallway and towards the Vlora Academy’s Care and Hygiene Unit. Her attempts to run failed however, as the pain was so immense that she could only shuffle along at a sluggish pace.

After seven minutes of holding her stomach and walking through countless hallways, she entered the West Wing. She proceeded down a dark corridor and passed three brown doors: the first was marked “Bushcraft Learning” , the second “Bushcraft Application” and the last  “Survival: Lacerations & Recovery”. After passing the last door, she arrived at a blue door labelled “Care and Hygiene Unit”.

Aella firmly knocked on the door, and heard someone scuffling inside. Then, the door opened, and Aella was met by the Care and Hygiene Practitioner, Phaedra.

“Oh, hello Aella!. Did you want to help out today?” Phaedra asked, smiling warmly as her magenta-coloured eyes glimmered.

“Uh, not today. I actually need help myself.” Aella admitted, embarrassed.

Phaedra’s eyes widened, and she motioned for Aella to come inside. She had Aella sit down, and immediately began questioning her.

“What is the matter? Are you alright?”

“Um… about ten minutes ago I got sudden sharp pain in my lower stomach area. I’m still in pain. I don’t know why.” Aella replied, gesturing to her lower stomach.

“Oh dear, oh dear…” the practitioner’s brows knit together as she pondered, “Well, as you know, we don’t have a unit to deal with this kind of thing, as it never happens… I really only have hygiene supplies and information on how to maintain cleanliness and sanitation... Can I see your stomach?”

Aella nodded, and slowly lifted her jacket and black top. Her stomach was no longer just ‘ballooned’ but was so swollen that it was almost the size of her head.

Phaedra gasped.

“Ok, this is serious. I think I might have something somewhere that would help a bit...” Phaedra stood up and moved towards a cabinet that stood against a wall, “I’d just have to look in my secured drawer…it has only been opened once...and many, many years ago....it has to be here somewhere… Aha!” The practitioner pulled out a yellow glass bottle that looked like it was filled with a powder, and was about 3 inches tall and 1 inch wide.

“...what is that?” Aella inquired, feeling alarmed.

“I cannot release the name, but-”

“If I don’t know what it is, I won’t take it.” Aella interjected.

For some reason, ever since she was nine she had begun to have an increasing amount of unsettlement circling around medicines, and that perhaps there was something the Thanax Government wasn’t telling them. But Aella wasn’t mainly concerned about, say, the name of a medicine. But something bigger. But Aella felt there was definitelly something off with the medicines.

“Hey, Aella. It’s ok. I know you’re nervous, but you know that the Thanax Government is very secretive and likes their privacy.” Phaedra sighed as Aella continued to stare back at her, looking unchanged in her position on the medicine, “But I know that it will help. I might not be able to tell you the name, but what’s that to you? It’s the effects you care about.” she gestured to the bottle, “This will lower the bloating until we can get you to someone who can fix the real problem. Your stomach looks very bad, Aella. You need to lower the bloating before your stomach can’t take it anymore and will...you know. Just take it Aella, please.”

Aella considered what Phaedra had said.

She decided to take it, thinking that if her stomach exploded she would probably die anyways.

“Alright, I’ll take it Phaedra. But only the minimum amount.” she said begrudgingly.

“Good! Now the powder needs to be mixed with a packet of this type of crystallized substance, that will turn into a drink after water is added. I only have two flavours, both-”

Aella felt a sharp stab in her stomach and let out a cry of pain.

“Ok, doesn’t matter what flavour. Let’s see...the medicine and packet… there we go...” Phaedra took out a glass from her cabinet and combined both substances. She then moved towards the tap in the back of the room and added some water.

“Ok Aella.” Phaedra said as she walked towards her, stirring the liquid in the glass with a spoon, “Here is the drink. It is orange flavoured, as the other one was lime and it probably is disgusting.” she passed the glass to Aella, who took it hesitantly, “Drink it as fast as you can alright Aella?”

“Ok.” Aella croaked.

She lifted the glass to her mouth and took multiple sips. It was sugary and had the flavour of orange that tasted artificial. As she was almost finished the drink, she got a nagging feeling that she had done this before. She attempted to brush it away, as her mind was already reeling from the stomach pain.

All of a sudden, there was a flash and she was no longer in the room of the Care and Hygiene Unit.

What she saw ahead of her was blankness. Whiteness. But when she turned around to face the opposite direction,  she saw that there was a figure ahead. She walked closer, and saw a young girl with deep green eyes and brown hair sitting in a golden chair. She looked short, as her head only reached the middle of the chair’s backboard.

After a couple moments of staring at the girl, she realized it was her. But not her as a seventeen year old, but as a nine year old.

There was a golden glass on the floor, that somehow had not broken even though it looked as if it had been dropped, and nine-year-old Aella’s body was limp, her head leaning against the armrest of the chair.

She saw a white door appear on the adjacent side of young Aella, and a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat walked in, followed by a female, wearing the same, that had auburn hair and honey-coloured eyes. Aella assumed they were both doctors.

“What did you administer Lanner?” the man spoke.

“I had to use a stronger drug instead of the general preanesthetic agent. The non-general preanesthetic drug was flunitrazepam. ” the female, who seemed to be called Doctor Lanner, replied, while balancing a clipboard upon her forearm.

They both glanced over at young Aella.

“Flunitrazepam was risky to administer, as you must know. It could result in serious side effects.” the male doctor replied.

“Yes, but I still administered a dosage of a fast-acting general preanesthetic to speeden up the process. You see, she seems to hold an unknown force or substance within her. I examined her records...” here Doctor Lanner flipped a page on her clipboard, “...and in the black and white reports - and note, the black and white reports,” she said, placing extra emphasis on ‘black’ and ‘white’,  “from the most recent Ultrarassan check-up last year, I saw that there were thousands of minuscule golden particles moving throughout her body.”

“Is the bonding rate of particles noted?” the male doctor demanded.

“Apparently, those that had performed person 49753’s Ultrarassan early last year told her care-overseer six months later that they needed to do another check-up. They told her that it was a mandatory requirement before partaking in the ‘Therracenn Ceremony”, i.e. the CRE process, upon turning nine-years-old, but they really did it just so they could re-examine the particles. They saw that they had doubled in quantity.” Lanner explained automatically.

The male doctor cursed under his breath.

Once he’d composed himself, he stated, “I have never heard of such an oddity. Once you have completed person 49753’s surgery, report immediately to me. I think it is time we pay the undergrounds a visit.”

“The undergrounds? I didn’t think I had the clearance to go there.” Lanner pointed out.

“You don’t. But I will speak to the High Thanax Commander myself and have you cleared for just today. There is a room, known as a library, that is full of fairly old resources - called books - that date back to 2200 up until now. I believe we could find some valuable information in them that would help explain this oddity. They were very much into conducting research back in the 2200’s to about the 2800’s, and the furthest they typically would go with their acquired research was conducting experiments. They never actually put it into practice within society. Back then, if a new structure of society was suggested and even attempted to be implemented, citizens were aware of everything. They rarely did that with any scientific discoveries though, unless it involved a cure for a disease. In that way, I know that the books will contain valid information, where the information has not been misrepresented by citizens forcing their anonymous opinions into the books, and opinions that would not have stemmed from actual scientific knowledge and experience. ” he said to Lanner.

“We have a search database in the secured area of this CRE building. Is there not information we can find there about this?”

“Our CRE database was created mainly for laboratorists and surgeons like us. The data contained that relates the closest to females only consists of our current societal structure, CRE process, and the creation of new persons. It was only created as our city was developing, so the information does not date back that far. There’s a reason you need such high clearance to access the books in the undergrounds.”

“Ok. We should be done the surgery for person 49753 in fifteen minutes, but I will first need to assign roles upon completion. Assignments for the person 49753’s phases, their transportation, and providing direction with the post-CRE medication as I usually deal with that.”

The two doctors continued to talk, but Aella saw the image begin to fade back into blankness and felt a tug in the opposite direction. She turned around, and her body was dragged up mid-space, and was flung around like a ragdoll as she flew forward. Finally, she came to a stop. Like before, she could not see any floor, just blankness below her, but she seemed to float downwards and land on a hard surface.  

And then, instantaneously, another image appeared.

It was the woman she had arrested.

She saw the woman walking and re-heard her speak the words that had echoed in her mind ever since the interlude a year and a half ago. Then just as quickly as the image had appeared, it disappeared. However, though she could not see the woman any longer, the woman’s voice continued to repeat the same words, echoing louder and louder.

“...Aella...Aelllla...Aelllla….”

Aella glanced around, becoming fearful.

“...they do not tell you anything...anythingggg...anyyy...thinggg...ttthingg…”

“What is it you w-want me t-to do?” Aella stammered.

“...doomeddd...ddeceit...deceeeeit….” the voice continued.

Suddenly, the voice stopped and an image of a huge black wall materialized in front of her. About two-thirds of the way down, there were two massive silver doors made of metal.

The image rotated sideways, so she was now looking straight into the right side of the building. There was a small white flash on the right side the wall, and Aella moved towards it. She saw that there was a small door. It was almost the same colour as the wall that encircled the building, but was just a shade lighter than the wall’s black. The door suddenly swung open, and time seemed to speed up in fast motion. As Aella stared ahead, she seemed to stay rooted in place while moving through the door. The image zoomed through a dark corridor, turned left, and continued to a door that opened to reveal ascending stairs. Her hair flew in the wind as she was thrust up the stairs, and Aella tried to calm her racing heart. Upon reaching the top, the image zoomed through another door, turned left, and sped up to meet the end of another dark hallway. There was a door at the end that had red light seeping out of its cracks.

The woman’s voice suddenly spoke, “Here.”

The floor dropped beneath Aella and she screamed in terror. She was going down, down, down, not stopping. She knew that if there was some type of rock bottom, she would die. She continued falling, and there was a sudden flash and everything went black.

Aella’s eyes flew open, and her chest rose as she inhaled sharply. Her heart was beating at a furious rate, sweat was beaded on her brow, and her hands were clenched in fists.

“Aella!! You’re back. Oh good, good…good.” Phraedan paused, and then exclaimed, “You were unconscious for so long, I was so worried! I didn’t know what had happened!”

Aella took a moment to collect herself, and then stood up in one swift motion.

“Is your stomach better Aella?” Phraedan then asked.

Aella lifted her shirt and saw that the bloating had gone down a fairly good amount. It was one third of the size it had been before, maybe even less. It wasn’t perfect, but it was much better.

“Yes, it barely hurts. Thanks for all of your help Phraedan. But I actually have to go.” Aella announced, moving towards the direction of the door.

Aella had known that what she had seen while being unconscious had not been just silly dreams. When she had seen the images, when she had heard what the doctors had said, everything had made sense. All that she had been unsure and lost about ever since she’d been nine - maybe even before that - now clicked. But she had to do what the woman had said. She had to get to the room that the woman had shown her, that was in the ‘CRE building’, which she knew was the real name of the ‘Therracenn Ceremony Hall’.

Phraedan narrowed her eyes. She moved her hand to her pocket, where she attempted to subtly press down on a lump within it, but Aella noticed. She was nearing the end of her Vlora training and Phraedan thought she could fool her?

Phraedan then responded, “Aella, half an hour ago your stomach looked like it was going to explode. You took the medicine, which obviously helped and that’s great, but you were unconscious FOR THIRTY MINUTES. And that was not a normal side effect of the medication. And you-”

“Yes, I know Phraedan. I’m sorry. But I really have to-”

“DON’T interrupt me. This is not the time. You think you can just leave? You can’t leave. We are going to call one of the doctors from the Therracenn Ceremony Hall. I do not care if they are doing the ceremony right now. You need immediate assistance.”

“Phraedan…” Aella began.

“Aella, I will strap you to this chair if I have to.”

Aella’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she attempted to look unflustered. “That’s a little violent Phraedan.”

“Just - you need to be fixed. I only want you to get better. You will just have a little chat with a doctor.” Phraedan replied, her eyes darting off to the side as if she was lying.

“Phraedan…” Aella began again, but she stopped speaking when she heard three loud sets of footsteps echoing throughout the hall and towards them.

“Whose footsteps are those Phraedan?” Aella questioned, not caring to hide her now heightened suspicion.

Phraedan’s eyes averted to the floor as she answered, “I’m sorry Aella.”

Aella was filled with disappointment when she realized what Phraedan had done. But she knew what she had to do.

“And I’m sorry Phraedan.”

Phraedan’s face looked confused, but before she could react, Aella’s right fist shot out and delivered a right hook to Phraedan’s jaw that emitted a crunching sound. Phraedan wobbled for a few seconds, and then she fell to the ground unconscious.

Aella then looked up to the ceiling and was relieved to know that it was made up of white boards. The approaching footsteps had almost reached the door, and she hurriedly climbed onto the top of the chair she’d previously sat in. She had to go on her tiptoes to press against the boards, and she kept pressing until she felt one give way beneath her fingers. As the door handle began to turn, she pushed on the board and slid it back so that there was a hole. The boards were a thick plastic, but almost appeared like they were mixed with metal or something of the sort. Aella hoped they would be able to hold her.

She placed a hand on each side of the opening in the ceiling and sprung upwards, using her arm strength to hoist the rest of her body up. Right as she had fit her entire body in, the door began to open. She hurried to set the board back in place as footsteps began to shuffle through the door, and pushed it down slightly so that it was completely set back in the ceiling. She assumed they had fully entered. She waited and listened, willing her heart to quiet its hard pounding, as she was afraid they could hear, and it was hard for her to hear above it.

She pressed her ear against the ceiling’s board. Their voices sounded a bit muffled, but she could still make out most of the words.

“Woah. What happened here? Is this the same Aella, Doctor Harr?”  a female voice said, and Aella’s mouth dropped in shock as she realized it was Doctor Lanner.

“It is. Aella, person 49753.” Doctor Harr responded, and Aella was caught off guard again when she realized it was the voice of the male doctor she’d seen in the images.

Another voice spoke, a male, and it was a voice she didn’t recognize, “This appears to be done by person 49753. I will go and initiate an alarm through Thanax, with a projected message that will let everyone know to be on alert and to pass on her location immediately if she is spotted.”

“Yes, do that right away.” Doctor Harr agreed,  “And thank you Officer.”

Aella heard a muffled sound of thumping that faded, and she assumed it was the sound of the officer walking out of the room and going to do what he said. She waited, unsure if the doctors were going to speak. But then Doctor Lanner spoke up.

“Poor kid.” Lanner said sympathetically.

“Poor kid Lanner? She just knocked out a woman that had done nothing wrong and then ran away. And speaking of, at least we can use the stretcher for someone.” Doctor Harr responded.

Doctor Harr snapped his fingers, and Aella heard another person enter the room.

“Place this woman on the stretcher and take her to the CDE building. You don’t need to use the restraints. I believe she has suffered some head trauma, and her jaw is in a state of disrepair. Bring this sheet to the Immediate Care unit and tell Doctor Sarane that this woman requires care right away, and that this is coming from me. And do not forget to give him the form.”

“Yes, sir.” the voice of an adolescent male answered eagerly.

It was silent for a few moments.

Then Lanner. after taking time to think the situation over, came up with a theory.

“Do you remember the particles we found in Aella? I know we didn’t delve deeper into it as we concluded it’s ‘most likely’ just some error in the creation process, but as much as we wish there was, I really don’t believe there is a scientific explanation for it.” Doctor Lanner insisted.

“Lanner…”

“I know, I know. But why would she suddenly, out of nowhere, get pain in her pelvic region? Maybe the particles have some energetic or supernatural quality, and they’re re-constructing the structures we eliminated.”

“There are countless theories we could come up with concerning Aella, and many of them could be ridiculous. Like the ridiculous idea you had the brains to present. The dissolving agent in the CRE process is very, and I emphasize very powerful, and the structures that are destroyed cannot just ‘regenerate’ out of no matter.”

“But that’s my point. The particles… maybe they are formulating matter that can be used to reconstruct structures. Or maybe they are the matter.”

Doctor Harr sighed.

“Let’s just go back to the Therracenn Ceremony hall and actually do our jobs.”
“What about Aella?” Larren asked with a concerned tone, “Hey, don’t roll your eyes, I just want to make sure she turns out okay. She’s just a kid.”

“She’s not just a ‘kid’. She’s a glitch in our system. She could put a very large dent in our completely, incomparably perfect society.”

“But you only say that because you are incapable of emotion and any empathy.” Larren protested.

Doctor Harr groaned, “I don’t understand you sometimes.”

His footsteps resounded, and he left the room.

Doctor Lanner seemed to wait a few moments longer, and then she followed suit.

Aella lay atop the ceiling boards and mulled over the two things she had just learned. One, there was something going inside of her that doctors had noticed when she was young and that could be supernatural. Two, the ‘CRE process’ was, indeed, real.

She hadn’t questioned the images she’d seen, but hearing the doctors just now had reaffirmed it. Along with what she had learned, she’d also been given a clue as to what the CRE process was. They’d repeatedly spoken of it as if they were destroying some bodily structure or structures, and that they used a ‘dissolving agent’.

She was more eager to find the room the woman had shown her in the images, and she impatiently waited for two more minutes to pass to ensure that the room was empty.

Once she felt confident that it was as safe as it could be, she backed up onto the other boards so that she could slide the loose one down. She dug her fingers into the sides and - with slight difficulty - pulled it upwards and slid it back.

She stuck half of her head through the opening, hanging upside down. She halted mid-chuckle when she pictured herself looking alike to a bat.

Her nerves now suppressed, she saw that it was all clear and brought her head back in. Then, she placed her hands on each side of the opening, and gently began lowering herself. Once she was lowered half-way, she heard a crack and forgot about attempting to be gentle. She hurried to lower herself to the floor as fast as she could, and her feet stung for a few seconds when they hit the floor. After she’d replaced the board and it looked unchanged - other than a small crack - Aella went to the door. She quietly opened it, and carefully peered into the hall. Thankfully, there was no one in sight.

She placed one foot outside of the door and into the hallway, and instantly a siren began to wail. She nearly jumped out of her skin in terror, and rushed back inside and shut the door. She didn’t think she would have long enough, or even the energy, to hide this time. However, after a minute of rushing around frantically, she heard no clamor of the doctors or officers, and no footsteps thumping against the floor and down the hall towards her.

She realized that the Officer had probably just authorized the siren. Aella rolled her eyes in exasperation, and thought of how so very fortunate she had been to experience this coincidence.

Aella, now renewed with a fresh sense of determination after being stuck in the room for so long, swung the door open confidently (but grabbed it before it could slam into the wall), and proceeded into the hallway. She pulled out her elastic and let her hair loose, attempting to at least partially cover her face in case someone saw her. Though they would probably still recognize her anyways, she felt less exposed.

A computerized voice suddenly boomed through the building.

“Attention citizens of Thanax. Aella, person 49753, is wanted by the Supreme Thanax Force.”

“Ugh, Officer Reginatt will just love hearing that.”  Aella muttered under her breath.

Digital blue projections displaying a photo of Aella were floating everywhere. In the photo, she had a serious expression, her pale lips set in a straight line and her jaw tight. Her brown hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, which accentuated her sharp cheekbones and drew attention to her deep green eyes.

Aella glanced at her photo as she passed one of the digital projections.

“Well didn’t they just choose the friendliest photo of me.” Aella mumbled with annoyance.

The robotic voice continued, “Aella, person 49753, is six foot five, is slender and has a muscular frame. She is seventeen years old, and is currently a student training as a Vlora within the Vlora Academy. Any information regarding Aella, person 49753, needs to be passed on to the Supreme Thanax Force immediately.”

“Well at least they said I’m slender.” Aella chuckled quietly at her private joke.

Aella was still in the West Wing, which was a good thing as it was the one area of the building that was usually almost completely deserted. The only lessons taught in the West Wing centered around basic survival skills, and those were completed in the first year of beginners training. Most of the girls training as a Vlora were now in either the last few years of beginners training or were in the first years of advanced, which left the West Wing being, seemingly, completely empty.

She knew of a West Wing emergency exit, as she had used it to sneak off during her free time in her first few years within the academy - so that she could go see Merrudan.  

Aella had to take just one more turn and she would be mere feet away from the exit. She smirked, pleased with her success so far.

She took the last turn and froze.

There was a young girl walking through the hallway, with a bag slung across her shoulder. She was walking in the same direction as Aella, so she couldn’t see her, but all it took was her to turn her head slightly.

Aella took one step backwards, and then one more. Then she practically dashed behind the corner of the wall and listened to see if the girl had heard or seen her. When she was convinced the girl had left and she could continue her trek to the exit, which lay only a taunting four feet away, she heard the girl’s voice.

“Hello? Is anybody t-there?” the girl’s voice wavered.

There were a few moments of silence.

Then the girl began muttering to herself, “You need to stop being paranoid, you need to be braver and prove yourself to the other girls. Otherwise you will continue to be socially isolated and have these hallucinations.”

Her footsteps echoed throughout the hall as she moved away.

Aella let out a sigh of relief, and was more eager than ever to get out. She turned back into the hallway and saw the door. It took all of her willpower not to sprint up to it and throw it wide open, and instead she walked briskly towards it. She carefully pushed against it, and the door opened. Fresh air met her face, and she inhaled deeply with satisfaction. The fresh air was refreshing, and the Sun warmed her skin pleasantly. She was more determined than ever to get to the CRE room.

The CRE building was only a five minute walk from Vlora Academy, but she knew it would take longer as she’d have to evade the Thanax Officers as well as any roaming citizens.

After ten minutes of walking along walls of buildings, hiding behind trees, and almost colliding into a patrol Officer - which caused her to literally drop and roll under a rosebush - she was crouching within a gather of trees that faced the the CRE building. The last time she’d purposefully been so close to the CRE building, or what she’d originally been led to believe was called the ‘Therracenn Ceremony Hall’ , was just about eight years ago, and it felt wrong to willingly go somewhere that had given her such immense fear. And, if the images were really correct, it had been the building where something sinister had occurred.

She saw that there were only one two Patrol Officers on duty, which made sense. Doctor Harr and Doctor Larren would not expect Aella to willingly go into the building that they were within, so they would not feel the need to waste more Thanax Officers.

They were currently standing in front of the main entryway, the two huge metal doors, and they appeared to be jabbering away. Thankfully, their ignorance caused them to be oblivious to Aella when she dashed out of the trees and crossed the ten feet to the right side of the building. She paused, as she’d done many times before, to listen and see if they’d noticed her. To her relief, she was clear, and she began to walk along the wall.

She looked for a slight difference in colour on the right side, and after examining the entire wall, she finally found the door. There was no handle however, so Aella debated how she would open it. She pressed on different areas of the granite door, but it would not open. She turned around and slid down the wall in frustration, and then leaned her head against it. As she did so, the lighter section of the wall she was leaning on began to slide back from behind her. She jumped up, and almost shouted in triumph. The door had opened inwardly, and it revealed the dark corridor she had seen in the image.

She climbed onto the steel-tiled floor, that was higher than ground level, and walked inside. She heard a grating sound, and glanced back to see the granite door closing. Panic began to fill her, but she shoved it down and carried on.

Her footsteps echoed throughout the corridor, and she attempted to place her body weight on her toes so as to ensure that she was as quiet as possible. After feeling her way through the darkness for five minutes, she arrived at the end, where she had to turn either left or right. She closed her eyes, trying to remember which way she’d turned in the image, and concluded that it had been left.

She turned and saw an “EXIT” sign lit up in red twenty meters ahead of her, and was held directly above a door. Aella knew right away that that was the door that opened to the ascending stairs, and she sped up. Once she’d arrived at the door, she pushed it open - and found it was heavy, even for her - and entered. There were way more stairs than there had seemed to be in the image, but it was probably because she had flown up them so fast. She took a deep breath, and started up. By the time she was half-way up, she was beginning to get out of breath. But Aella forced her legs to keep moving, determined.

After ten minutes of stair-climbing, she had reached the top. This was the last stretch before she would find the room. Aella’s insides flipped with apprehension but also anticipation. She was ready to discover the truth.

She opened the door that led her out of the stairwell and into the next corridor. Aella turned left and walked to the end. This part she did not even have to try and remember. She approached the last door and her breath hitched in her throat. There it was. She stood before it, and it had red light seeping through the door’s cracks. She reached for the handle, grasped it firmly, and pushed.

But the door wouldn’t open.

No matter how much Aella tried, the door would not give. Aella wanted to smash the door to pieces, she was so vexed. But after wallowing in self-pity for two long minutes, Aella took a deep breath.

“There must be a way to open this door without an I.D. or special card or whatever…” Aella spoke thoughtfully.

For some weird reason, the last part of the image seemed to re-materialize in Aella’s mind, and made her consider the floor across from the door. Yes, in the image she’d fallen through it and she didn’t want that to happen again, but maybe it had been a clue in some way, hinting that there was a way of opening the door through something in the floor.

Aella got on her knees and felt the floor. The corridor was dark, like the previous one, but she used her hands as her eyes. She pressed, she ran her fingers along its surface, and finally felt a tiny piece of metal. She thought that it might be a random piece lying around, but when she pulled on it one of the tiles of the floor lit up in blue and popped out of the floor. Aella’s eyes widened, and she pulled the loose tile to the side. Then, she reached inside the hole. She found a small metal box and lifted it out. When she opened it, she saw that there was a small plastic card inside. There was blue writing upon the card that also glowed. It read: “Emergency Entrance Key”.  

Aella’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Is it really this easy?” she muttered to herself.

But when she waved it over the door, it swung open inwardly.

“Huh. Interesting.” Aella said, examining the card.

Aella looked up and saw that she could enter. She slowly walked in, and let out a small gasp. 

The entire room was lit up in red light, as a result of the numerous projections. You could see everything that was on each projection, but you could still partially see through it. One such projection displayed the current set weather for Thanax, what upgrades were needed to ensure the Sun would continue to shine, and what the likelihood of rain would be in the next few days if the pattern continued. That was the simplest of projections, though, as others were a jumble of formulas, with odd titles such as “Green Eyes”, or “Blonde Hair, Muscular Frame”. There was another projection, but this one was blue and was completely blank. Aella was pulled towards this one, as since it was the only blank projection, it must be the one she was meant to find. She saw a small metal board with odd controls that sat below the projection, and she was puzzled as to what each control’s function was.

One control made sense, where it looked like a knob that Aella predicted would be used to move information up and down or left to right. But the rest of the controls were odd: a square with a keyhole in it, a black stick, the letters “B”, “I”, and “A”, and two circular buttons, one blue and one red, along with a big green button that was shaped as a square.

“Ok...I need to figure out how to turn this on.” Aella spoke to herself.

She hit the big green button, as it looked like it would be the one for power. Nothing happened, so she tried again but this time held it down. Thankfully, the projection flickered to life and words written in bold appeared.

“All information within this database is highly confidential and restricted to those who have not received appropriate authorization. If accessed without required clearance, there will be retribution. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?”

Aella didn’t hold the green button down this time and instead quickly pushed it, assuming that it would then act as the ‘entering button’. The paragraph disappeared. Thinking she had powered it off, she was about to hold down the green button again, but then she saw that the keyhole within the square was flashing blue.

“A key needs to go in there.” Aella realized.

She turned around, looking for a key that would fit in the hole. As she glanced around, her eyes lingered on a glass display case that was attached to the adjacent wall. When she peered closer, she saw that there were two lanyards hanging, each attached to a key, and one was green and the other was blue. Aella assumed the blue lanyard was the correct one as the projection was blue.

Aella walked over to the case and saw that it was locked and required another key. At this point, Aella did not care, and drew her hand into a fist. She pulled it back, and then hurled her fist into the glass. Unfortunately, the glass didn’t break and she cried out in pain. Aella looked around again, and saw a leather briefcase lying on one of the tables.

While rubbing her knuckles, Aella walked over to the case and then unzipped it. There were multiple instruments within it, many that looked frightening. Instead of wasting more time trying to figure out what they were, she took the sharpest one and went back to the glass. 

She swung it down and into the top, and it cracked slightly. After hitting it four times, she finally got through with a satisfying smash. Aella paused and listened to see if anyone had heard her. She concluded she was alone, and quickly grabbed the blue lanyard. 

She practically sped back to the blue projection, and hurriedly inserted the key into the hole and turned it. All at once, coding gibberish spun in all directions, and eventually came to settle into a picture of a newborn creation, with a small subtitle beneath it that said “Baby”.

“Weird.” Aella spoke.

Aella hit the green button, and writing popped up. It appeared to be a list of the titles of different documents. There were three labels: “What Is: Creation?” , “The Importance of CRE”, and  “Our Societal Structure”. Aella decided to start with the first one, and hesitantly clicked on it. This was where she would finally discover where and what they actually came from. Aella hoped there wouldn’t be anything bad about this part.

The projection cleared, and new words appeared with the title, “Creation Development”. Aella began to read what it said: “Creation has not always been what it is now. To create a new person, there must be an egg and a sperm cell that bind and develop into a fetus. In history, this was established by a married (officially bound) man and woman both having sexual intercourse, which is a vile, unhygienic practice that resulted in the child produced holding undesirable characteristics and physical traits that were pulled from random sites. Many stated that it was a practice done when a man and woman simply wanted to express their ‘abounding affection and love for each-other’. After the child would be born, the couple would raise him/her together. This was called a family. However, these practices have been discovered to be detrimental to a society’s development, as well as the development of an individual. It was concluded that they have more negative effects than positive.”

Aella paused mid-reading.

“A man and woman? They interacted in some way that produced a creation?” she muttered in awe.

When she was eight she had thought about a boy that lived next door, but had never known that in the past she could’ve ‘married’ and then had her own children with him, and had a ‘family’.

She continued reading: “The creation produced through sexual intercourse was commonly referred to as a baby.”

“So that explains the photo of the newborn creation at the beginning that was titled ‘Baby’.” Aella murmured.

“Fortunately, in the past three centuries we have developed a new way of developing creations. This presently-adopted and executed method ensures that the creation is perfect in every facet and has desirable traits. Children that turn out imperfectly are assigned from creation as an egg or sperm cell carrier, depending on the gender. To produce a creation, Laboratorists pull the needed reproductive cell from one of these  persons and combine them in the laboratory. They will then inject the genetics that are desirable according to that point in time. In other words, if there are too many blondes within the city, they will create some redheads and brunettes. If the laboratorist feels that it is time for a unique creation, they will give them unique traits. If they need more Officers, they will produce creations that will grow to be muscular and agile. After developing as per required, one of the persons with the role as an egg carrier is taken and implanted with the now developed embryo, to grow and develop the fetus - thus the creation.”

Aella began, “So they are basically creating robots - clones, using the excuse that this method is ‘hygienic’ and ‘preferable because desirable traits can now be produced’?”

Aella pushed the knob to the left, causing her to go back. She clicked on the second title below “What Is: Creation?”, which was “The Importance of CRE”. Then, it showed two circles, one blue and one red - just like the buttons below her. She decided to press the red button, and a new page of words appeared.

Aella began to read again, this time uneasily. The last document had turned out to reveal sinister truths, so this one would most likely be much worse.

The title at the top of the projection was now “What is CRE? | Females” It read: “CRE stands for ‘Creation Reproduction Elimination’. It is publicly portrayed as the ‘Therracenn Ceremony”, as that focuses more on the girl’s growth and step into absolute perfection instead of on the process. Every girl, at age nine - which is in most cases the age before the menstrual cycle may begin - will undergo  the process of CRE, where their female reproductive structures are eliminated. This is vital to ensuring that they may access their full potential, that they do not fall astray, may not be weakened by the ovarian hormones, and are unable to reproduce weak and defective creations.”

“This feels messed up.” Aella whispered, “Though I never knew females originally could do that, cutting out a part of someone’s natural body is wrong. It feels so wrong.”

Aella had reached the end of the page, so she clicked on the green button. The next title was, “The CRE PROCESS”. Aella began reading right away.

“The process begins with a preanesthetic drug that is placed within a drink and administered to the nine year old. They are unsuspecting and generally do as they are told. If they do not comply, they are injected with a fast-acting sedative. Either way, they will almost instantaneously be rendered unconscious, and they will then be brought to a surgical room by a gurney. After they are secured, they will be injected with an anesthetic, so as to ensure that they are fully unconscious, and the process really begins. The surgery only takes ten minutes to complete, but the entire process takes ten or so hours. Within the surgical room, after numbing and anesthetic agents have been administered, the doctor will inject the pelvic region with our new and improved dissolving agent that targets the cells of the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Then, over the course of two hours, the fallopian tubes and ovaries will be fully dissolved. A question many of the students in training ask is, ‘Where does the dissolved matter now go?”. Well, in response to this question, the dissolving agent has now been developed to be so powerful that it breaks down the structures into miniscule particles that take up little to no space. The dissolving agent is formulated in such a way that it will then have these miniscule particles combine with bodily fluids, thus having it be fully eliminated through the female’s excretion of waste.”

It went on to list the phases of recovery, and the drugs that are administered to help with menopause symptoms - as they accompany the elimination of the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Aella skimmed over them, and then decided she was done. 

She couldn’t read anymore. 

She was so enraged, she was so furious that these people believed they had a right - that they practically owned their bodies, and could control every facet of humans and all that was natural.

She turned the key and switched the projection off, breathing heavily.

She was going to dig up all of the government’s dirty secrets. This system was going to be changed.

Aella had finally found her purpose. 

She was ready to expose the atrocities committed by the government and fight back.

Aella realized that she needed to get out of there, so she pulled out the key and placed it on the metal board.

She turned around, and immediately locked eyes with Doctor Harr, who smiled with smug satisfaction.

“Hello Aella, I can only wonder what you’re doing here?”

Author's Note

I actually wrote this for Reproductive Biology (embryology, genomic, genesiology, and heredity), as for once we could do an assessment that included the choice of creative writing. So here we are. Much longer than I had meant to make it, but that's the way it goes sometimes - especially when you find it hard not to take advantage of such an assignment. :D

If you did read it, then I am thoroughly impressed. It is quite long, and definitely does not consist of the typical 'futuristic structures' and new 'futuristic processes' that most sci-fi/dystopian stories include... :)