Find Violet Hyde: Secrets In Space

Lucille

Madame President Lucille lifted a long finger off the button on her intercom and took a sip of wine through her aqua painted lips. She was done addressing her team. Below her spacious windowed balcony sprawled rows of cubicles encased in glazed glass. Each space was occupied by a scientist or engineer at the top of their field.

Lucille adjusted the long beaker shaped pin attached to the glossy black collar of her jacket as she rose from her chair. When will my hard work pay off?

When she stood, her trusted assistant appeared through the arch behind her. He was little more than half her height with stringy blond hair and a face speckled with tiny piercings. As he refilled her glass of wine a small beeping sound emitted from the keyboard implanted in his wrist.

Lucille took a long look at him,"Kennith, what have I asked you to do with that thing? The beeping... it drives me crazy." Lucille gestured to the lettered rectangle on his arm with her cup, her dark eyebrows arched high. Her voice was low and sweet, but she looked moments away from throwing something at him.

"Extremely sorry, Madame President Lucille, I am still working out the bugs." He hurriedly typed at the device and the beeping subsided seconds later.

"What is on my agenda for the day?"

Kennith twitched and hooked a metallic finger under his bright pink tie, as if to wiggle it for air. "You received contact from the Exile, would you like to speak with him or...?"

"I did not banish the man so I could speak to him every day!" She cut him off. The metal stud in her cupid's bow twitched angrily before she rested a clenched fist on her desk. "Here, Kennith, send the fool's communication to me here."

"Yes, Madame Lucille, and might I say your speech was absolutely lovely. Everyone agrees you are fit for your position." The android named Kennith spun around at the waist before his legs pivoted. He clicked away at his wrist and a small ping sounded as he disappeared through the archway, letting Madame Lucille know the transfer was complete.

She waved him away, tapped the side of her glass desk three times, and spoke her name. Instantly the table showed a glowing interface and she tapped the flashing icon, dragging it to the center of the table with a caress of the surface. Her old partner's face appeared on the screen, shiny with sweat and covered in white whiskers.

"What did the girl do today?" Lucille asked. As close to a greeting as he would ever get from her.

The man removed his striped green top hat before he began. "She is showing aptitude for climbing, organization, and teaching. Violet always helps her peers and is the first person to volunteer for work assignments. I am steering her towards a career at the Farm. I do get the feeling that she doesn't really want to stay, though."

Madame Lucille tapped her chin with a black spiked fingernail and asked, "Can you not simply force the children to do as you say? Why are you even there if you cannot keep control of the subject?" She spat the words. This man truly grinds my nerves to dust.

The man scratched his nose and smiled, "My way is a gentler one, but no less effective. Violet is very close with a girl named Zia. I know these girls well and their bond is a strange one. They won't separate easily." He spoke with an air of certainty that only a stubborn man could possess.

She brushed her long black hair behind her shoulder before she spoke again. "If this plan of yours fails, be prepared to answer for it. I do not care for your excuses, Mr. Hubert, talk to me again when you can make more sense of the situation." She roughly tapped at his face until he disappeared from her desk. Why must he make everything so difficult? I gave him one job...

Lucille turned her head to the windows and gazed at the beautiful marble planet her ancestors fled long ago. Earth. Centuries past, that world faced near destruction and humanity fled to the only place they could.

Born in destitute Ickwall, Lucille never dreamed she would be running the Genetics Program. Nor did she ever think she would hold the highest-ranking office on the Moon Colony. She had discipline, planning, and calculation to thank for her success.

She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples, cursing the headache away, she needed to clear her mind and figure out what to do next. Lucille pressed a button on her watch and recorded a message to her assistant, "Kennith, prepare my things and send them to the Lab."

After a quick trip down a pneumatic elevator, she stepped into her lab and sharply inhaled. She loved the clean scent of disinfectant and polish; it woke her mind and body, preparing her for thinking.

Light reflected off the metal tables and cabinets in Madame President Lucille's Lab. Hybrid plants grew in altered gravity chambers. Animal tissue and organs flourished in suspended life tanks. Specimens of every plant and animal salvageable from old Earth lined refrigerated shelves. Bots of all functions maintained and kept order in the secluded labyrinth of her lab.

She stepped into her workstation. To her front hovered a wide pillar made of crystal. She could almost see her reflection slink across the delicate blue surface. If Mr. Hubert can not contain the subject, I will have to do it myself.

She spoke the words "Violet Hyde". Up flashed a collection of charts, graphs, pictures, and biological records. She pointed a finger at an image of a small purple haired girl and drew her finger back, enlarging the image to more than life size.

Lucille could see the complexity in those familiar honey brown eyes. Smiling, she remembered the contagious laugh of the subject, before Violet received the memory loss injection and before she sent Violet to the Farm. She could not let sentimental feelings of the past suck her back down into the squalor she came from.

Shaking her head in wonder Lucille whispered, "After all these years, how can I still love that little creature?"

Thank you for reading this far! This chapter sure changes things, huh?

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