Find Violet Hyde: Secrets In Space

Frida

Gloom filled the lab, apart from the strobe of security lights lining the ceiling. Frida couldn't believe she had gotten herself in this mess. She didn't know what to do next. She was trying to nap on a cushioned cot when the main doors to the lab opened. Frida heard clicking, and then the lights turned on one segment at a time. The brightness shocked her eyes as she turned her face to her pillow and waited for them adjust.

"Are you comfortable, dear?" A woman's voice near her cell startled Frida into looking up. Madame Lucille moved a hand through one of the silver bars, holding it out to Frida. A very short man or someone man-like stood next to Lucille.

"No, I'm thirsty. How did I get here, how long have I been asleep, what is this place, and what did you do to me?" Her tone was fierce and she did not take the woman's hand; Frida remembered that trusting Lucille was not a good idea. Frida struggled to maintain her composure. She practiced asking these questions shortly after she woke up the first time, but she didn't know how long ago that was.

"Kennith, bring her the water! You arrived through my ship: The Envy, but we had to sedate you for flight. You have been under my care for 330 hours, so almost two weeks Old Earth Time. You have nothing to worry about child. We measured that you are 12 years of age, but very small for your age, so we have been feeding you well and bringing you back to health." Lucille pulled a chair from a lab table and brought it next to the cage. Kennith came back with the water.

"Kennith, I have a shipment to organize today, so you will have to sit here and talk to her, answer her questions and take care of her needs. Also, send all my incoming communications to my Mental File. We will speak again soon, Frida." Madame Lucille strode out of the room and shut the lab doors softy.

"So, Kennith, you're her assistant?" Frida wondered.

"Yes, how did you know?" Kennith's piercing covered face showed surprise, he brushed his blond hair out of his eyes.

"Back on the Farm, I was Zia's assistant and I worked in the Library, I was learning to read. She was a million times nicer to me than Lucille is to you, if you don't mind me saying so." Frida had to stop talking, fearing becoming emotional.

"You are probably correct, but Madame Lucille has some redeeming qualities, though sometimes they are difficult to find." He laughed in a strange metallic chuckle.

"So, can you tell me where I am?" Frida needed to know.

"I don't see any harm in that, Frida. Let us start big picture, and then go into detail, shall we? You are on Moon Colony, which is what we call the whole of the Moon. The city is Genesis, the building goes by Genetics, and you are in Madame Lucille's lab." He seemed pleased by his tidy explanation.

"What is a lab, and what are genetics?" Frida was puzzled, never having seen a place like this on the Farm.

"We study humans and other beings and how we can improve them. Genetics is the study of heredity: how the features of living things transmit from one generation to the next (either artificially or naturally). Every living thing holds genetic material that makes up DNA. When organisms reproduce, this material passes on. Does that make sense?"

"Yes a little, but why do you need to study that here?" Frida understood, but was worried about why Madame Lucille was interested in playing with genetics.

"We study genetics for science, medicine, many purposes. Let's save that talk for later, you were asking about Moon Colony..." Kennith shifted in his chair.

Frida was willing to wait for a better answer about Lucille's intentions. "Are there more cities in Moon Colony?" She burst with curiosity about life on the Moon; on the Farm, they knew nothing of the existence of an outside world.