Chapter 11 – Carmen
That is exactly what M'Rin does.
He spares the authorities no details, makes no excuses. Those will be for M'Rinna's lawyer to present. I feel a pang when I think of my former profession, but deliberately turn away from the hope that I could have that kind of life again. I knowingly gave all that up when I agreed to be transformed here on Bovaria.
H'Nue and I are in the same room as the authorities, able to see and hear what will be happening in M'Rin's office, but out of sight. I press into H'Nue's side nervously, both unused to being around strangers, and worried about the coming confrontation.
One of the enforcement bulls sniffs the air and shifts restlessly, but he settles after receiving a hard glare from his superior. H'Nue touches his nose to my cheek and gives the bull a severe look.
Finally, we all hear a knock on M'Rin's office door.
“Come in, M'Rinna,” he calls out while feigning interest in the papers on his desk.
“M'Rin. How is Carmen?”
“She's fine, but she is the reason I wanted to speak to you.”
“I have a slot free for testing right now. We should be able to determine why her season is delayed within a few hours, a day at the most. And then it will only take an hour or so to create the right medication to bring her in. She'll be ready for you within two days. Probably more like one.”
More than one bull scents the air this time, and I press harder into H'Nue's side. He strokes my arm, but is unable to do anything more than glare at the offenders for their poor manners.
His glare is joined by the bulls' superior officer's again, and they settle down.
“No, that's not the reason.” He puts the security disc, the tampered food, and the tampered syringes on his desk. “These are the reason.”
She rears back. “What–”
“I know what you did. But I want to hear it from you. I want to know why my twin would do this.”
“For you. For the facility. Of course. Why else?”
“But why would you do it this way?” He gestures to the items on his desk.
M'Rinna sighs gustily and settles into a chair across from M'Rin's desk.
“Carmen's perfect, is she not?”
“She is.” My heart squeezes to hear him say it, so publicly, even in these circumstances.
“We would have missed out on her. You wouldn't have been able to have her. Her transformation clause was unlikely to be triggered, if left to itself.”
My breath seizes in my throat. The clause had been quite closed off. I had made it that way myself.
“All our research is indicating a strong correlation between fertility and retained cognition–although I will admit that we have a distinct lack of test subjects to verify that. But that hasn't stopped our scientists from identifying critical markers.
“And Carmen had those markers. We needed to have her. We can't afford to fall behind, or we will lose our position as the most sought after breeding facility. Just imagine–once you have gotten us an heir of course–what we will be able to ask for an almost guaranteed breed? Because that is what early testing indicates Carmen will give us. I ran the tests as soon as we acquired her. She will solidify our position at the top.”
My stomach surges. The future she paints for me is not really that different from what all human applicants are told to expect during the extensive interview process, but what makes this sickening is the entitled tone ringing through her voice. She believes completely that she is justified in every action she has taken. There is absolutely no remorse in her tone. And I know there is still more that I can't remember. I can feel it and almost see it in the shadows of my mind.
Plus, 'gotten us an heir'? My stomach twists uncomfortably at her wording.
M'Rin somehow keeps his expression bland throughout her spiel. But perhaps it isn't so difficult for him. Perhaps her vision is not so dissimilar to his own plans for me. How would I know? I don't really know him, after all.
“How did you even know what her triggering clause was? That information is not disclosed to us. It's confidential, like their histories.”
“I have a source; a partner on Earth. He can access that sort of data. I gave him the latest scientific criteria, and asked him to search the contract database based on that. He came up with a shortlist, and I picked her as the best of them.
“She was smart, you know.” She sounds proud of my achievements. Almost as if they are her own, because she found and acquired me. “A lawyer.”
I feel H'Nue shift to look at me, but my attention is riveted on the drama in the next room.
“Such a pity that couldn't be retained, but it will still show in her fertility and the quality of genetics she contributes to your young,” she adds brightly, as if that is all that matters in this whole fucked up scenario.
“What made you decide that she couldn't retain her cognition?” M'Rin's question is flat, non-judgemental, with no real inflection to hint at what his opinion is of all this.
I shiver and curl in on myself a little. H'Nue tucks me closer to his body.
“It wasn't her cognition that was the problem–although we will have to put some strategies in place in case cognisant hus are resistant to our breeding needs, which would be problematic, since that would defeat the entire point of their transformation.” She pauses, as if mulling over the troubling side effects of trying to use intelligent people to breed. “Hmm, something to think on. But anyway, it was her memory that was the problem. I couldn't allow her to spread what she overheard. So I took steps.”
I frown. What had I overheard that caused her to take such drastic action? I can't remember anything that could possibly explain being forcibly and permanently sedated, although there is still one frustrating gap in my memory.
“What do you think she overheard?”
“Not think, know . My contact was careless in front of her during transportation. He was bragging about the effort he expended to fulfil her contract terms–looking for more money–and he either didn't realise, or didn't care, that she could hear him.
“I was so angry, because I had to sedate her immediately, and would most likely need to keep her that way, which I knew would make her less appealing to you.” She smirks indulgently. “Yes, I know about your fantasy of a cognisant breeder that you can treat as a partner. Really, M'Rin, you must stick to your own species. Hucows are for breeding, not marrying.” She shakes her head as if he is an unreasonable child.
“What lengths did your contact go to? What's his name, by the way?”
I don't hear her response, because I'm being overwhelmed by one last slice of returning memory. It was from aboard the space station just before I was to be transferred to the Bovarian ship. I was suffering from vertigo, so I had closed my eyes and was lying still on the transfer board.
A male–human, I thought–spoke to the female Bovarian taking custody of me–M'Rinna, I now know. I hadn't seen either of them, as I wasn't willing to open my eyes and risk vomiting.
“I deserve a bonus for this one. The contract was damned difficult to fulfil without rousing suspicion.”
All my attention had been turned inward, but that had made me carefully slit my eyes open. I couldn't see the speakers, so I closed them again rather than risk exacerbating my nausea.
“I pay you a flat fee. If a job is too hard, you don't have to take it. I'll take my business elsewhere.”
“Next time, that flat fee is gonna be higher for a job like this one. Her contract needed her to have an 'emotional catastrophe' to activate. She's resilient, and smart, so the accident had to look convincing. And it had to be a severe enough that there weren't any friends and family left to lean on.”
“Once again, that's your problem, not mine. Don't take a job if you don't like it.”
“I'm just saying that removing that number of people in a convincing accident wasn't easy to pull off, and doing it so cleanly deserves some recognition,” he'd whined.
I'd had to know who this scumbag was, so I opened my eyes and turned towards where his voice was coming from. I caught sight of his security ID and memorised it. Captain Novak Grymm .
“Shit,” he exclaimed, “she's supposed to be sedated for transport.”
“You imbecile,” M'Rinna fumed. “I'm going to have to keep her sedated now. You've just massively decreased her value. You'll be lucky to get another job from me at all, never mind a bonus .” She sneered the last word as she pulled a syringe out of her med kit. “Get out of my sight,” she said, not even looking at him as she injected me with something that knocked me straight out.
I am on the ground when I become aware of my surroundings again. H'Nue is hovering protectively over me, and M'Rinna is still talking in the next room. Not much time has passed, and it sounds like while she is willing to list his crimes, she is refusing to name her contact. If only I could damned well speak. I try again, but fail. I will find some way to identify him to the others.
“I don't need to hear any more,” M'Rin states.
That is the cue for enforcement, and they crowd into his office to arrest M'Rinna.
I stay where I am on the ground, once again submerged in desolation over the fact that my family and friends are dead. It's so much worse than before, knowing their demise was because of their ties to me. But this time, I'm also filled with impotent rage at those who are responsible.
H'Nue gently strokes my back. “Do you know the identity of M'Rinna's contact?”
An enforcement agent looks over sharply as I give a small nod. I want to retreat into whatever oblivion I can find. As before, this news feels like it is too much for me to handle, but I hold on because it is important that the dead get the justice owed to them.
“I can get photos of everyone you might have come into contact with during your transfer. Can you identify from that?” The question is half posed to me, half to H'Nue. It seems the idea of an intelligent hucow takes a bit of getting used to.
H'Nue doesn't answer, letting me nod my response.
“Okay, I'll get that set up, thank you. I'll let you know when it is ready.”
I nod again, and H'Nue says, “Thanks.”
M'Rinna's strident tones fade away as she is removed by enforcement, and finally, M'Rin is released from his office.
He sees me on the floor and immediately drops to his knees beside me.
“Carmen, are you okay?”
H'Nue answers for me, “I think the last of her memories returned, and I suspect it was the one of her transfer.”
“Oh sweetheart, I am so sorry all this happened to you. I'm not sorry I met you, I'm not sorry we're together, but I'm sorry it happened this way.”
Together. M'Rin says we are together. I wonder what that means to him. I also wonder how long 'together' will last. Until he has an heir and I'm passed onto the next rich bull? Longer? Shorter if I don't get pregnant? I shake my head at my thoughts. I know I'm not being fair.
It's all too hard.
I tuck my face into his neck and stay there. I've had enough for one day.