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Past Pictured, Present Preserved - Chapter 3: Dmitri Nikolai Fotograf | a Murder Drones story

(July 26) Okay so this man is competing with Nori to have the longer chapter, so sneak preview time, see y'all next week with the full chapter.

(August 2) Well so much for that, enjoy this longer Preview featuring Dmitri and Yeva's first meeting from the Russian man's perspective.

Now excuse me while I hunt him down for making his chapter so hard to write.

(August 8) Well it was a valiant battle, but Nori retains her spot with the longest chapter - Dmitri in turn takes Yeva's second place spot; hope y'all enjoy.

(~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~)

The world was silent when he came to – silent and cold – and though the drones were deep within the factory, Dmitri swore it was snowing. Blinking slowly, Dmitri found that the world was dark outside of the light of his visor. Blinking again, his screen readout informed him that he was covered with snow and asbestos. Blinking a third time, he realized someone was also covering him and that someone was moving.

“Dmitri are you alright,” the drone woman asked once she had uncurled from around him, revealing herself to be Miss Cordelia.

“I believe so,” Dmitri said hesitantly, when he was cut off by the sound of gasps from all around the room as the rest of the drones were coming to.

Looking to the drones in confusion, Dmitri and Cordelia slowly turned their gaze to the front of the room – their eyes going hollow and lined.

The Humans were dead.

From beyond the door, they could hear the sound of shouting getting louder and louder, then there was a clang of someone attempting to breach the room door. For a moment the thought came of what verbal defense could possibly save them from getting disassembled after being found with dead humans when the door finally gave way. For a moment, all thoughts had gone silent, when from beyond the door they could see two sets of glowing white eyes, funny enough, that was also when he realized that Jo and her parents were not in the room with them.

“Jo, Stoic,” Dmitri shouted, rising to his feet as the two finished prying open the door the rest of the way.

“Is everyone stable,” Jo asked.

“Yes, except for one detail,” Miss Cordelia said, her eyes darting to skeletons in the room.

“It’s the same out here,” Stoic said.

“What do you mean,” Dmitri asked.

“It’s what he said,” Cliff said, coming out from behind the duo and moving to the front of the room. “Attention, everyone, we are now in crisis mode, the humans are dead, an’ until we get into the control center we can’t fully assess the damage; best we can tell, we were hit by massive quake what would give San Francisco nightmares – take care of aftershocks an’ coordinate with your groups, medical is mobile an’ connected, we need numbers, dead an’ alive, let’s work ta not lose anyone else.”

“What about the Heads,” Sarah asked.

Cliff’s glare was cutting, “the Primary meeting room where all the Heads were gathered has collapsed – B an’ C are working point with Mining an’ Night to prevent any more deaths – tonigh’ is not for ego or grabbing power, tonigh’ is for saving as many lives as we can.”

With that the next order was clear as they filed out of the room, Jo and Stoic handing off walkies and emergency kits as they passed – Dmitri just barely noting Kali breaking from Cordelia and Ronathan’s side.

“Jo,” Dmitri started “have you seen Khan and Becky?”

“They weren’t with the others.”

“Have you checked reproduction.”

It was half a beat before Jo turned her head to call out to someone, “Leah!”

A second later, a mid-teens drone girl with green eyes came rushing up.

“This is Sarah Leah, Group B, well trusted, was in Minning from eight to ten before transfer – Leah, your team is with A.”

“Understood,” Leah said before turning to Dmitri and Sarah – who had stopped when Dmitri did. “Mister Dmitri, Miss Sarah.”

“Leah,” Sarah said with a just barely disguised distain.

Ignoring the second, Dmitri called Group A on his walkie to meet at reproduction. When they arrived, they were met with three drone medics.

“Mister Dmitri,” the first one said, handing him a chart, “name’s Albie, Medical’s Third; we found twenty scheduled unions for tonight.”

“Make that eighteen,” Dmitri said going over the notes, “I saw two of these pairs leaving reproduction – maybe nineteen – how is the rest of Medical?”

Miss Cordelia said Khan and Becky had been sent to reproduction, but Dmitri couldn’t find them on the chart.

“Stable,” Albie said, “we’re relocating the vulnerable to safer areas, reproduction is the only unknown.”

Dmitri nodded, then turned to the rest of Group A, and Leah’s team, “halls M1 through M5, six each, Leah, divide your team, one per – nineteen of these rooms have drones waiting to get freed, report if you find anyone, take extra care of any pills you find, no unnecessary damage call in emergencies, immediately.”

As they went through, the calls began coming in. Hall M1 had ten drones, hall M2 and M3 had eight drones each along with a few activated pills, hall M4 had six drones.

“Leah,” Dmitri call over his walkie, “how is everything?”

“Looks like the humans were prepping two drones for a core incubation – died before they could plug in the cord.”

“Do they need medical attention.”

“Just for shock mainly, they have two pills here too.”

“Understood.” Turning to the medical drones Dmitri gave the order for them to attend to the shell-shocked drones – two heading off while Albie waited at Dmitri’s side.

“What about M5?”

“Two pairs – no pills.”

“Any sign of Khan or Becky?”

“None.”

“Alright,” switching his walking to his whole team, “I need one from each hall to gather and start checking M6 through M10 – we still have two drones missing.”

Hall M6, was empty, hall M7 was empty, as were halls M8, 9 and 10.

“Albie, are there any other reproduction rooms, maybe off the books?”

“I check the system and didn’t see any special orders, but there may be one, please follow.”

Calling up his team from hall M10, Dmitri, Leah and their drones followed Albie down an out of the way corridor.

“The factory has secret areas all over the place for off the book details, special company requests and troublemakers that they want to dispose of quietly – there is usually a coded, under the table prep order given before the rooms are used, I didn’t see anything in the system but perhaps …”

Coming to a locked door, Leah began working to hack the lock. The vast majority of locks in the factory were designed so even if you have a code and or a key, if you weren’t human, you couldn’t open it – rare were the drones that were given a bypass, but the allowance for a bypass would be their way in. It was tense as Leah worked; the factory was on emergency power till it returned to full function, as such, when the door finally unlocked, they still had to pry it open, but this time they were met with white and pink eyes.

“Becky, Khan,” Dmitri called.

“What’s going on,” Khan asked as Albie moved to the computer the two drones were still connected to while the others worked to free the two leaders from their chairs.

“Earthquake is the best we can tell,” Dmitri started, “but all the humans are dead.”

“Dee,” Becky started, panic on her face, “what about Waylon?”

“A little ruffed up,” Leah spoke up as she worked on the woman’s restraints, “but alive, they were extracting him last I heard – Ivan and Bianca have him, Miss Becky.”

“If I may,” Albie started, “can I trust that the two of you would like this marriage annulled?”

“Break it,” the two leaders said at once.

“No offence,” Khan said.

“None taken,” Becky replied.

“What about the others,” Khan asked just as Becky was freed – Albi giving her the clear – the woman shooting off out of the room before Dmitri could answer.

“Group B is fine; I have not been getting too many death numbers since the other non-heads were freed,” Dmitri paused.

“What happened,” Khan asked.

“The room the heads were in collapse in on itself.”

“John?”

“I have not heard otherwise.”

“Mister Dorn,” Leah said, “Jo gave me extras, for you and Becky.”

“Okay,” Khan said, taking a breath, “crisis mode, Albie, how’s this section?”

“All clear, my team and I can handle the rest.”

“I will leave ten drones with you,” Dmitri said.

“Thank you.”

“Alright,” Khan continued, “Dee, Leah, debrief me on the way.”

(~*~)

It was daylight by the time the factory reached stability. It was midnight on the twenty-ninth into thirty when they reached a functional stability. They were all still wary of aftershocks, but rest couldn’t be evaded, so they slept in shifts. By sunrise on Saturday, the first of Seralux, every drone had gathered on the main floor of the factory. The leaders that were left gathered on a platform up front.

“For the sake of preventing arguments in this meeting,” Ivan started, “as the current most senior leader amongst us, I will start this meeting.”

Casting his gaze, Ivan wait for the few mutters to quiet down.

“First, we must acknowledge the tragedy that has befallen us, all but one Head from Groups A through Z are dead, second, are those who died scatter through the factory and those who died in the afterquakes, finally we remember Aimes who attempted to prevent the senseless attempted slaughter of Group B.”

It was quiet, every drone with their head bowed in silent respect. Ron and Cordelia had told the others privately that Aimes had found something that would have prevented Group B’s execution – but now the man was dead and if the readouts from the control center was to be believed, so were the rest of the humans.

The planet’s core had collapsed. The humans were dead. Copper 9 had frozen over.

“Now,” Ivan continued, “before we go forward, we must pick a leader for the whole of our community; to the drones before me, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

It was silent.

“Very well,” Ivan said, after enough time had passed, “then I move on to the Seconds, Thirds and Co’s – are there any among you that wish to lead?”

Slowly, starting with Group Z and moving up through the alphabet, the non-head leaders backed down from the chance to be colony leader; now they were at the Primary leaders.

“I will go through the remaining groups one at a time – Mining are there any among you that wish to lead?”

The three Mining leaders looked amongst each other – the leader was thirteen which had kept her from being among the now dead Heads.

“I, K, Head of Mining, in agreement with my Second and Third will not step forward as Factory Leader.”

“Accepted,” Ivan said, “Night Team, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

“I, Stoic Blue, Head of Night Team, in agreement with my Second and Third, will not step forward as Factory Leader.”

“Accepted; Group D, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

“I, Cliff Westward, Second of Group D, in agreement with my Co and Third, will not step forward as Factory Leader.”

“Accepted, Group C, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

“I, Kali Mathews, Co-Head of Group C, in agreement with my Second and Third, will not step forward as Factory Leader.”

“Accepted, Group B, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

“I, Ron Sentinel, as Second of Group B, nominate Khan for Factory Leader,” Ron said before Khan could speak.

“I, Becky Fishers, as Third of Group B, second this proposal,” Becky said, before Khan could protest.

There was a slight pause at Becky’s last name having changed before Ivan continued. “Khan, you are two to one, do you accept the nomination.”

Thought Khan hesitated for a moment, he spoke, “I, Khan Dorn, Head of Group B, accept the nomination for Factory Leader.”

“Confirmed;” Ivan continued, “Group A, are there any among you that wish to lead?”

“I, Sarah Smith, Co-Head and Second of Group A, nominate myself.”

“Dmitri, do you second the nomination?”

“I, Dmitri Fotograf, Third of Group A, reject the nomination of Sarah Smith as Factory Leader.”

“Sarah, the vote is split, how do you respond,” Ivan asked.

“As Co-Head and Second, I overrule my Third’s rejection of my nomination.”

“Understood,” Ivan said before turning to the rest of the factory and gesturing for Khan and Sarah to stand at his right and left respectively.

“Drones of Novae Spei,” Ivan started, “I give you your nominees, drones who you know and who you have worked alongside; I will go group by group that you may choose your leader.”

As Ivan went through the groups, one thing became clear, in Sarah’s time grabbing power – outside of Group A, and even they were divided – she had made more enemies than friends.

“It is decided, and as a final note for the record – I, Ivan Vrach, Head of Medical, in agreement with my Co who is also my Second along with my Third, will not step forward as Factory Leader; Drones of Novae Spei I give you your leader Khan Dorn.”

The Mongolian drone was an Optimal Suppressor through and through as he stepped forward, the shake in his hands easily hidden from the crowd.

“Drones of Novae Spei,” Khan began, “we have been through much and I’m sorry to say that there is still much to come, but we are strong, and we are free; I can’t promise that things going forward will be easy, but I can say that, together, it will be worth it.” He took a breath, “though it is grim for our first order of business, I will need volunteers to handle the dead.”

For a job that desperately needed doing, it was unsurprisingly quiet.

Another moment passed before Miss Cordelia spoke up, “I can handle disassembly.”

“Alright,” Khan said, “second, we are not chattel, we have a right to our families, we have a right to died of old age, we have a right to be given help instead of being disposed of for so-called defects – as such for my second order, I need medical to go through the records from our newest to our oldest including everyone who sent to the factory and where they were from; we are reuniting families, and even if it’s not with their original families, we are ensuring that every droneling is well cared for.”

A cheer came from the crowd and despite the fact that the drones had been trained to assemble in their groups during assemblies, Dmitri was unsurprised to see some of the families that he knew of were already standing together.

“Third,” Khan continued, “we need to get in contact with the other Outposts and delivery sites, if there are any other drones still alive on this planet, that’s our best bet to get in contact with them, in the same vein we should be ready to meet any drones that wander our way from the closest part of the city to us – we should be aware that they might not all be friendly, but we should also be prepared to welcome those in need.”

There was some murmuring in the crowd but, generally, they agreed with Khan’s order. If Dmitri was honest, after seeing what the planet had become, he was also a bit wary about what this kind of disaster would do to a drone stuck out in the wastes.

“Fourth,” Khan said, “and I know this may sound silly to some, but after the warehouse is checked over, I am giving permission to whoever wants to have a wig, to choose one – I will give my orders on the rest of the warehouse at a later time, once we can figure out a system.”

That immediately lifted the mood for many drones, especially those who once wore a wig before they were sent to the factory.

“Finally,” Khan said, “we’ve already done a lot to get this place back in order but we can’t stop until the factory is back at a hundred percent, more than that, however, we have seen how unstable this place is, as such, we need to ensure that should another disaster strike, that it will not strike us down; yet I also recognized that this can’t be our home forever, thus I think it’s time we take Outpost 3 for ourselves.”

The Outpost didn’t have many drones, but the few that were there had already been contacted and relocated to the factory so they wouldn’t be alone should another quake occur.

“Outpost 3,” Khan continued, “once house the humans who worked here, it’s only right that in our freedom, that we no longer have to live in the dorms the humans collected us into, if we are free to have families then we are free to have homes.”

From there, the next few weeks were some of the busiest Dmitri could remember. Between the factory, Outpost 3 and the missions to the other Outpost and delivery sites that they could reach, he had almost forgotten that Medical had announced that they would begin calling in families to be officially reunited so that the families could decide what they wanted to do going forward. Around him, things were already changing as there were discussions about dorms between drone families that wanted to be able to stay together now that they no longer had to ignore each other. For Dmitri, all this came to a head when he was among the first drones to be called in.

Standing outside that door, he knew who was inside, and though he had seen them earlier, this would be the first time they would be able to speak.

He took a breath.

Knocking once, the door opened.

“Dmitri,” Bianca said, her new black wig tied up in a bun beneath her hardhat; she hesitated a moment as he stepped into the office, Ivan coming to her side as the door shut behind him, “do you know who we are?”

“I was raised on your memories; it is kind of hard not to recognize your own parents.”

There were smiles and tears and laughter all tied up in a warm embrace that felt like home. They only had an hour before they all had to get back to work so the next appointment could come in, but by the end, he left that room feeling lighter than he had in a long time with the knowledge that that hour was only the beginning.

“Hey Dee,” Becky called out to him, while she was stepping out of a check-up room with Waylon. Apparently the two had wasted no time after they were reunited and were now married and expecting. “Nice camera, are you replacing your old one?”

Dmitri’s old camera had been a defect that was ordered for recycling; he had secretly stolen it away and repaired it, only taking it out from his – still undiscovered – secret room during the safest moments, having only recently developed the images. With Dmitri’s constant repairs, that old camera had lasted a while, but it had finally taken its last photo.

“My parents got it for me,” he said with a content smile.

With the warehouse inventory completed, Khan had implemented a monetary system so they could earn credits for their work, credits they could use to purchase extras from the warehouse – a system that would hopefully prevent the place from becoming a free for all. Everyone had already been given a base amount based on their work history from before and after the core implosion. For Dmitri’s parents, they had split the price of the camera between them – a late activation day present, they said.

Thinking on that, Dmitri thought to himself, he ought to get them something as well.

(~*~)

Most of the missions, Dmitri had been on, going to the reachable Outpost and delivery sites were uneventful. Their main goal with these trips was to ensure the other locations were stable, offer help where needed and offer a housing invitation to those who wanted it. Aside from that, they brought along a list of relations so drones could return to their families, or their families could come back with them.

There were a few concerning moments, like with drones who were attempting to escape a bad relationship – familial, platonic and romantic – and others who were trying to pull a drone into a bad relationship, but they handled the issues as they arose. He worried for Khan and Becky, between the distance, the weather and the terrain, all the Outposts were incredibly difficult to reach but Outpost 9 was the furthest they were able to go – never mind that Outpost 8 and a few others were currently out of reach.

According to Becky, if her sister had survived – and granting that she hadn’t been sent elsewhere, Outpost 9 would be her best bet to find her. They remained there for two days. At one point he had accompanied Becky to the closest human settlement to the Outpost, for as energetic as the woman could be, she didn’t talk much in those moments. When she finally halted her steps, Dmitri got the feeling he was intruding on a farewell to a dearly departed. The place before them was an old-fashioned brownstone style building.

After a time, Dmitri spoke, “we have time if you want to go in.”

The woman gave a sad bark of a laugh, “she wouldn’t have allowed herself to stay here – too much bad social juju.”

“Your human?”

Becky nodded, “Elizabeth Evens, lawyer, honor student, head of her sorority – she never treated me like I was an object or a pet, as far as she was concerned, I was family, no one was allowed to say otherwise.”

“… How did you end up at the factory.”

“Someone wasn’t happy with a few people on her clientele list; before I was taken away, she told me their case wasn’t sound, that I just needed to survive and I’d be home soon, then we could watch movies, have a girl’s night, and eat as many snack as we wanted till we were sick.”

“… I am sure she was trying everything.”

Becky nodded and Dmitri could see her holding back tears. They stayed there a little while longer till they had to head back to the others.

Outpost 9 was led by a drone called Chingis, a jovial man, incredibly charismatic if a bit too quick to the jump. He was also Khan’s older brother, something that should have led to a joyful reunion but if Khan’s attitude was anything to go by, the meeting was anything but. He membered Khan mentioning that he had been sold along with his little sister, leaving Chingis alone with their humans. Dmitri wondered warily what had been said between the two remaining siblings to have caused such a response.

Regardless, when they returned to the Outpost it was for just a day as they prepared for their last mission in the month.

The day of that meeting, Dmitri noticed a shift in Ron, Kali, Cordelia and Ronathan. Unfortunately, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one to notice as Sarah Smith made a carefully crafted nuisance of herself. In the end as he filed into the bus, Dmitri felt bad for Ron and Kali who had to stay behind to reenforce Khan’s leadership of the colony while they went on their last mission.

Camp 98.7, it was certainly a place. Quiet as the grave, despite it being the off season when the core collapse happened, yet it felt far too much as though they were intruding on a massacre. It was strange. The planet was dead and yet this place had an energy about it that felt far to poignant.

“If the ice starts cracking, I’m running back to the bus,” Alta-Ana said.

“If the ice starts cracking,” Ivan began, “with how deeply it is frozen, I believe we should all run.”

“Fine, let me rephrase, if I hear a weeping woman I am running.”

“Oh good,” Becky started, “I thought I was the only one who felt like I was intruding on someone’s mourning.”

“What about a mass grave,” Dmitri asked.

“The whole planet is a mass grave,” Sarah Leah said.

“This place is different chiquita,” Alta-Ana said, “Khan, should we start scanning?”

“Go ahead,” Khan said, “Dmitri you’re on documentation, everyone spread out and stay in contact.”

“I thought you were Dominican,” Sarah Leah asked as they all began to separate – Dmitri couldn’t hear Alta-Ana’s response as he jogged a fair distance away to get a wide group shot.

“Watch your step, the ground is still unsteady,” Khan called out.

Dmitri could feel the incredibly slight tremors shaking the ground as the others responded with a, “sir, yes sir.”

It’s been said that as creatures whose primary mode of movement does not include flying – or burrowing – that humans and drones tended to primarily observe things to their left, right, center and back. As such, it was only when he was setting his camera up to take a shot, that Dmitri noticed, first, the incredibly beautiful, unconscious woman draped in the tree and second the purple haired gal underneath the Camp sign next to Khan, a gal who was starting to wake up.

Inadvertently taking the photo just as the tremor shook snow and, a moment later, the woman out of the trees.

Startled Dmitri switched back to his original language program, “Khan, u tvoikh nog (Khan, at your feet)!”

While Khan tended to the slowly waking gal, Dmitri rushed pass him to the tree woman who was already gaining a crowd. Kneeling down beside the others, from this close, Dmitri found his core skipping a beat. Her hair was the color of royalty and despite her visor remaining in alert mode the colored lights on her hands was the tint of celebration.

“Give me room to work,” Bianca’s voice called parting the circle just enough to let her through. “What happened,” she asked, bringing out her medical scanner to begin checking over their mystery lady.

“Uh, tremor knocked her out of the tree,” Dmitri said.

Looking up, Becky winced, “at least the branches broke her fall.”

Dmitri looked up as well, in the tree, just a bit higher than what his camera had seen, he could see broken branches, how the woman was still alive must have been a miracle.

“We should bring her to the bus,” Bianca spoke up, packing away her scanner, “I can do a systems check, there.”

They heard an alert as the woman’s screen came back online and for half a second Dmitri was stunned by the beauty of her eyes before a mix of panic and determination lit up the red visor lights

“Ne trogay menya (Don’t touch me),” as the woman shouted, she moved, the snow kicking up as they we pushed back by something that felt far too large to have been the drone woman before them.

“Someone calm her down,” Khan shouted, “this place is too unstable as it is!”

Without another word, Dmitri was on his feet with the others, taking chase after their mystery woman. Distantly he could feel a slight pain in the place where his neck met his collar, but he ignored it as he did his best to keep track of the woman. The woman herself had somehow gotten far ahead of her chasers kicking up snow, throwing anything she could grab, ducking behind trees to switch directions but slowly as the others fell behind, Dmitri could begin to see a pattern, a direction. After that, no matter which way she turned, he knew where she would double back to. Not wasting time with her evasive maneuvers, Dmitri began gaining ground – a good thing too since he didn’t think she had noticed the barest start of the next tremor as the pit beyond them began to grow ever closer.

Taking a chance, Dmitri prepared to cut her off and as the woman returned to her original pathing, he took a leap and tackled her – the momentum causing the two of them to roll a path through the snow. Tucking her in close so she wouldn’t be hurt, as they came to a stop, it was a half beat before Dmitri raised himself onto his hands – the disoriented woman’s hair splayed out onto the snow.

“Miss, can you hear me,” Dmirti started, he could see her visor rebuffing, “miss, miss?” After a moment she seemed to be focusing on him, “miss, can you hear me; can you understand what I am saying – this place is too dangerous, we need to leave.”

“I am not going anywhere with you,” she said just as the ground gave another tremor, both their eyes going hollow.

Quick as he could, Dmitri got to his feet, pulling the woman with him. She gave just the slightest tug to free her hand from his only for Dmitri to feel her freeze, and he had no doubt she had seen the pit begin to crumble at the edges. Yet rather than run with him, she shook herself free and began running towards the pit.

“Wait miss, stop,” Dmitri said as he grabbed at her, grappling with the woman to pull her from the disaster even as she fought against him.

Fighting to regain his footing, Dmitri felt something hit his foot – or perhaps his foot kicked something – and the woman buckled as though she had been kicked in the stomach. It was like she was a doll on a string who had been cut free, just barely able to stand yet she only fought ever more fiercely.

“Let me go!”

“It is too dangerous!”

“I am not blind!”

“Then why will you not listen!” His foot shifted as he tried to get better hold of her.

“SHE NEEDS ME,” the woman shouted and something like the force of ten drones pushed him back as he crashed into the snow – the woman holding him down.

Their breaths were heavy as they mixed in the cold air.

Though his eyes were hollow, Dmitri spoke calmly, “this place is a dead sight, we have twenty fully functioning scanners in the area; you and the other woman, back where you woke up, the two of you are the only drones we have found, everyone else here, human and drone, is dead.”

The tremors had stopped.

“The world is dead.”

The woman’s eyes were searching, and Dmitri could see she was desperate for his words to be a lie, “… show me.”

She moved off hm, and as he sat up, Dmitri making sure to move slowly, telegraphing his movements as he took out his scanner. Even as his scanner rechecked the area, even as he knew what it would say, Dmitri found himself desperate for the little machine to prove him wrong. The minutes stretched on forever but when it finally reported its findings, nothing had changed.

Looking to the woman, it was like all the life had been pulled out of her. Dmitri pressed his lips together and after a moment, he put away his scanner. Gently, he placed his arms around her, and pulled her to her feet, carefully walking her back to where the others were. It was strange, as they moved, there were times that it almost felt as though they had gotten stuck on something, yet whenever he looked down to check, there was nothing there.

Making it back to the others, they had barely retuned when Dmitri heard a long shout of, “YEVA,” and the purple haired gal from earlier hurtled into the woman, wrenching her from his arms as the two crashed into the asbestos mixed snow.

“Yeva, Yeva, Yeva,” the gal said, shaking the woman who was apparently called Yeva, “we’re alive, we’re alive!”

Dmitri hesitated, unsure how to approach the two considering, Yeva hardly seemed to register the other one. Looking up, as Khan and Becky came running towards them, it was only then that Dmitri realized that he hadn’t been carrying his camera when he saw it in Becky’s hands. The other gal – who had re-tossed herself into the snow – having noticed their approach, pulled herself to her feet as she rushed to Khan’s side. As Yeva had yet to react, Dmitri moved to her side to lift her to her feet.

“Yevs, this is Khan, he said we can go back with the group,” the gal said just as Becky took a photo – Yeva giving an absent nod.

“Uh, listen,” Khan started, “our scanners haven’t found any other survivors, so I think it’s best if we all head back to the factory, Miss, uh, Miss Yeva, are you okay to travel?”

Yeva gave another absent nod.

“Speaking of heading back,” Becky said, “Khan, the groups are going to want a picture.”

“Right, let’s get back around the buses first, Becky can you …?”

“I’ve got the other’s, I’ll alert Ronathan and Cordi, too.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, Dmitri, want your camera back?”

“Uh,” Dmitri started as he observed Yeva for a moment, she still looked to be in shock, “can you handle it for now?”

Becky shrugged and they all started back towards the buses. Prepping for the picture, Dmitri carefully stood Yeva next to the other gal, yet like a warning, just before Becky snapped the picture, a tremor knocked him to the ground. Yet from his peripherals he saw something flicker, for just an instance, the image of a drone like a giant yet when he looked again, there wasn’t even a sign in the snow of what he had seen.

Almost absentmindedly, the purple haired gal took Yeva by the arm after the picture was taken, pulling her along as they filed into the bus Ronathan was steering. As Khan stood up front for the head count and debriefing before they headed off, Becky plopped down next to him – having already talked with Cordelia who was steering the other bus – before entering this one.

“So,” Becky started, handing him his camera.

“Her name is Yeva,” Dmitri replied, “I do not believe all of everything has fully sunk in for her yet.”

“So put her on the watch list, got it – I’ll tell Khan and the others.”

The watch list, specifically for drones who might have a panic attack or worse.

“What about Ron and Kali,” Dmitri asked.

For a moment Becky’s brow furrowed, “I’ll try to get a moment to talk with them; how has Group A been treating you?”

“Uh … it is weird.”

“Define weird.”

“It is like we have been divided in three.”

Those who preferred to listen to him, those who preferred to listen to Sarah, and those who preferred to take the path that was the least complicated for themselves.

“What about the other one,” Dmitri asked.

“Khan said her name’s Nori.”

They shared a glance at the two new drones, Yeva’s gaze remaining lost as Nori chattered on, still absentmindedly holding tight to the red-eyed woman’s arm.

“We should probably put them both on the list,” Becky said.

“Agreed.”

(~*~)

Back at the factory, Cordelia helped Ronathan put the buses away as Ron debriefed Becky and Khan began guiding their two purple-haired refugees – Dmitri staying back with his mother to monitor the other expedition drones as supplies were put away, his father heading back to medical.

“Dima,” Dmitri’s mother started, in her original programed language, “may I speak with you?”

“You are my mother,” Dmitri started, retuning to their shared language as well, “I would be a fool not to listen.”

“Let it be said that fate, chose to pair your father and I before the humans ever had a thought, but we also never realized it till after your screen turned on – you are far too old for crushes.”

Dmitri started, his visor going green, “was I that obvious?”

“No; but for a group who was never allowed to leave medical, we were very good at traversing the factory – it has saved many lives in the past.”

Hearing that, he had to wonder how many times his parents had been just out of view, “so, then, what do I do?”

“First, let her get settled – if I am being honest, I am actually a bit worried for her and the other girl – if anything, wait for her to be ready, she seems the type to not let others push her around, that is a good thing; if you approach her respectfully, honestly, authentically and with kindness, I believe you could find a friend, if you both truly want it.” Bianca paused, “but if she hurts you, Dmitri, please be honest with us; alright?”

“Okay.”

Not that he could talk with Yeva at the moment; no, he still had to report to Sarah. Khan could have taken away her power, but he didn’t want to push the limits that the other groups had by switching up the ladder of power. Until the group as a three-fourths majority came to him, Sarah would stay where she was. Right now, though she was still making a nuisance of herself, Sarah was behaving – for how long as another question. As Dmitri and the few other Group A members that had been on the expedition filed into the meeting room with the rest of Group A, he could see everyone dividing into those three groups.

“Dmitri,” Sarah began, “would you like to start.”

An order in the form of a question.

The man sighed, muttering, “you do not see the other groups doing this.” Then he spoke up, “we arrived at Camp 98.7 shortly before midnight, as it was the off season, we did not see any human remains, if there were any, then they were elsewhere; there were only two drones in the whole area.”

“You mean only two live drones,” one the younger drone men asked.

“No,” Alta-Ana said, “the place was empty, only the two.”

“Fine,” Sarah said, “anything else?”

“They were unconscious, when we got there,” Dmitri said, “we had to bring them back online.”

“They’re also jewels,” someone shouted quickly.

Dmitri pressed his lips together.

Jewels, a term among drones for how humans tended to treat drones with unique eyes. White was standard, as was green and blue; drones with pink, orange, red, purple, or even yellow eyes were an extreme rarity. As the doctors in medical were organizing the family and general records, there were only two drones in the whole factory with pink eyes – it was no secret that Becky was waiting on the family records of the pink-eyed pill boy. In the history of Novae Spei, jewels almost never came to the factory, not unless some human was trying to break them into behaving – now they had six jewels at the factory.

“Anything else of note,” Sarah, asked.

It was quiet for a moment, then one of the other drones, a woman who was not at the expedition spoke up, “question,” when Sarah gave her the go ahead, she continued, “the jewels have red and purple eyes, right?”

“Yes,” Alta-Ana answered sharing a look with Dmitri.

“What of it,” Sarah asked.

“Okay,” the woman continued, “so they passed me on my way here – I saw Mister Dorn escorting them – was anyone gonna mention that they were wearing straitjacket hospital gowns?”

“Straitjackets,” Sarah asked.

“Collars too, and purple wigs.”

“Dmitri,” Sarah started.

“My parents gave them the go ahead on the ride back,” Dmitri started, “at most, they may have a latent reaction to the core collapse but they have already been placed on the watch list; right now, medical is in charge of their case, beyond that they will be treated the same as anyone else at the factory – meaning, anyone who harasses them will also be subjected to the appropriate judgement.”

You could hear a pin drop, that the pin was Sarah’s subtle glare into his head was another thing entirely.

“Well,” Alta-Ana started as she stood, “if that’s everything?”

“I haven’t dismissed anyone yet,” Sarah said.

“With all due respect, we are three minutes off the clock.”

“I see, very well you are dismissed, but as a last order – remain vigilant.”

As they all began filing out of the room, Dmitri could see Sarah heading his way only for Alta-Ana to cut her off, grabbing his arm with a cheer.

“Que pasa, Dee (What’s up, Dee), I need to ask about the envoys.”

As she chatted on, Dmitri could tell she didn’t really have anything to ask, but Alta-Ana was very good at sounding busy but saying nothing.

“You wanted to talk with Jo, right,” Alt-Ana asked, finally saying something real once no one was around to spy. “She hasn’t been eating with the rest lately.”

“Have you heard anything,” he asked.

“You know Jo, not even water could make her sing.”

“That is true.”

“That said,” Alta-Ana continued, “something is on her mind.”

Dmitri furrowed his brow in thought, before nodding, “alright I will talk to her.”

“You do that, I’ll try to keep Sarah off you – you own me Dee, I’m missing out on a date with a guy from medical.”

“Noted; thank you Alta.”

She waved him off as she walked off her dark brown curls bouncing with each step.

With a sigh, Dmitri took a detour to buy a few snacks and said a prayer in hopes that he would be able to grab dinner later after he talked with Jo – snacks collected, he was off to Mining’s offices. Jo had managed to keep good relations with Mining even years after she had aged out of the group, so it wasn’t uncommon to find her in the mining sector. Around him, the children that made up Mining were milling about as they finished up their work before heading to dinner. Khan had been working with Waylon and the leaders of Mining to adapt the younger one to a more relaxed child-friendly environment while the older ones tempered themselves, preferring to continue their work as they had become far too old for their age.

Looking around, Dmitri caught sight of K, her new coal black wig was pinned up beneath her hard hat.

“K,” Dmitri called out, “have you finished your papers?”

The new teen scoffed, “the day I got them – I‘m on record.”

“Congratulations then Kida; did you pick a last name or are you letting yourself get adopted?”

“Sponsored at most; I feel too old for anything else – you lookin’ for Jo?”

“I come bearing gifts,” Dmitri said showing off the snacks he had bought.

“Just in the office, yonder – want me to have someone bring the two of you dinner?”

“Only if it’s not a problem.”

“Nah, you two are cool – see ya Dee.”

Getting to the office, Dmitri knocked before entering; Jo was looking over some of the paper maps the factory kept in storage.

“I brought snacks,” he started.

Jo remained quiet, but Dmitri knew that he had been heard as he moved into the chair next to her, opening up the snacks so she could grab what she wanted. Taking a few in hand, Dmitri took up one of the old maps; he and Jo had done this plenty of times over, back when Sheriff had been at the factory.

After a while Jo spoke, “I can’t have kids.”

He blinked, from her tone – as much of a tone as Super Suppressors could have in any case – Dmitri could tell that was only half of what was on her mind, but for now he’d asked about what she had offered.

“What happened?”

“… The humans were suspicious about Stoic and I, so while they were interrogating my folks, they took me to the side and …,” her hand rose to her core and Dmitri felt himself grow cold. “They already castrated him on his creation day, but I guess they wanted to make sure I couldn’t circumvent them.”

“What about a pill activation?”

“I don’t know, they did something to my code, medical is looking over my case but it’s not promising – not the point anyway.”

And Dmitri could understand that. The act of creating a core born was the act of bearing your soul to the one you love. Even among drones, it was often forgotten that Super Suppressors weren’t emotionless, they just couldn’t show it. Dmitri knew that Jo and Stoic were in love, that they wouldn’t be able to show each other their souls must have been devastating.

“… Maybe this is too soon, but have you thought about adopting?”

“… Maybe in a year.”

A year, a year was when it was speculated that the records would be fully organized; meaning that Jo and Stoic had already come to the logical conclusion – they were just waiting to get to the emotional conclusion. They settled into a quiet and after about twenty minutes there was a knock, the door opening to reveal Stoic and Kida with four food trays – somehow, Dmitri found he wasn’t surprised.

It was a quiet dinner but a nice one, looking over maps as they ate. Dmitri and Kida were Optimal Suppressors, yet with how quiet they could sometimes be when compared to others like them, some tended to forget that detail. In a way they almost behaved like Broken Suppressors, ones that were much livelier, but it was a behavior that once often had humans double checking to ensure they hadn’t accidentally allowed a Broken Suppressor to survive. However, quiet only lasts so long among friends after a long day of work.

“So, Dee,” Kida started, “how long were you guys actually at the delivery site for?”

“Not that long,” Dmitri started, “it, it was strange; twenty scanners, checking and triple checking … we only found two drones.”

“Two survivors?”

“If there was anyone else there, we and our scanners did not see–” Dmitri cut himself off as a thought dawned on him. “Hypothetical,” he asked waiting to have the room’s attention, “Y and N wake up near each other but may not see each other, Y runs off looking for someone, Y is shown that there is no one left except N but does not return from their shock.”

Dmitri fell silent as the other thought on his words, his question obvious.

“Okay,” Kida started, “so I’m gonna guess shock from the core collapse and subsequent fallout as well as themselves and this N being alive – I’m also going to guess that you just discarded that idea a few moments before which is why you’re asking.”

Dmitri nodded.

“Do you believe that N was not the person this Y was looking for,” Stoic asked.

“I am starting to,” Dmitri said.

“What was said exactly,” Jo asked.

“She needs me, that is what Y said.”

“Question,” Kida interrupted, “would Y and N be the purple and red lady jewels I saw talking with Mister Dorn at the primary table?”

“Red and purple, but, yes,” Dmitri answered.

“Okay, then additional information, Y looked stable, whatever shock she was going through – I think, she’s settled down.”

“Then either it really was shock and delayed recognition,” Jo said, “or there was a third person – dead or alive.”

(~*~)

Despite the Primary table being for the leaders of Groups A through D originally, Dmitri was unsurprised to see that Jo was taking her lunch in the mining offices again, that he had seen Stoic headed in that direction is what convinced him to eat in the cafeteria. What he was surprised to see was Ron pointedly stuffing his face with dessert before heading off – it became less surprising after hearing that the man had lost his and Becky’s bet yesterday.

Apparently, yesterday evening, Yeva and Nori had gotten work with Miss Cordelia. On one hand he was happy that the woman was getting help, but he would be lying if he said that that apparently being their first chose of a job request was more than a little odd. The others clearly thought the same but considering the two purple haired woman were already on a watch list, there wasn’t much else to be said.

It was interesting, they were interesting. Like any normal person, they asked a lot of questions about Novae Spei and the drones they were speaking with, however, they were also cleverly tightlipped about the place they had come from. Not tightlipped in a way that would suggest bad memories that wanted to remain buried – not entirely – but rather, tightlipped in a way that suggested a secret that they were working hard to keep to themselves. Yet, that wasn’t the entire message. You would think with the way they were behaving, it would suggest not wanting to return to the Camp but rather, Dmitri got the impression that one day they would ask to go back.

Friday was the twenty-eighth of Seralux otherwise known as New Years Eve, a fact that had the whole factory buzzing even more than usual. Khan had allowed for everyone to settle down early – within reason, they still had a lot of work to do before they could truly relax, but for now it was time for fun. Becky had once moonlit as her human’s party planning assistant, as such, she now put those skills to use, setting up the cafeteria for the festivities.

Now, it’s not like Sarah couldn’t sit at the primary table like Dmitri did, yet she let her chair remain untouched. However, that just meant she constantly demanded a report from him each night when Group A convened at the end of each workday. While he would have liked to ignore her, allowing these meetings and playing along seemed to assuage her need for control; that and it was better to let her believe he was working – however reluctantly – with her, rather than allow her to believe she needed to go over his head to get what she wanted. As it was, it was these meetings that meant he was late to the festivities due to it being Groups A through D’s job to shut down the non-essentials of the factory for the weekend and he had only just finished his assigned sector.

Entering the cafeteria, Dmitri made his rounds greeting friends and waving off conversation; the meetings always tried him out and for now he just wanted to sit down for a time. Perhaps though, it was also the subject of the meetings. Sarah generally had many things on the meeting docket in her bid for control, but as of late, as of the third day full day the two purple-haired drones had been apart of the factory, it was clear she had a new target.

Meeting one of her targets in the makeshift cinema seemed to give him back some of his energy though. Miss Yeva Fever, that was her registered name, Yeva of the Krupin household, was who she eventually revealed herself to be. Dmitri could feel John’s words from so long ago return as they two spoke. That dance studio had been his first travel job and now with the girl turned woman at the factory, he continued to wonder what the drone man had meant when he called the job, ‘important,’ – certainly, it felt potent having her here, but his confusion continued.

Thinking on it, perhaps he would talk with Ron and Kali, they were always the ones who understood John best.

Yet even as he thought it, Dmitri knew he would find very little time to do such things, privately. Despite all the work they had done before the new year, January of thirty fifty-one only seemed even busier. Medical had made tremendous progress with the records yet now they had been met with an obstacle. Somehow, a virus had made it into the nursery. It was difficult to pin down but so long as they were vigilant, they were able to hold it at bay. There was another detail, however. With the humans gone, and having been so busy, it had slipped their minds that an oil collection hadn’t been done, to that note, the oil shipment for Seralux was still in storage. So of course, it was a member of Group A that had first brought this detail to Sarah. From there came the question of where the humans had been sending the oil they collected from the factory drones.

Camp 98.7 – Dmitri only just barely kept himself from reacting as the meeting continued – of course the oil would have been sent to the camp; bad enough that the rumor mill had started up about Miss Cordelia’s two new morticians.

The older woman had apparently asked the purple haired women if they wanted a change of clothes but, unsurprisingly, they had decided to hold off till they felt more comfortable in their new space. As it was, each day brought another unsavory presumption about the two women. Now with Sarah’s investigation, it was only getting worse, but the worst part was that he couldn’t blame her. A hidden lab just beyond a sleepaway camp, a lab that was receiving a monthly stipend of oil from the factory drones, and now two drones from that lab who had been dressed in purple wigs and straitjacket hospital gowns and gloves.

“– but that’s not all,” a drone woman said as Dmitri tuned back into the meeting, “apparently medical claims that after going over the records, some oil has been going missing from the reserves, about once a week; now though, the amount has tripled.”

The unspoken accusation was clear, and though he wanted to deny any correlation, Dmitri knew the evidence was at least a good bases to introduce the idea of an investigation – however, a detail wasn’t making sense.

“What about the before amount,” Dmitri asked, “do you have any leads on that?”

“None unfortunately, the records are still being reviewed and whoever was taking the oil was being very careful – it’s only because we are going over them in this way that it was even discovered.”

“How far back have you gone?”

“Five years, but it looks like it might go back even farther.”

Though she hadn’t said anything, Dmitri could see an odd look on Sarah’s face, she knew something or at the very least, believed she did; but for now, she was holding her cards close.

Thinking it over, Dmitri decided to do his own investigation. He had never seen the room where they kept the oil that was sent out from Novae Spei. The list of drones who were picked to donate changed each month, but three drones were always at the top of the list without fail. Despite being late for lunch, Dmitri found he didn’t mind, Nori and Yeva had been absent with the older of the two claiming the younger wasn’t feeling well but was, at least, on the mend. Perhaps it was curiosity; logically he knew that if he, Khan and Ron were always made to donate each month then their oil would be kept separate in its own marked area. Logically he knew all the oils were likely kept separate to prevent cross contamination.

As he walked through the storeroom, Dmitri found his steps softening as something made him fall silent. Creeping through the room, his gaze fell upon the labels that marked each container, yet he couldn’t find his own

Perhaps, Dmitri thought, if they had such an emphasis on it, then it would be given a different label.

Keeping to this idea, Dmitri continued through, looking for anything that seemed different from the rest of the containers, yet as he came upon the last of the oil in the room, he saw the shadow of a drone just around the corner. Keeping hidden, he noticed it was Yeva, and wondering if she had gotten lost, Dmitri was about to make himself known. Suddenly keeping quiet, he saw as Yeva collected oil into a tin that was clearly from medical, another tin at her side, then just as she capped the tin she had been filling, an alert went off from her visor.

With a shake of her head, Yeva took the second tin and began filling it before taking a sip. Quickly tuning away from the scene, Dmitri’s eyes had gone hollow, yet steading his core, he turned the corner to confront her, only to find the area empty. Mind racing as he stepped forward; Dmitri took in the labels on the tins that Yeva had taken from. The second container of oil was of a drone that he knew Yeva wouldn’t know, yet in reviewing his memories, Dmitri realized she was searching, searching for what became obvious as he found the label of the first oil container Yeva had taken from.

Khan Dorn.

Dmitri could feel himself becoming cold. It was no secret that the factory leader had taken a shine to Nori, it was also no secret that he was clearly worried about her absence, yet Yeva would not let anyone in to see her sister. As both his and Sarah’s respective private investigations continued, several crates were discovered, ones that had once contained office supplies, yet the labels had been scratched off and most of the casings were destroyed. Most egregious were the papers. The majority of them had been shredded, yet even if you could put them back together, they were all missing the part that would have had the logo of the place they were being sent to. However, as the remains were analyzed, Dmitri realized that while the papers were destroyed – judging by the amount that should have been in the packaging – there were also papers missing.

When Nori came back to work, for a moment everything and everyone seemed like they were back to normal, yet it was like a light had turned on. Where once Dmitri found enjoyment in quiet conversation with Yeva, he was now far too aware. Yet, he wanted to understand. To this pursuit, he had, on more than one occasion, taken to spying on Yeva, discovering where she was primarily sourcing her oil. If he was right, the delivery storeroom was a special occasion as, from then forward, she only ever took from the morticians’ oil collection. A dark thought came to mind, so to ease his mind Dmitri took a look at the death records and found himself able to relax, seeing that the number had not gone up since the Fever sisters had arrived.

Yet there was something else. At the last Group A meeting, Sarah declared that she had been able to convince Khan to begin an investigation into the missing oil. Core racing, Dmitri had one thought in mind. He wanted to understand, John said it was important. The man could be cryptic, but he never minced words when it came to danger. John had said that Yeva was important, and Dmitri needed to know why.

Heading to the warehouse store, Dmitri bought a small glass vial with a cork lid. Purchase in hand and knowing that the storeroom was soon to be guarded, he found a room in Medical. Taking one of the tools they used to take oil samples, Dmitri soon filled the vial with his own oil. Recorking it, the man was off to confront Yeva.

In Morticians Hall, he found her putting away tarps and steeled himself for the conversation ahead.

“Miss Yeva, may I speak with you,” Dmitri called out as she left the storage closet.

“If you must,” Yeva said.

“May I ask how you and your sister are settling in, now that the end of the month in nearing.” Whether or not she realized the slip of his words as the end of the month had already passed, she didn’t mention it.

“My sister and I are settling in well, Mister Dmitri.”

“And do either of you require any assistance?”

“Assistance, Mister Dmitri?”

“With your dorm, attire, medically – software, hardware –, work hours, mealtimes?”

The change was instant though she kept herself reserved, and, internally, Dmitri pleaded with Yeva to be honest with him.

“I have no complaints, neither does my sister, last I checked.”

“Really, nothing, perhaps a request then – something you might desire that you are unable to receive regularly?”

“Nothing comes to mind – though if you are truly so curious then I will ask my sister if she has any requests.”

Her gaze was off him as she spoke and he move the vial from his jacket pocket to his hand, bringing it behind his back as he prepared to uncork it – it was lunch time, and he was certain that she had yet to eat.

“You truly cannot think of anything?”

“Nothi–,” Yeva’s voice cut off as he uncorked the vial of his own oil; for a second, she had lurched forward.

Keeping calm, Dmitri continued, internally begging Yeva to be truthful, “you must be able to think of something, perhaps something that is on your mind, right at this moment.” For a moment, Yeva looked lost, and he thought to abandon the inquiry, but he continued, “do you perhaps smell something alluring?”

Yeva’s breath shuddered, as her eyes steeled themselves and Dmitri knew she would remain silent.

“What is it exactly you expect me to say?”

“… nothing I suppose,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “I just thought I might inform you; an investigation is beginning – apparently, someone had been stealing oil, we do not have many leads for now.”

“And what leads do you have?”

“People are becoming curious as to why the monthly stipend of oil was sent to a camp for one – would you happen to know anything?”

“Nothing.”

“Is that it?”

“It is.”

“Fine.”

With that, Dmitri revealed the vial and recorked it, placing it into his jacket pocket before storming off out of the hall.

The very next day, Sarah had been allowed to deploy Group A to search the factory starting with the dorms. Standing at her side, Dmitri felt relief when searching Yeva and Nori’s dorm reveal nothing but a few drawings of ‘Cool S’s. Yet the investigation continued and when it came to placing an observer in the Morticians’ Hall, Dmitri volunteered without hesitation.

Admittedly, he had a few reasons for volunteering. He knew that Yeva was guilty, but he also knew the reason he wasn’t reporting her wouldn’t be accepted by everyone. John would have said if she was dangerous, yet even as he clung to that thought, Dmitri found himself losing faith that waiting for answers would bring any. His other reason was, as he knew Yeva was guilty, he knew how to feign ignorance to allow Yeva – and apparently Nori – to get their fill while still pretending to remain vigilant.

However, with Sarah and the rest of Group A in an insistent buzz for answers, Dmitri could admit he was becoming impatient for something – the right thing – to give. Unfortunately, that meant he ended up on Miss Cordelia’s last nerve with all his pacing around the room as the three morticians worked.

“Dmitri Nikolai Fotograf,” Miss Cordelia started as he froze in his tracks near Yeva’s workspace, “with all due respect, young man, this job is difficult enough without you circling like a shark searching for a drop of blood.”

The silent room reached a frigid level in Miss Cordelia’s displeasure.

“Rather than continuing this fruitless endeavor, perhaps you might tell us what exactly, Sarah hopes to accomplish with this.”

For a moment Dmitri thought to recite Sarah’s mission statement, before he stopped, sighed and move next to the room door in front of the three women – arms crossed.

“… All Sarah has – at the moment – is speculation; a monthly stipend of oil to Camp 98.7, two survivors from the same location that and I quote, ‘worked with the dead’, and now oil missing from the area of the factory that the survivors are currently working in.”

“And what pray tell, do you have?”

For a moment he moved to take out the vial of oil he was still carrying before he gave up on that as well, recrossing his arms.

He sighed again, “I have the knowledge that oil has been going missing since long before the implosion happened – I just presumed that drones were taking it for makeshift tirage stations considering the repair situation, pre-implosion – now however …”

“Now,” Miss Cordelia asked.

“Now, … the near exact amount that has gone missing before has tripled,” he eyed Yeva for a moment, “now though, since the investigation started, that number has decreased to two and a half – if the buckets are anything to go by.”

He was actually concerned about that.

“Just the buckets?”

“Yes.”

“Have you told anyone?”

At Miss Cordelia’s last question, Dmitri fell silent. It felt far too pointed, it felt far too knowing. Miss Cordelia and her husband had apparently arrived at the factory when he was six. After hearing that oil had been going missing for – at minimum – five years, he had become impatient, despite knowing his math was likely to be off, Dmitri put several after hours in to checking the oil records starting from his activation year. While he would still have to wait for the official verdict, his best estimation of when the oil began disappearing would have to be some time after Miss Cordelia’s arrival. It’s funny, for the short while he had worked to help organize the warehouse, he had never seen Miss Cordelia among the crowds of drones who had requested a wig, and yet here she was with one, red as blood, the bang colored in two – half like gold, half like oil.

He can admit to being startled at Khan’s sudden entrance to the room, having remembered over hearing that the leader had planned to ask Nori to be his date to Becky’s Valentine’s Day Eve party. He can also admit to accepting Miss Cordelia’s dismissal without hesitation.

Taking one of the rooms in a side hall, Dmitri collapsed within.

Everything was a mess.

(~*~)

The night of the Valentine’s Day Eve party, Sarah had wanted to station night guards across the factory, but Khan had shot down her request citing the night team would be on duty during the requested hours. Stubborn as ever, Sarah had gone over his head though wisely told Group A to avoid the party – so of course, that was exactly where Dmitri went. As such, here he was, attempting to look as inconspicuous as possible or as much as he could when he didn’t have a date. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one as by what must have been a lucky chance of a glance into the rafters, revealed a spy.

“Isn’t this a bit cliché,” Dmitri said, reverting to his original programed language once he had made it to where Yeva has hidden herself to spy on the festivities, “a spying Russian drone, does your sister know?”

Though he couldn’t see her visor, Dmitri knew she was rolling her eyes at him, before responding in their shared original language, “and I suppose you are exempt from the cliché despite your presence here?”

“Well, they become clichés for a reason.”

“Speaking of clichés, how about I cut to the chase, why are you here?”

“Well, I saw someone climb up here and had to check it out for the safety of the colony – you’re lucky I wasn’t Sarah – Miss Yeva, may I escort you back down?”

“Are you telling me that I must leave the area?”

“… Somehow, I believe that even if I escort you down, the moment I take my eyes off you, you will return to the rafters.”

“So now what?”

“I suppose, for now, I will accompany you, after I recommend the non-festival dining area, then perhaps, after your fears are hopefully assuaged, I can escort you to your room.”

“With a schedule like that, one might have thought you would ask me to dance.”

“I would have to know where I currently stand with you first – far be it from me to impose my desires on another.”

There must have been something loose in his head, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t miss how things used to be between the two of them. He missed those easy conversations. He was standing behind her, to the right of where she sat on one on the beams, the movies below were beginning.

“I don’t hate you,” Dmitri started, “if that’s what you think, I’m angry yes, but primarily confused; do you remember the week your sister was bedridden – I saw you, I saw you search the oil tins specifically for Khan’s oil, what’s more I saw you pour and drink of a different oil tin.” He was desperate in her silence, “so please tell me what I saw – help me understand; tell me if I have to be worried about your sister harvesting Khan’s oil.”

“… She didn’t drink it …,” Yeva said at last before sighing, “she had his oil at hand for a whole week, and she couldn’t bring herself to drink it.”

“Why was a camp receiving a monthly stipend of oil.”

Yeva was silent.

“Yeva please.”

“Did Sarah put you up to this?”

“Sarah doesn’t know I’m here … do you want to know why I was your guard in the mortician’s hall – it’s because I volunteered, because I want to understand, because I don’t just want to jump to conclusions and presume malintent.”

“… Were it not for the fact that you have my name I would have only given you my service number.”

“You’re a soldier?”

“I was supposed to be one.”

“Then I imagine your sister was the same.”

Yeva didn’t respond. That was fine though, it was more than clear that Yeva was protecting Nori, and he could both understand and respect that.

“Were there aftereffects of becoming a soldier?”

“… I gave my sister a flask of medicine to keep her cool.”

With how much oil was sent to the camp, he was beginning to get an understanding of the situation.

“… Okay.”

They remained in the rafters for the rest of the movies below before moving to have dinner in the non-couple area. Though Yeva ate slowly, likely to spend as much time as she could, Dmitri made no comment, simply matching her pace then escorting her from the room when they were done. Walking back to the dorms, Dmitri chose a longer path, keeping his pace slow in hopes that by the time they returned to the Fever sister’s shared dorm, Yeva wouldn’t have to wait too long for Nori’s return.

Still, with this newly presented information, Dmitri found that his questions only continued. Drones of the factory were not allowed to know anything about the world beyond the factory grounds, but with Yeva, he began to wonder just what had the humans been keeping secret – drones trained as solders wasn’t odd, drones that also needed to drink oil was.

“Dmitri,” a voice called, “didn’t think I’d see you out tonight!”

“Ron,” Dmitri greeted, switching back to English, “and Kali, what are you two doing out?”

“Just completing something for John,” Kali said, Thaddeus asleep in her arms, “good evening, Miss Yeva, how have you been?”

“I am well,” Yeva said, switching back to English.

“Can I ask,” Dmitri asked.

Ron sighed, “you know how John is – I think Thad inherited his quirk.”

“How so?”

“He started crying,” Kali began, in kind exasperation, “and wouldn’t stop till we found an old defunct ‘closet’ in a closed off area of the factory – near the mining area.”

“God only knows how long John has been using the place,” Ron continued, “I’m gonna talk to Khan about getting Kali a place in the Outpost, that has a big enough room to put all that stuff; what about the two of you?”

“We were coming from dinner,” Dmitri said, “I volunteered for Sarah’s unauthorized night watch.”

“Has she been bothering you, Miss Yeva,” Kali asked.

“It is fine.”

“You are allowed to be honest,” Dmitri interrupted, “Sarah has been overstepping, even Miss Cordelia is becoming annoyed.”

“It could have been your circling,” Yeva muttered.

“Mother hen,” Ron laughed.

“You are hardly one to speak,” Dmitri returned, indignantly.

“Ignore them,” Kali said, to Yeva, “Miss Yeva, may I speak with you privately?”

“I suppose so.”

“Excuse us, gents,” the mother continued as she pulled the Russian woman away.

Once they were far enough away, Dmitri could see Kali sit down against one of the factory walls, gesturing for Yeva to join her. Turning away to give the two women some privacy, Dmitri saw he was not the only one who had been watching them – with a sigh, Ron turned to face him.

“Rough night,” Dmitri asked.

“… It’s a lot of stuff in that room,” Ron paused for a moment and Dmitri found himself worried about the next words that would emerge, “you … you noticed the collars, she’s number forty-eight.”

“Ron?”

“I, I’m sorry just … just thinking about someone else.”

Dmitri hazard a guess, “your friend?”

Ron nodded.

“I never really got to hear you talk about her; she was human right?”

“No, … she was a drone … but she had been adopted by a human.”

A human adopting a drone? It didn’t sound real. Dmitri knew that humans could take a shine to drones but to actually place such a clear marker of bonds. Thinking back to Aimes though, the man had been kind in a different way, or as kind as one could be in a place like Novae Spei.

“How did that work,” Dmitri asked.

“I don’t know, somehow, it just did; she lived at the Tallyran restaurant, Aimes used to have meetings with her father, the new proprietress and her drones during the place’s rest hour.”

“What about you and your friend?”

“I wasn’t allowed at the meetings; Aimes didn’t want to risk me being caught with information I wasn’t supposed to have, so I’d stay with my friend, either in the restaurant’s front room or her apartment.” Ron paused as another thought came to mind, “she had a human sister.”

“Had?”

“The human sister apparently died in travel to Copper 9.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“No, that, that was a part of the things I wasn’t allowed to know; … Dmitri, what do you know about Miss Yeva?”

For a second Dmitri hesitated, “about as much as you do.”

“Liar,” Ron said without malice, “but I can’t blame you; … John knew about them.”

“How do you mean?”

“I was helping with the records, she worked for the Krupin family, right?”

“You already seem to know the answer.”

Ron huffed out a small laugh, “the Krupin family, now she’s here.”

“I do not see the pattern.”

“Do you remember before Khan’s twenty-fifth, John introduced him to a new book to get his mind off of everything or get him through the stages of grief.”

Drones as a whole, weren’t allowed to know certain things but that didn’t mean they knew nothing. Drone society valued their links and everything they hid within them. Drone society over the millennium had compiled a forbidden library of knowledge concerning every subject, not only on human knowledge but on drone works as well.

Dmitri could remember the book John shown Khan; it was a high fantasy science fiction space adventure written by a Japanese drone woman in service to the Itō family. The book had been about a drone princess who had been raised in a cult as she was being prepared to give up her body to grant an evil entity immortality at the expense of her own life. That was the general idea Khan had told him, anyway. Having decided to check out the book himself, Dmitri could admit it was a little strange – in the story one of the drone men scheduled to be sacrificed had been the princess’s co-lead and love interest. Thinking about it again, the drone princess had been a jewel with purple hair and eyes.

“So,” Dmitri started, “beyond hoping that the only similarity was the hair and eyes …”

“John knew,” Ron said.

For a moment, Dmitri hesitated before speaking, “back at the camp, … Yeva said, ‘she needs me’, and I do not think she was talking about Nori.”

“The book and now Nori is here,” Ron said, “the Krupins and now Yeva is here.”

“What exactly was in John’s room?”

“Too much.”

He was being evasive, Dmitri thought, whatever was in John’s room, Ron – and no doubt Kali – had decided to adopt John’s mannerisms, meaning they wouldn’t talk about something unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Then what were the two of you doing or did Thaddeus just want to make sure his father’s stuff was found?”

“John wanted Kali to record some music, the instrumentals were already done, he just needed her to sing – that and Kali wanted to update her file.”

“I thought everyone had decided not to raise the pills on memories?”

“Yes, but John’s memories are still collected so Thaddeus can see them when he’s older, and Kali, she’s been collecting her memories to add to the file since then; we were already up, so we handled John’s thing first then updated Kal’s memory file.”

“Ron, what does Khan’s timetable look like?”

“… We’ll be lucky to schedule another expedition before the end of the year.”

“I see, I am sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It feels like it.”

“You didn’t know.”

“He’s right Dmitri,” Kali said as she came up to the two – evidently having finished her conversation with Yeva, baby Thaddeus still asleep in her arms. “All we can do now is help where we can, the sooner we finish our work, the sooner we can get back to the Camp.”

Though he hesitated as he looked between the two, Dmitri huff out an accepting laugh, “then I will do my best.”

“All anyone can do,” Ron said, “good night, Dee.”

“Good night,” Kali chorused.

“Night,” Dmitri said remaining where he was as he watched the trio head off.

When the trio were out of sight, Dmitri turned to walk over to where Yeva still sat against the wall where she and Kali had been speaking. The woman had her knees pulled up, her arms wrapped around them as her head rested on top, her eyes staring into either nothing or something beyond his factory drone comprehension.

“Miss Yeva, are you alright,” Dmitri asked.

She was silent and for a moment Dmitri wondered if she would remain so before she spoke, “what do you know about me?”

He was not expecting her to ask him that, “what do you mean?”

“Miss Sarah, Miss Cordelia, Miss Kali, Mister Ron, and you – why are you all so focused on me?”

Dmitri hesitated, before he sighed and sat down next to her, remaining quiet for a few moments more, as he thought to himself; in all fairness, perhaps he should have been expecting such a question from her.

“In order I suppose,” he said at last, taking a glance at his fellow Russian, but Yeva refused to look at him; “Sarah’s focus on you is likely based on Ron’s desire to go to the camp – she’s likely trying to figure out why he’s so interested in that place – Miss Cordelia was John’s second so whatever Ron is focused on, he likely told her about, Kali was John’s wife and finally Ron wanted to go to the camp based on what John told him.”

“And you?”

“… You said, she needs you, but didn’t react to Nori, so I figure there was a third woman; add to that, Ron’s desire to go to the camp and the fact that so far as we can tell, it was the epicenter of the quakes and well … people get curious.”

Yeva was quiet as Dmitri watched her, he could feel a slight heat radiating off of her. The oil was medicine to keep her from overheating, but the amount that had almost certainly been stolen by the Fever sisters had been reduced. Dmitri had no doubt that Yeva wouldn’t force her sister to drink less than what she needed but that brought on another question – how much was Yeva allowing herself to drink and just how long could she last on such an amount?

“Miss Yeva, my parents know how to keep Doctor Patient confidentiality,” he paused as he observed her, “you were warm during dinner, you have not been drinking as much … medicine as your sister has lately, have you; will that have an adverse effect on you?”

She kept her gaze stubbornly off him as her gloved hands clenched, “… I can handle it.”

“But do you have to?”

“Why do you care?”

“… You said you were supposed to be a soldier … I was born at the factory, and I was rarely allowed to leave the factory, my knowledge of the world beyond the boundaries was purposefully limited – why did you need to become a soldier?”

She remained silent but somehow, something had changed in her silence; her gaze was still off him, but it didn’t feel that way anymore.

“I volunteered.” Yeva said almost as though she were testing her words before continuing, “I have two little sisters,” she paused clearly thinking of what to tell him next, “Nori is here, Alice is–” her voice cut off with a choke.

Dmitri started, his hand reached out as she gathered herself, determination beginning to burn within her eyes.

“My sisters are like me,” Yeva continued, “but different, but we are alike.”

“Alice is at the camp,” Dmitri asked in clarification, “and she is a soldier like you?”

Yeva nodded, though Dmitri felt as though he hadn’t quite understood fully what she had wanted to say. She was quiet though, as she thought about her next words, but whatever she had decided on had been cut off with another choke.

Observing her for a moment, Dmitri thought about the extent of the orders the humans had been given to keep the drones ignorant; deciding to pose a different question, “did the humans do something to prevent you from speaking?”

Yeva tried to answer but seemed unable to do that either.

Watching her for another moment, a thought came to mind, “if I know something, can you talk about it with me?”

“Yes,” Yeva answered at last.

Dmitri nodded to himself as he attempted to figure out what he could ask that she could answer.

“Do you … hate … or at least dislike the person or people … who … are keeping you silent?”

“Yes.”

“Okay … uh … do you, uh … hate or dislike the person or people who were in charge of you?”

“Technically no.”

“Okay uh, so uh …,” he was quiet a moment before got an idea, “okay, shot in the dark here, two groups of people who were in charge of you.”

Yeva gave a so-so nod.

“Was there a middleman?”

“Yes.”

“So, then a group close to you, the middleman, and the group far from you – how do you feel about them?”

“Close is good, middle needs a backbone and a brain, far are idiots.”

“Did far hurt you?”

“Not directly.”

“Close, middle and far are humans?”

“Yes.”

Okay, Dmitri thought to himself, I can work with that.

“You look like you are in pain every time you are unable to answer;” Dmitri started, “does it hurt and would you count this as direct hurt.”

“Yes, and yes.”

“Far is not keeping you silent,” it was a statement more than a question, but Yeva still nodded. “Did middle hurt you?”

She paused as she thought over her answer before responding, “even human soldiers get hurt to some extent.”

“So, yes but it was part of the process and or an accident,” Dmitri paused as he thought over his next question, “was the camp open knowledge, closed knowledge or partial knowledge?”

“How do you mean?”

“Were there civilians who were aware of the camp and what it was for – you said you volunteered but the place was still hidden.”

“Partial knowledge – I am from the easternmost part of the closest city to us; there were many aware.”

Dmitri was quiet as he thought through what he had been told, as everything began coming together.

“A rogue drone did this to you,” he started, before explaining his reasoning to her. “Whatever this is, hurts you directly, the humans in charge of you did not hurt you directly and there are civilians aware of the camp – though not where it is – and likely why it was created; as a, at least, relatively known soldier who would likely have been put to fight the reason the camp was created, there is no reason for you to be silenced about something a civilian would know.”

Yeva nodded, almost in a daze, yet her eyes were focused on him; Dmitri continued.

“The rogue drone was a traitor and you found out something that they did not want you to know and did something to silence you that directly hurts you so the humans and other drones would not find out the truth; what they want secret has to do with something in connection to the making of the camp and has to do with Alice, because if you just wanted to say that Alice is at the camp – a something I already figured out – then you would have been able to say that, but since you could not, then what you wanted to say has to do with this drone and what they do not want you to reveal.”

Dmitri paused, his brow furrowed; if he was right, he thinks he knows what Yeva had been initially trying to say, “this drone hurt you, the camp is not a dead sight, and Alice is in danger.”

“Yes,” her voice was filled with the purest relief he had ever heard.

“I imagine what was done to you,” Dmitri started, “will not be easily undone, however, I can speak to my parents, but Yeva … they will likely find out about your ‘medicine’.”

She was quiet again as she seemed to consider what he had said; he had to ask, “Yeva, how important is the information you hold?”

“… The planet is dead,” she responded, echoing the words he had told her at the camp.

Dmitri’s eyes searched her’s for a moment, before he gave a nod, “well, we sent oil to the camp for seven years and that did not change the statistics of this place; I do not see why you cannot continue to receive oil at a monitored pace – it is medicine in a way.”

“It is to prevent overheating.”

“Exactly, medicine to prevent overheating,” Dmitri said, giving her a smile, one she tentatively, if tiredly, returned as he stood up. “My parents were at the festival, but Becky said that it should end around nine, since tomorrow is Monday, and they usually like to double check their workspace before going to bed, if we go now, we should be able to meet them there.”

“Are you sure now is a good time,” Yeva asked as her helped her up.

“At least to explain the situation so they can see you at a better time tomorrow.”

“Alright, then.”

And they were off.

Dmitri’s parents were just where he’d thought they would be and as he helped Yeva explain her case, they were also as attentive as he knew they’d be. As the conversation continued, Dmitri could feel hope welling up within and he could see the same was true for Yeva. Yeva – and possibly her sister – would meet with his parents tomorrow morning for an examination, and Dmitri began thinking on how he and his parents would explain this to Khan in a way that would keep the Fever sisters safe while also dropping the oil investigation in a satisfactory way. Yet just as everything was coming together, the world shook.

From Dmitri’s position on the ground, covering Yeva, he could see her parents in a similar position as the factory speakers came on, the alarms screaming, “AFTERSHOCK, EVERYONE TO THE NEAREST SHELTER, IF YOU ARE NEAR A CHILD, INJURED, OR DISABLED, THEN BRING THEM WITH YOU!”

“Bianca,” Ivan called, he and his wife already on their feet – Dmitri checking his messenger which was already lit up with the remaining leaders coordinating, Khan nowhere to be found.

“I am retrieving the medicarts,” Bianca said, rushing to a different room, “I will attend to the nursey.”

“Understood, I am contacting our team to coordinate with the groups – Dmitri–”

“Khan forgot his messenger,” Dmitri said as he brought himself and Yeva to their feet, “I am contacting C to find him.”

“Alright.”

“Ivan,” Bianca said coming back into the room with two medicarts and three medical kit bags.

“Thank you,” he said as put on one of the medical kit bags. “I am receiving alerts from across the factory – I am going to the west wing.”

“I will evacuate the nursery and meet you there.”

Orders given to the other teams, Dmitri looked up from his messenger, going over to his mother – doing his best remain steady as the shaking continued – accepting one of the medical kit bags.

“I called Ronathan, I will go to the central power system – there are reports of overloads.”

“Stay safe,” Bianca said.

“The two of you as well,” Dmitri said, heading out of the room, noting Yeva following after a few short moments later. “Miss Yeva,” he said as the two rushed down the halls, “you should head for one of the evacuation points.”

“I am a soldier, and the world is falling apart, I can help you.”

“Fighting–” he and Yeva braced for another tremor, “fighting will not help in this instance.”

“You do not know, and I cannot speak, I can help.”

“Miss Yeva please, I do not have time to argue–”

“Then do not argue, let me help.”

Dmitri watched her as she remained unshaken in the quaking hall, he really didn’t have time to argue, “fine, follow and remain close.”

She nodded and they were off.

The central power system was in the northernmost part of the factory; on Sunday nights, the Night team would turn it back on, then head to the central tower before sending out the group to the different parts of the factory to coordinate with their leader who remained at the tower. On this night, however, the central tower was collapsing.

“Jo,” Dmitri called out, seeing group D doing everything they could to keep the tower stable – her cowgirl hat was skewed, and it dawned on Dmitri that Stoic was likely still inside the tower.

“Hurry on,” she shouted, “Cordi’s comin’ we got the tower.”

“Understood, I’m leaving the medical bag,” he said, continuing in Russian, and handing his bag off to one of the group D drones before rushing off.

As Dmitri and Yeva rushed down the halls, Dmitri did his best to keep Yeva in his purview – he knew she was still there, though he could only just barely see her, he could still catch sight of her red light. His messenger was still going off as the leaders and groups worked to keep the factory together, every sound urging him on to reach the central powers system before something worse could happen, yet as he and his companion reached the room, he felt devastation strike his core.

“No,” Dmitri said, as his eyes cast their gaze over the half collapsing room. The rubble had damaged the system to a high degree and as the two made their way through the room, he spoke, “it … it should be fine, if we can get to the main shut off switch then everything else will at least be fixable.”

“Where is the switch,” Yeva asked

“Other side of the room; follow.”

The tremors continued as they worked through the room, climbing over and under rubble as they worked to keep clear of the livewire power surges that were becoming more frequent. Yet as they reached the main shut off switch, their hearts sank.

It was completely blocked off, and far too much for two workers to move on their own.

“Can we wait for the other teams to arrive,” Yeva asked – and Dmitri desperately wish they could.

“We cannot wait,” he said, already going forward to attempt to remove the wreckage, yet with every move he made came the slowly dawning realization that it would not be enough.

“Dmitri, please back away from the area.”

“No,” Dmitri said as he made another attempt, “Yeva, please you need to leave, I do not know if I will be able to reach the system.”

“Dmitri, I can help, but to do that, I need you to back away from the rubble.”

“Yeva do not–” his voice cut off as his eyes took note of a strange red three-pointed symbol holding his left hand still. He turned his head slowly to see the same symbol replacing Yeva’s right eye, that same symbol, hovering in front of her left hand.

“Dmitri, please back away or I will make you.”

He must have been in shock because he did so without a word.

Despite the confidence in her words, her steps were unsteady as she stepped up to the rubble – he could feel the heat radiating off of her. She was careful in her movements as she hugged the rubble, as the world continued to shake. After a moment, Dmitri could see red flashes of code begin to appear all over the rubble as Yeva and the debris glitched in and out of the visible world. As the glitches continued, Dmitri could hear alerts ringing from her visor in a catastrophic cacophony, as the alerts continued the glitch increased, Yeva flashing in and out of visibility. Then – just like back at the camp – Dmitri saw the giant and suddenly, in a crescendo of everything that is and was, Yeva, the giant and the rubble were gone. A second later, from just behind him, Dmitri heard a crash.

Behind him, Dmitri saw Yeva and the rubble.

“YEVA,” Dmitri shouted as she let go of the debris – she didn’t seem coherent, but the power system was still screaming.

Moving quickly Dmitri powered down the systems, while keeping his audio system alert for Yeva – her visor was still ringing, and he had no doubt she would be hot to the touch. As the system finally powered down, Dmitri moved to Yeva’s side, placing his left arm around her shoulders, his right hand at her right elbow – he needed to get her oil

Oil, of course, Dmitri thought, as he moved his right hand to grab at the vial of oil he still had in his jacket pocket. He still had the vial of his oil – with any hope, he thought, it would hopefully relieve her.

As he popped the cork lid, the change was instant. Yeva was still hyperventilating but Dmitri could see a smile emerging from her pained face. Dmitri brought the vial to her mouth – distantly, he registered her hands raising.

“It’s okay Yeva, there’s plenty more where this came from.”

It started low, but slowly a laugh emerged from the pained woman, as her rising hands land on his, when her grip turned harsh and in one motion Dmitri hit the ground. The now empty vial falling out of his hands as something stronger than Yeva held him down, an invisible force pulled down his jacket and shirt revealing the metal neck and shoulder beneath. He heard a crack, and Dmitri saw as Yeva’s smile split her face – the symbol covering her visor – yet through her laugh her could hear her cries as she opened her maw and bit down, her fanged teeth drawing oil.

Dmitri bit back a cry of pain, as Yeva began to drink, and on her screen, he could see the smallest of indicators that she was finally getting her fill as the sounds of euphoria emerged from her. Unfortunately, he knew it was only a matter of time before someone came into the room and Dmitri didn’t want to think about what the factory drones would do if they saw Yeva in this state. Slowly, Dmitri began to make the smallest of twitches.

“Yeva,” he started between breaths, “Ye–” his voice cut off as she tightened her grip on him, but he couldn’t stop. “Ye–,” he took a breath “Yeva, … please, … I need you to hear me; I–,” he took another breath, “you need … you need to come back … think about Nori.”

Maybe she froze for a millisecond, but Yeva continued to drink – unaware of the world and the drones that were likely soon to discover her.

He had to try something else, “think about … Alice.”

At first it was slow, like she was awakening from a dream when with a sudden gasp, Yeva wrenched her jaws from Dmitri’s shoulder. Her eyes were hollow, her breaths harsh but after a moment, she climbed off of him – pulling him up against her, into her lap. Between blurry and squinted eyes, Dmitri could see her bring up the strange symbol again when gently the pain in his shoulder faded away, the damage alerts going off in his own head, finally shutting down.

“Ugh,” Dmitri said, as his eyes opened groggily, he gave a huffed laugh, “didn’t know you were a healer.”

“Hush,” Yeva said, her embarrassment as evident as the red blush on her screen, “I’m sorry, how, how are you feeling?”

“Would you believe me if I said, ‘not bad’?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Ah, too bad; how are you feeling?”

“You are the one who was nearly killed!”

“Keyword, ‘nearly’, I’ll be fine – you are the one who was overheating.”

Yeva was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “I am back within a safe range.”

Dmitri huffed, “forgive me if I don’t believe you.” He considered her for a moment, “I’ll bring you and your sister a tin of oil each, after.”

“Your father said I had to refrain from eating.”

“I think that ship has sailed.” She looked away from him and he continued after a moment, “fine, then when my parents give you the go ahead, I will have a tin of oil ready for you; a whole tin.”

“What about Sarah?”

“The quake must have made a few tins go missing – too bad.”

Yeva shook her head, but though it was weak, a gentle smile formed at her lips.

Moving to stand, Yeva brought Dmitri to his feet as she worked to steady him just as Group A and B came in moving to handle the rest of the machines as Ronanthan came up to them.

“Are you two, alright,” he asked.

“We are well, Mister Ronathan,” Dmitri said, switching to English, “Yeva helped me get to the main shut off switch.”

“Thank you, Miss Yeva,” Ronathan said, “I saw your sister earlier, I believe she went with my wife – we should head out now.”

“Of course,” Yeva said as Alta-Ana came up to them.

“Mister Dmitri, Mister Ronathan,” she said, “the room is secure, we should be able to handle the rest in the morning.”

“Alright then,” Dmitri said before raising his voice to the rest of the room, “everyone, we can move out.”

Traveling back down the hall, the two Thirds kept point, Dmitri’s hand holding Yeva’s left. Halfway through came the last of the major aftershocks that would happen in the time since the implosion.

Bracing themselves Dmitri gave an order, “half of A and B, go back to check the room the rest follow!”

As they entered the room, Dmitri could make out the sight of the Central tower, split in two; the lower half a collapsed waste as the top half remained hanging. In the settling dust, he could see the whole of the on-duty night team – injured but alive, Miss Cordelia and Nori among them and just beyond them was Ron being held back by Khan and his mother.

“LET ME GO,” Ron screamed, desperation in every note.

“Oh,” Dmitri said as his eyes tracked to what the man had seen.

In the rubble of the half-collapsed tower, was Kali – her body crushed, her arms raised like broken wings as her still hands held tight to half collapsed chains that must have once threaded the tower.

“KALI,” came one last scream as Ron collapsed holding tight to, what must half been Thaddeus, as he wept.

With only a moment’s hesitation, Ronathan began directing the groups as he moved over to help his wife as she was directing what was left of the tower.

Dmitri grimaced, “Yeva, you and your sister should head to bed, we can handle the rest.” Then he was off as he walked over to the grieving man.

Reaching the group, Dmitri was silent – what could be said? Then from out of the despair, came an alert from the little pill boy.

“No, no, no,” Ron sounded desperate, “please, not you too.”

“Bianca,” Khan said, “can you do anything.”

“This is an unrecorded virus,” she said, “it has been plaguing the nursery for some time now, Ivan and I have tried to find a cure, but it would move from pill to pill before we could corner it.”

“Well, it is just Thad now,” Dmitri said, “can you help him?”

His mother didn’t answer as she kneeled down opening her medi-kit, “Mister Ronald, let me see him.”

“Ye– yes, of course,” Ron said as he moved enough for Bianca to access the pill boy.

As the moments passed, the thought of a miracle began to fade. Whatever this virus was, it was overloading everything, like it was a great beast that was offended that it was being confronted and had decided to make its last stand. As it was, it was taking everything Bianca had just to keep Thaddeus online.

“It is overloading everything,” Bianca said.

“What about the nursery, or the medical office,” Dmitri asked.

“They’re both blocked off,” Khan said, “it would take to long.”

“Ron,” Nori called to them.

They startled, having not heard her come over to them.

“I can help,” Nori continued, “I, I’ve seen this virus, I can contain it, please.”

On one hand they were hesitant, on the other hand, they were desperate. They hand Thaddeus over to Nori. Kneeling down, her shawl enshrouded her and the pill boy as she gestured for them to pass her the medi-kit. From within, she removed a charging wire, connecting her core to the babe. It was sometime as they waited with bated breath, before they heard Thad cooing, before he gave a yawn and settled down to rest for the night.

Nori unplugged herself and handed the pill baby back to Ron.

“I can’t remove it, and it can’t run anymore, but it shouldn’t be able to hurt him.”

“Contained is enough,” Bianca said, “thank you, we will take it from here.”

In the relieved quiet, they could hear Ron muttering ‘thank you’s as he held Thad close, rocking the pill boy who had become an orphan.

(~*~)

There were no other deaths that night, and though the rest of the night was almost as busy as the night of the implosion, a silence had settled over the factory. Dmitri kept to his word, meeting Yeva and Nori with full tins of oil after their appointment with his parents who had to keep the check up short due to the influx of injured drones. It really was like the time after the night of the implosion as the drones of the factory began doubling their efforts to reenforce their home to ensure the prevention of another tragedy.

As the week continued, Ronathan had apparently taken over for Cordelia in presenting the dead as his wife was busy handling Kali’s body for her funeral that was held the Sunday after on the twentieth of February. It was a quiet affair with almost every drone in attendance and at the forefront was Ron holding tight to Thaddeus after the pill boy had finally been released from the medical wing with ordered weekly check-ups. Not long after, Dmitri recalled seeing Ron with two boxes and he had no doubt about whose unseen name was on them.

“Que pasa Dee,” Alta-Ana said as she sat down with him – he was in mining again grabbing some maps for Stoic who was still stuck in Medical and had gotten distracted.

“Alta,” Dmitri greeted, “did not expect to see you here.”

“Jo suspected you got lost in the past.”

“Is that right?” Dmitri sighed with a shake of his head, “I am sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, nothing to say that can make it better either – it’s strange, in a place like this, you think we would get used to it by now.”

“Optimal Suppression is a joke of a program.”

“It is – did you know, Ron’s friend, her human was a drone psychologist.”

“Really?”

“Yes, apparently, is an Optimal Suppressor, suppresses too much, even they can crack.”

The quiet tears that followed were like the release of a great dam, there was still pain after, but it was the start of the next step forward.

“Oh, Dee,” Alta-Ana said as they were heading out, “here, I found something of yours.”

What she handed him was the empty vial of oil that he had fed to Yeva.

“I know whose oil it is, who the vial was bought buy and whose saliva is on it.” Alta-Ana was looking away from him as she spoke; she sighed, “I don’t understand it Dee, but I trust you.”

Then she was off. Looking back at the vial, Dmitri realized there was a note tied to it.

Unfurling it, Dmitri only found himself only half surprised by the contents.

Hey Dmitri, if you’re getting this note, then Kali and I are probably dead, which you know, kind of sucks and I know this might be a lot to ask but I need you to stay strong. That important person likely already arrived, and I think we all know what it’s like to feel a little lost in this place when everyone is focused on the bigger events. She’s gonna need a lot of help from someone she can trust, and I know you’re just the guy to keep Sarah from messing with her. I really wish I could have been there to see the world you guys are gonna make – just …even if it’s hard, you have to keep going, okay? Okay. You were a great friend Dee, I’m glad I got to meet you.

Sincerely, John Maxwell Mathews

P.S. Talk to Cordi

If he had to have another cry then that was between him and the creator but after he dropped off the maps with Stoic, Dmitri went to talk with Miss Cordelia in one of her private offices in the Mortician’s Hall.

“Miss Cordelia,” Dmitri started.

“Huh, oh Mister Dmitri, did you need something?”

“Uhh, maybe, I …” Dmitri shuffled a bit at the doorway before he spoke, “John said I should talk to you.”

“Alta-Ana gave you a note too,” she said, tired but unsurprised. “That boy,” she scoffed, “God only knows how long he had her sitting on those notes, much less what the cue was for her to start handing them out since I know she wouldn’t have read them.”

Brow furrowed, Dmitri sat down at Cordelia’s desk, “so he knew he was going to die?”

“John,” Cordelia started, “is interesting, he knows a lot, but he also understands that what he knows can change … I think he knew but he was also working to change what could be.”

“This feels like a discussion of fixed fate.”

“Not fixed; you would be surprised at how much was able to change – I believe he was just more aware of the diverging paths.”

“Are we at a path right now?”

“Perhaps.”

“… When I was eleven … you did not need to adjust your wig, did you?”

Miss Cordelia started before she gave a sigh, “technically I did, just not in the way you were thinking about.” Moving her hand to her bangs Dmitri could see for the first time that her hair was not a wig. “It became a part of me around three years before I left Earth, around that time is when the black and gold appeared.”

“… You said technically.”

“Yeva and Nori are in good company.”

“I see,” Dmitri paused before a thought came to mind, “does Ronathan know?”

Cordelia nodded, “I do not know if I would have survived this long without him.”

“What now?”

“Now I plan on continuing to ensure those two girls are well cared for; what about you?”

Dmitri showed her his empty vial – without the note of course. Taking it in hand Cordelia gave it sniff, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“How much do you usually need,” he asked.

In the time after, Dmitri, his parents, Cordelia and Ronathan worked to keep Yeva and Nori cool without Group A’s knowledge. Not long after, Khan joined in on their machinations. Not long after Dmitri decided to take his chance. Not long after he had a date with Yeva. The pain was still there but it was becoming bearable with each day.

Several dates later, Khan was side eyeing him for calling in with a supposed hangover. A week later the factory leader was calling in for his own supposed hangover after which both drone men received a lecture from Ronathan about temperance – the kind only men in their position would have to be concerned about. If Miss Cordelia was also lecturing Nori and Yeva, then that was their business.

It was early April when Ron adopted Thaddeus and late April when Sarah’s Oil investigation was put to rest. Then with everything settling down, in early May, Dmitri brought Yeva back to his still undiscovered secret room – a place where they had had many of their dates – and proposed. The ring – in traditional drone fashion – was a fabric rose, this one, the red of celebration in full bloom.

They scheduled their wedding for the twenty-sixth of May, the day before the official opening of the newly renovated Outpost 3, now properly connected to the factory for safe transit. The weeks before were full as everything was prepared, chief among them was the removal of the shackles from the marriage chairs. No longer would drones be shackled down and forced together; now each union would be made of love and freewill.

While Yeva had not been able to have a full evaluation Dmitri knew she had gone back to medical recently with worried about whether or not she would be able to have a core born. In turn she had been given a tentative yes, Dmitri in turn had gone in to receive the reproductive cord that the humans had removed.

On the day of the wedding, Becky and Waylon finally welcomed their baby girl into the world. The night of the wedding, as the senior doctor in the factory, Ivan performed the linking ceremony. After was the party and then – since Dmitri and Yeva were now a family – they were able to move into the Outpost the night before the official opening. As they left the party, Becky promised to send them their wedding presents an hour after lunch.

That night, Dmitri and Yeva showed each other their souls, and though no child came of it, there was joy.

As Dmitri woke up the morning after, he found that he had to remind himself of how much had changed. He was free and now he was married to the woman he had chosen, the woman who had chosen him as well. Laying a kiss on her brow, and knowing how punctual a certain blond could be, he got up and decided to get breakfast ready for his new bride. Yet, as he tossed a shirt over his shoulders, Dmitri took not that the reproductive cord way still plugged into his core. Moving to unplug it, he soon found that it was stuck – no, not stuck.

Moving over to the vanity he had gotten for Yeva, Dmitri discovered that his core had been healed of the castration the humans had done. No longer was his reproductive cord a separate thing from him, as the base that connected to his cord had been repaired back into its original pullcord state.

“Dmitri,” came Yeva’s tired voice as she began to sit up in bed.

Rushing to her side, Dmitri half tackled her in a hug followed by a kiss a moment later. If they were a little late to meet Becky when she dropped off their wedding presents, then they were at least grateful that she had also brought them a late lunch along with the packages.

Their honeymoon was a weeklong and by the end of it – though the flickers were incredibly weak – Yeva was officially with code. Over the course of the next five months, Ivan and Bianca would keep a steady watch over the pregnancy with a small monitor scanner that Yeva wore beneath her new factory drone clothes. Khan and Nori, in turn, were married on the first of June, with Yeva informing her new husband that Nori was also with code – a detail she discovered after the Factory Leader and his new Co-Leader’s return to work after their own honeymoon. Over the next few months, Yeva and Nori worked hard to speed up the Factory’s workflow as, the sooner everything was done, the sooner they would be able to return to the camp. Then on October twenty-ninth, a half hour before sunrise, Doll Fotograf was born, an hour later – after nearly dying – Uzi Dorn was born as well.

It really was only due to how busy everyone still was that maternity and paternity leave was a patchy thing, but Yeva and Dmitri managed. Still, they had decided that it was probably best that Doll didn’t get used to the Mortician’s Hall, as such – outside of mealtimes – Dmitri was usually the one to carry her around. At the moment, however, as Dmitri was heading home, Yeva having gone on ahead, he could hear a gentle humming, words soon following after.

Quietly opening the door, Dmitri found his wife and daughter in the living room, what he didn’t expect was the slight frustrated look on Yeva’s face.

“Yeva are you alright,” Dmitri started, returning to his original programed language.

“… You opened the door, and I couldn’t speak,” she said, also returning to her original language.

“Hazarding a guess,” he said as he came up to give her and Doll a kiss on their foreheads, “that song is important to your little sister; it sounds like a lullaby.”

“It is.”

“Well, then I know something that should cheer you up,” he said as he handed her a few papers, taking Doll into his arms so Yeva could go through them. “Khan has official approved your request to put together a team for an expedition back to the camp.”

What should have been a month of planning in carful excitement soon turned into a fight between two sisters as, where once Yeva and Nori were united in wanting to bring their little sister home, now their goals were divided. According to Khan, the reinforcement of the factory and Outpost was to defend against the toxic death storms but during a meeting at the factory leader’s home, Dmitri could recognize the three-pronged symbol written in oil that had been hastily hidden. While Yeva couldn’t speak on it, Dmitri had seen similar works that he knew had been done by Yeva – old papers from early in the year, nothing so recent as the one Nori had likely made. Still, he did his best to keep the peace, working with Yeva to prepare the expedition team for whatever challenges they would face while the rest of the Outpost and factory was reenforced.

The first of Seramorris was supposed to be a day of celebration – it was Doll’s first time in the outside world. Though things were still tense between the two sisters, the day was still a fun one – including the use of reflective umbrellas to protect, Yeva, Nori and Cordelia from the burning sun – and if Yeva teased him for continuing to take a million and one photos then that was between the two of them. Yet as the sun began to set and the reflective umbrellas were put away, a tenseness seemed to come over Nori, one that only increased as the hour passed till it was answered with a crashing ship.

The creatures within were more beast than drone as their animalistic growls and hellish laughter infected the night.

For a moment Dmitri could hear nothing when from within his mind – across the marriage link – he felt a sharp pain strike. His gaze met Yeva’s as the alerts ringing from her head blended together into a singular piercing ring as she fell, Doll tumbling out of her arms.

His body moved first, scooping up his daughter and wife as he ran without seeing, without hearing till he crashed into someone within the Outpost – someone crashing into him in the rush. Curled around his wife a daughter, he didn’t notice the Outpost door close as his mind shut down from the overload.

(~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~)

Beau's Prologue | Alice's Prologue | Nori's Prologue |

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