Hatched light came in through the fibres of the bag smothering Ferrassie. She had no idea how long she’d been standing naked with her hands SmartCuffed behind her back. It must have been hours. She could just make out bare walls in a windowless room, and to her right a square table with a chair on either side. The bag stank of stale body odour and mildew. She was suffocating in her own breath, sour with fear and hunger. She took deeper and deeper breaths; her lungs couldn’t pull in enough oxygen. Fear of Officer Noon kept her from tilting forward and shaking the bag off. She leaned forward slightly, creating a small gap where the fabric of the bag lifted from her chest, and sucked in a stream of fresher air.
The room was cold. Goosebumps had broken out all over her skin. She shuddered and shook. She had an idea she was being watched. She wasn’t ashamed of her naked body. She was hairier and more muscular than the little-brain ideal. She’d never cared if little-brains found her attractive or even screwable, but nudity made her skin and organs seem more vulnerable. On the other hand, it wasn’t like a layer of cloth could protect her from anything.
Useless tears fell, stoking her panic. She wanted to sink to the floor and relieve her spasming muscles. She moved her knees and lifted her feet slightly, despite being ordered to not move.
The room was dead quiet except for her breaths and the drumming of her heart. She mouthed the lyrics of her favourite songs to help get her mind straight. Wherever she was must be deep inside the building, away from the noise of the streets. The scab on her neck itched. She needed a slash. Officer Noon had dragged her from the Neo Control holding cell as she was about to sit on the loo.
She had no idea what they were going to do to her or why they were keeping her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d already told them what had happened. It wasn’t her fault. She’d been daft and gullible. She’d screwed up.
The door opened; a slight rattle and then warmer air and sound rushing in like water: voices, beeps, rings, shuffles and bangs. From somewhere outside the room, cutting through all the ordinary noises, was a high tinkling laugh. The door closed, shutting Ferrassie off from the world again.
‘Hey, it’s freezing in here. Aircon up to twenty-four, please, BIS.’
‘Yes, Officer Lorae,’ BIS said.
At least it wasn’t Noon. Anyone would be better than Noon. Violence had seemed coiled in every muscle of his wiry little-brain body. The fuzzy shape of the copper came towards her. Ferrassie braced for a blow as the bag was lifted from her head.
Cold air hit Ferrassie’s mug and chilled the damp sweat that had collected in her hair and around her neck. After hours of straining for every grain of bag-filtered light, her eyes watered at the brightness of the room.
Officer Lorae had black hair in neat corkscrew curls around her head. Dimples framed her smile. She would understand.
‘Sorry about your treatment. Officer Noon can get carried away. We only want to ask you some questions.’ The copper went behind Ferrassie and sliced away her SmartCuffs. ‘These are completely unnecessary.’
Ferrassie brought her arms forward, her shoulders creaking with pain. She massaged each wrist in turn and then wiped away her tears.
‘I’ve brought some clothes for you.’ Lorae handed her a grey jumpsuit. ‘I’ll fetch you some breakfast. Get yourself dressed and take a seat at the table when you’re done. I won’t be long.’
Lorae left the room. Ferrassie’s body shook with sobs. She took deep breaths and pulled on the jumpsuit. The room already felt warmer. This, whatever this had been, was over. She had no idea what came next. Officer Lorae had a kind smile and a kind voice. She only wanted to ask some questions. Ferrassie could answer questions. Ferrassie would tell Lorae whatever she wanted to know and then she could go back to her bed at the barracks and curl up there, safe beneath her covers.
Ferrassie lowered her stiff body onto a chair. Officer Lorae came in with a glass of water and a sandwich. Ferrassie drank the water first; her throat ached from holding back her blubbing for so long. She took a bite of the sandwich. The copper watched her with a tight smile. Ferrassie’s mouth dried around the wad of bread and labmeat in her mouth. Ferrassie put her sandwich down.
‘Sandwich no good?’
‘I’d rather we get this over with.’
Lorae nodded. ‘I understand. You’ve had a rough night and then a scare this morning.’
Ferrassie took a shaky breath.
‘Why don’t you tell me what happened last night?’
‘I already made a statement.’
‘Yes, but I need to hear it from you. It’s procedure. We need to do this so I can sign off on your case. Understand?’
Ferrassie nodded. She understood procedure. LC was all about following procedure. ‘Fine.’ Ferrassie began her story with the messages from Ferdinand.
The copper’s brow furrowed. Ferrassie finished her story with coming into City 1 in Lars’s truck. She took a sip of water, avoiding the copper’s sharp focus. She’d done what was asked of her. It had to be enough. Lorae was the kind of person who’d believe her. They could send her back to work at the cricket factory and she could forget any of this had happened.
Officer Lorae stared at her for a long time. Ferrassie fidgeted. What was she thinking? She pushed down the urge to tell the story over again, to fill the silence.
Finally the copper sighed and shifted in her seat. ‘Ferrassie, we know about your contact with a group of free-Neos.’
Ferrassie’s heart bashed at her ribs. ‘Come again? Free-Neos? I have no idea what you’re on about.’
‘I understand you want to protect your people, your species. I’m an advocate for Neo rights myself. You Neos have had a rough deal and you need to stick together. Right?’
Ferrassie shook her head. ‘I don’t –’
‘Look, I get it. You don’t want to live your whole lives as slaves to LeaderCorp. Sometimes I feel like I’m a slave to LeaderCorp.’ Lorae chuckled. ‘But we all need to do our part.’ She leaned forward and smiled at Ferrassie. ‘I bet you’re quite intelligent for a Neo. I bet you have some talents. Don’t you?’
Ferrassie shrugged.
‘Tell me about yourself.’
‘I … I hauled cricket crap every day of my life. Not much else to say.’
‘I bet there’s more to you than what’s coded into your clone tattoo. Isn’t there?’
‘I suppose.’
Lorae leaned back in her chair. ‘I like you, Ferrassie. I want to help you, but you have to give me something. Wouldn’t you like for this medical research thing to go away and to go back to your work at the cricket factory? We simply need your cooperation.’
‘I want to cooperate. I just don’t understand. I can tell you anything you wanna know about Ferdinand and Peony. No one has even asked for descriptions of them. I’ll give you as much as I can about those dodgy bastards.’
The copper didn’t seem happy with her. If Ferrassie didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear she would leave and Officer Noon would come back. Pleasing Officer Lorae was the key. She was the only one who could help her now.
‘Ferrassie, Ferrassie.’ Lorae tutted. ‘Those individuals aren’t my particular concern. I need to hear about the free-Neos. What do you know about them?’
Ferrassie needed to be careful. A lie to please Lorae could get her into more trouble. She racked her brains for anything she had on the free-Neos. The first she’d heard about them was from the Rewilders at the refuelling station.
She told Officer Lorae what the Rewilders had said.
‘Right, about the refuelling station. I find it hard to believe it’s a coincidence that you met up with an individual suspected of anti-LeaderCorp activities and came into the city with him.’
‘Lars?’ She’d been cold before; now the room was too hot. Ferrassie fanned herself with the collar of her jumpsuit.
‘Yes, Lars.’
Ferrassie clenched her jaw. They didn’t care about what she’d been through. They didn’t care about folk harvesting organs from Neos. They were asking her questions about crap she had no idea about. They’d made her stand naked for hours in a cold room with a bag over her head. She held onto her anger. It was better than fear and despair.
‘This is so daft. Can’t you see this makes no sense? Lars brought me into the city. If I knew where the free-Neos were, wouldn’t he have taken me to them? You little-brains are supposed to be the smart ones. You have no fucking clue.’
‘Little-brains?’ Officer Lorae crossed her arms and shook her head. ‘That kind of hostility won’t help you, Ferrassie.’
They sat in silence for a while. Long enough for Ferrassie to regret her outburst. She needed to butter up Lorae if she wanted to avoid medical research. She’d probably already stuffed up her chances. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. She had no info. All she had was the reality. And the reality didn’t seem to have the power to get her out of this.
‘What about your friend –’ Lorae made blank IntelliEnhance mug – ‘Amud. Does he know anything about the free-Neos? Should we bring him in for questioning?’
‘Amud? You’re going to bring Amud into this?’ Ferrassie massaged her temples. Now the copper was trying to intimidate her. ‘Amud doesn’t know anything, and if I knew anything I would tell you. You have to believe me. I’m not a criminal. Ferdinand and Peony are the criminals. Why don’t you go after them?’
‘Why did you try to remove your clone tattoo if you weren’t intending to escape from LeaderCorp?
‘I told you, Ferdinand and Peony did that.’ Ferrassie tipped forward and rested her brow ridge against the table.
The door opened. It was him. Noon. He charged straight at Ferrassie and lifted her out of the chair by her collar. She pissed a warm flood into her jumpsuit and her chair tilted and clattered to the floor. She brought her hands up to protect herself and scrabbled with her feet to regain her balance. She was momentarily weightless, like she wasn’t even there, before the wall slammed into her back. Every bone in her body shook. She felt no pain. Pain would come later. Air rushed from her lungs and she struggled to take another breath. Her stomach heaved.
‘Enough fucking about, you cave ranga turd. You’ll tell us what you know or you’ll be in so many pieces the medical researchers won’t even be able to do anything with you.’
Ferrassie couldn’t even make sense of his words. All she knew was that he was going to hurt her. This was going to be bad and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t defend herself, even though every instinct told her to fight back, to break his nose like she’d broken Ferdinand’s. If she did she wouldn’t make it out of the room alive. Lorae was unmoved and unsmiling.
Ferrassie keened softly, snot bubbled from her nostrils and tears clouded her eyes.
Someone knocked at the door and Noon let go of her. She slid down the wall and cowered on the floor. She didn’t care if they sent her to medical research, if it meant she could get out of this right now. All she wanted was a moment of peace, lying in her own bed at the barracks.
‘What have you done to this woman?’ said the high-pitched nasal voice of a Neo.
The Neo copper who’d been on the gate the night before, Officer Shuqba, stood speaking to Lorae and Noon.
‘It was completely under control.’ Officer Lorae stood, leaning her hip against the table, with her arms folded across her chest. ‘Unlike the Security Forces, we don’t have the luxury of checking lifelogs for information. We’re forced to use alternative methods with Neos. Now, how can we help you, Officer?’
Noon had his hands on his hips. He was centimetres away from Officer Shuqba, using his height advantage to look down at her.
Shuqba didn’t flinch or step back. ‘Commander Rayne has ordered all interrogations of Neo subjects to be conducted in the presence of a Security Force representative from now on.’
Lorae and Noon looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. ‘That has never been necessary before,’ said Officer Lorae.
‘Yes, well, as you may be aware, Commander Rayne is new in the post and is implementing changes. Please consult with your superior for further confirmation.’
Lorae made her blank IntelliEnhance mug while Noon paced. Shuqba stood straight-backed by the door. She gave Ferrassie a small nod and smile.
Ferrassie hugged her knees to her chest. Shuqba was there to help her. If she actually could. Everyone said Neo coppers had no real power. They were only around to do the jobs little-brain coppers weren’t keen on, and to be on the front lines of any wars.
‘The SFO’s right,’ Lorae said.
Noon strode towards the door. ‘We’re done here anyway.’ He slammed the door behind him.
‘I’m inclined to agree with Officer Noon. You may as well take her back to the barracks. We’ll alert you when we’ve confirmed a medical research transfer date.’ Lorae opened the door and looked at Ferrassie. ‘If you find out anything of interest, you contact me, Ferrassie. I could still help you get out of this medical research thing.’ She shut the door quietly behind her.
Shuqba helped Ferrassie to her feet and held her in her arms while she blubbed.