The Chapter Where A Girl Sees Ghosts

Liane woke with a start. She immediately felt her belly, trying to determine if a tiny person was in there.

“You’re not pregnant.”

Liane rolled out of bed, putting it between her and Aurelia. She glared at the lab coat wearing woman. She eyed CP1 and stood ready to defend herself.

“Nor were you pregnant while asleep. Now would you calm down,” Aurelia said.

“You attacked me!” Liane accused.

“Don’t be ridiculous. All I did was turn your Second Sight back on.”

“You did what?” Liane shouted.

She rushed to the window. Friendly, smiling people casually walked down the sidewalk, chatted in their front yards, and tended to their gardens. One person smiled and waved at Liane as they passed by with their dog. She scowled at them.

Liane turned on Aurelia. “I liked having my Second Sight off. I don’t want to see ghosts everywhere I go.”

“They are AI virtual personages that are there to provide you with social stimuli,” Aurelia corrected.

Liane groaned. Then the wires connected in her brain. “Wait. You said I couldn’t use my Second Sight anymore, or the system would realize I was still alive, and the whole plan would be ruined.”

“No. I said that you couldn’t use it unless I reprogrammed it with your new identity, but that I couldn’t reprogram it remotely,” Aurelia corrected again.

“What, then how—” Liane gasped.

“It was a minor surgery,” Aurelia assured.

“You did brain surgery on me!”

Aurelia sighed in exasperation, “And this is why I had to catch you by surprise. I knew you would not cooperate and would overreact.”

“Overreact!” Liane shouted.

“Yes. Overreact. What you’re doing right now. You disappeared from the clinic and I had no way of finding you. Chance brought you here, but if you had been disoriented from the procedure, you could have wandered off and gotten yourself killed. Then where would we be? You would have lost your chance to reconcile with your daughter, and I would have lost you.”

Liane kept her gaze on the floor. Her blood was still hot, but it was cooling.

“You know what’s at stake,” Aurelia continued, “I can’t afford to lose you. I need your Second Sight on, so I know where you are and that you're safe. And if this is what it takes for us both to get what we want, it’s a minor cost to pay. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Liane kicked the wall. She knew Aurelia was right.

“Okay! Fine,” Liane relented. She exhaled a long breath. “Do I finally get to see Claire now?”

“Yes,” Aurelia smiled, “Change into your uniform. I’ll have HH make you some breakfast.” She left, but immediately popped back in. “Oh, and I know you didn't wear a bra yesterday. Make sure you wear one today.”

With that she retreated victoriously. Liane clicked her tongue and kicked the wall one more time, then changed into her yellow and blue uniform with a bra begrudgingly worn underneath. She fixed her hair into a ponytail since HH was busy cooking and had never been great with long hair anyway.

Dressed and ready, Liane left her room and entered the kitchen, where Aurelia was waiting for her at the table and HH was cooking food in the background.

Aurelia beamed when she saw her. “Oh my! Look at you! All dressed up for your first day of work, and looking so cute. This must be how proud parents feel, sending their little one off into the world.”

Aurelia dabbed at her eyes. Liane rolled hers.

“No need to pretend you have any such feelings. Now explain how dressing as a package delivery drone helps me see— Wait. I’m going to deliver Claire a package?” Liane asked.

“That’s right, and working girls need their energy, so come sit. Eat up.”

HH set out a plate of food for Liane. She was starved, so begrudgingly sat next to Aurelia. It was the only other seat. She knew HH was an excellent cook, but having Aurelia sitting next to her, watching her, made her want to not eat out of spite. She used her Second Sight to create a screen to block Aurelia’s face, then started eating.

As she ate, a thought occurred to her, and she navigated her screen to the calendar.

“You were asleep for twelve hours,” Aurelia interjected, “obviously not long enough to carry and deliver a baby. Honestly, I already said you were not pregnant. Do you think so little of me that I would take advantage of you like that?”

Liane shrugged. “Maybe. I didn’t think you would knock me out and do brain surgery on me, but that happened. And could you not spy on my private vision?”

“If that would make you happy, but I would like to point out, you were much more agreeable as an old man. That new immature brain of yours is making you more irritable and less reasonable,” Aurelia said.

“As the person who caused my irritation and decided my age for my post-reincarnation brain, you only have yourself to blame.”

“I didn’t pick it arbitrarily. The whole point is that you’re the same age as Claire. I explained this before, remember?”

Liane shoved a big bite of food in her mouth. Aurelia’s smile twitched slightly. Liane smiled to herself.

They sat in silence until Liane finished her meal and HH cleared away the dishes. Aurelia placed a small box on the table and slid it toward Liane.

“Your first delivery job,” Aurelia said.

Liane took the box and turned it over in her hands. She shook it by her ear.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Something important. You don’t need to know what. You just need to deliver it. What you do need to know is that this is a risky game we are playing.” Aurelia leaned forward in her seat. Her smile gone. “The System is always watching. Its purpose is to make you and everyone else happy, but that doesn’t mean it will let you do whatever you want. It believes people must be kept apart. That doing so is for their own good and will bring peace and happiness. And for hundreds of years it seems that it’s been right, but we’re going to change that.”