Captive

Another knock came from the door. Panic increased in my mind as I flipped between it and them. C’mon, this ain’t a hard decision, just think! Have a single loving thought for your daughter!

“Leonce Lalonde! Adelphe Lalonde! Hand over the heretic immediately!” Heretic?! You can’t be serious, we believe the same thing you pompous assholes! I stared back at him pleading to make the right decision.

He finally made a step. Unfortunately, he came towards me. You’ve got to be shitting me, he’s still going to throw away his daughter after all that?! His hand came out and grabbed the bindings on me. With ease, he lifted me off the ground.

I tried to plant my feet on the wall for all the good it did. There was no traction for me and he effortlessly muscled through. Even the passive strength of his augments exceeded anything I could manage.

My heart began to pound in its chest and sweat soaked into my undershirt. Heat radiated through my body as though it was already feeling the fires. Which made me think. Did they actually burn people like me? That was just the ghost stories my parents and kids told each other. I didn’t know how they actually killed us. But I didn’t want to learn the truth!

The door was a few meters away when suddenly he stopped. He pressed a hand to the door opening it. This was Louise's room. A casual toss roughly dropped me into the corner smacking her dresser. Before I could completely recover from what happened, I saw him grab Louise in both arms and leave. The door closed behind him.

A few moments later, the front door opened. “Please you gotta help my daughter! She’s been coughing so much that she’s unconscious!”

“Mister Lalonde, where is the heretic?”

“There isn’t one! I want you to help my daughter! She’s sick!”

“Mister Lalonde, that’s impossible. We don’t get sick with colds or common diseases. If something has happened to her then it is by judge of Sol. It is a trial to be cleared through prayer and faith.”

“But nothing’s worked!”

“Our stance on this is final. Now where is the heretic you reported?”

“I lied!”

“Do you understand how serious it is to lie about a heretic in the town?”

“My daughter is ill, you think I care about breaking a law? Now are you going to stop repeating scripture and help my daughter or not?!”

“Get your hand off me, Lalonde!”

“But my daughter!”

“We will overlook this offense because of your service to the Basilica and good standing, but you’ve been warned, sir. Don’t abuse your position again!”

“Get back here!”

Damn, he’s either a pretty good actor or he just wanted to see their hand. Maybe both? But I heard the door close and footsteps. The door to Louise’s room opened once more. He motioned with his head for me to follow him. Really? I’m still tied.

But I pushed the thought behind me and rolled over to stand up carefully. It was more difficult than using the wall since I had the dresser’s different edges to fight against. I made it though and walked back into the hall.

Adelphe stepped out now that the Clergy left, thankfully she had the good mind to not ruin that. “I can’t believe you did that! What are we supposed to do now with her?”

“Not keep me tied up and in my underwear I hope.”

“You aren’t getting your exo-clothes back!”

“Come off of it! Those don’t even compare to your augments. The best it does is help me survive in your world.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you rejected them!”

I grumbled as we all gathered back in the living room. It seemed that Louise finally calmed down at some point. So I was grateful for that at least. Seeing him put her down on the couch and realizing that she wasn’t bound had me taking a step back. She should be back to normal, but I’d like to actually see her awake before releasing her.

Leonce pulled his wife aside even as she looked back at Louise. “You aren’t just leaving Louise with them?!”

“I’m tied up, what am I going to do, fall on her? She could throw me across the room as well as your husband. You should be more concerned about my health.” That didn’t go over very well with her, but she got dragged away into the adjoining dining room. A sigh escaped as I looked around for somewhere to sit down.

Between the mess and just not a chair nearby, I had to go back to the floor again. Damn, I needed thicker panties with this cold floor. But I tried to put my mind on other things. I noticed with my jacket gone, that B wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He probably hid in the chaos, though for now I probably shouldn’t have him free me.

“Is it bedtime, Miss Val?”

I snapped back to the couch recognizing Louise. A mixture of fear and relief washed over me. But as I saw her and realized that she was speaking, it meant that she was normal again. “Bed time?”

“Yea, you’re in your sleepy clothes?” She pulled herself off the couch and walked over to me. Her attention seemed to be on a few things. Though with her energy I could only guess which it was right now.

I looked down at myself. I hadn’t realized when she clawed me, she tore through my shirt nearly completely and destroyed my bra, well the clasp at least. It put a clear presentation on my chest. “I was encouraged to make myself comfortable.”

“Huh?” She stared at me and then shoved her finger against my chest hitting my ribs a little below my clavicle. I guess she noticed too. It was pretty obvious. “You don’t have a Corpus brand. Don’t you have augments, Miss Val?”

They didn’t teach her that yet, huh? I wonder when that indoctrination begins then? “No, my body is completely natural, the one I was born with.”

“Nothing at all? You can’t talk to the network or computers?”

“Not the way you do. I have a few implants to do the few necessary things to survive in your society, but that’s it.”

“Why not? They help out a lot.”

“That’s true, but my people refused augments. They rejected technology replacing the human body. So we live under our own strength.”

“Strength? Like this?” She picked up a piece of debris from her rage and bent it with only a bit of effort. I didn't need the demonstration, Louise. I’m very aware of how strong you are.

I tilted my head a little. “Yes, but not that strong. We get everyone together to help if we do.”

“Really? What town is it?” Her curiosity jumped. I guess that was a consistent thing about her. Probably a good thing, though I worry about what her mother would eventually teach her.

Thinking back to home, it was sort of a town, but not the sort she thought of. A simple life with brick and wood rather than steel and composite metals. Rivers ran uninhibited by man. Animals were real, not constructions. Life was different. “No town that you know. Nothing like Coulen, it’s out in the wilderness.”

“Outside, under that sky?!”

“That’s right.”

“But mum says only the Hackers live out there.”

I bobbed my head side to side. “She’s sort of right and sort of wrong.”

“Huh? Right? Wrong? How?”

“The Hacker’s your mum talks about died a long time ago. They’re not around anymore. And those outside are their descendants, but the ones she’s talking about that started the Collapse. That wasn’t all of them. It was just a handful, the rest were just grouped in with them. Most, as I understand it, just didn’t like the overreliance on technology for everything and separated themselves from it. But they all got labeled as Hackers.”

She tilted her head and then back to the other side. It looked to be rolling around in her mind. She was a bright girl, but still growing. I’m not sure how much of it she really understood. “Do you not believe in Sol like they say?”

“Who says that?”

“The stuffy guys in the Basilica.”

“What are they teaching you? No, that’s not how it is. I’ve prayed to Sol a few times, but I’m not really big into it. It varies from person to person. But we’re still Sciens, we’re just Lucians, not Orthodox. We believe in logic and reason. That Sol is just our star and not a divine being. Just different interpretations of the Principles.”

She nodded, but looked like she was zoning out. I guess theological discussions weren’t electrifying for her. Fair enough, I didn’t want to get into it either. Louise leaned back to sit on her feet. She stared down at me. “Why are you tied up?”

“Probably should ask them.” I motioned to the parents who joined us. I didn’t know how long they had been there since I was engaged with Louise. But I stared at my captors for a more hopeful outcome now.