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She remembered the curious looks from the residents as she walked through the hallways of the dwelling in the Lat Phrao district of Bangkok. What was this newcomer doing in their building? This was her final test before her ascension to Alpha. In her hands was a Tablet - no Target information this time, only a map showing the route to a GPS tracker on her destination. She walked down the long hallway, passing dozens of shoji doors on her left and right.
The Tablet chirped steadily, as she closed in on her Target, and the countdown timer in the lower left corner of the Tablet read five minutes. This would be easy, she thought. I'll have time to spare. She looked up, seeing a shoji door in front of her. She pocketed the Tablet, and reached out, sliding the door to the left, and stepped into the room.
Slumped over in a chair was a man dressed in a business suit. His tie had been loosened, and the top button of his white shirt was undone. His shoes were off, scattered haphazardly in front of the chair. His dark hair was messy, and a bottle of liquor rested on its side, empty. The glass tumbler had fallen to the floor, shattering upon impact with the slate tile floor. This was her test? A drunk man who was mostly unconsious? How was this a test? Hotaru wondered. And yet, there was something familiar about the man.
She cautiously moved closer to the man. A double chirp from the Tablet drew her attention, and she pulled it out, the Target's dot had been replaced by a flashing red "X". This was the man, no doubt about it - her Tablet confirmed it.
"Sir? Can you hear me?" Hotaru asked. He grunted in response.
"Sir, my name is Hotaru Kogame. I am an Emissary, and I have come to Deliver a Letter. Do you understand me?"
The man grunted again, shaking his head in indifference. The effects of the alcohol had subdued him to the point where he no longer cared.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to take this Tablet. Can you do that?"
One hand lifted from the man's lap in response. Give me the Tablet.
A triple chirp, and Hotaru checked the chronometer. One minute. Activating the fingerprint and retinal scanners, she stepped closer to the man, and placed the Tablet in his hand. He took the Tablet into both of his hands, and the fingerprint scanner chirped. A message appeared on the screen, but the man seemed not to see it. She would have to help him.
Bending down, she knelt beside the man, helping him to steady the Tablet. The screen read: Look Here. She lifted the man's head, and looked straight into the eyes of her father. She froze, mouth open in horror. Not her father!
"NO! Father, no! Not you! Why you? Why? Why? WHY?"
How could they do this? She thought of a dozen ways to make an escape for them both, but they would be hunted for the rest of their lives.
Thirty seconds.
Hotaru took the tablet, staring at it, trying to activate it for herself. Nothing. She placed it back in her father's hands, and tilted it toward her when the Look Here screen was active. She saw the flash of light from the laser. Hope! She could save her father! Still, there was no effect.
Twenty seconds.
Screaming in frustration, she smashed the Tablet onto the slate floor, but it bounced. Not even a scratch. Again and again she tried, with the same result. Tears began to flow in streams down her cheeks, and her breath came in gasps between sobs.
"Daddy, no! It can't be you! Why you!"
Ten seconds.
"Daddy! I'll save you, I promise!"
Through blurry vision, she accessed the Tablet's menus, searching for a way to verify the identity of the intended Target. There had to be a mistake. Every answer came back her father.
Five seconds.
Time slowed instantly. Hotaru could hear every one of her heartbeats, every breath, every sob. She could feel the individual tears as the fell down her cheeks. She looked at her father and saw resignation in his eyes behind the glaze of the alcohol. She would NOT give up!
Four seconds.
I'll figure this out. I can save you! She frantically tapped the Tablet, accessing menu after menu, program after program in her hyper-aware state in an attempt to shut the Tablet down.
Three seconds. A warning beep from the Tablet that felt like it lasted a minute. She screamed again, a wail of pure despair.
She had accessed every file on the Tablet. There was nothing. No back door. No emergency fail-safe. No turning back. She smashed it one more time against the floor, hoping in vain that it would break this time. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked into her father's eyes.
Two seconds.
Her father took the Tablet from her. A chirp from the fingerprint recognition program. A flash of color from the screen.
One second.
He looked down at the Tablet and froze, falling off the chair and into Hotaru's lap. The Tablet fell out of his hand and skittered away under the table. It let out four quick chirps, and the screen turned green.
Cradling her father's head in her lap, Hotaru wept. Huge cries escaped her throat, and her back spasmed with wracking sobs that could no longer be contained. She wasn't even aware when the two burly men in white medical scrubs entered the room and closed on her. They reached down, helping her to her feet, which would not support her. She fell to her knees, arms held up by the men.
"Beta 0256773. We need you to come with us. It seems that there is a case of smallpox in this building, and we need to vaccinate you against any possibility of infection."
"LEAVE ME ALONE" She screamed at them, twisting away from their grip.
She fell to the ground again, and started crawling back to her father. She noticed small reddish spots on his arms that weren't there a minute ago. She looked back to the men who had raised masks over their mouths, and donned goggles. Another look to her father showed that he was sweating, and more red spots appeared on his face.
She slowly rose to her feet, tears coursing down her cheeks. There was a deep pit within her that would never be filled. An empty spot where her father had been for the past twenty-one years of her life. The men led her out of the dwelling and down the hall to the elevator.
Hotaru Kogame was led down a sterile pale green hallway in the basement of The College. Naked bulbs hung from a wire strung the length of the ceiling. It was cool down here, and she could smell the damp odor of wet concrete. She should be happy, she supposed. She had achieved Alpha status, and wasn't that what it was all about? All the years of schooling, training, and pretend missions? She would now move into The College. She was taken care of now for the rest of her life. Any money that she earned from her duties was hers to spend as she saw fit. But at what cost? She would never see her father again.
The men escorted her into a room outfitted with a bed, and racks and shelves containing bottles filled with various colored liquids. A woman was waiting for her, syringe in hand. The syringe was filled with a red liquid that looked a lot like blood. Hotaru stopped, dragging her heels, but the strength of the men was no match for her in this condition.
The man on her right tore her shirt at the shoulder, ripping the sleeve clean off of the garment. He twisted her arm, exposing her bicep and forearm to the doctor. She took Hotaru's wrist gently in her hand, and looked her straight in the eyes. As she did so, she raised the syringe, and Hotaru could see the tip of the needle had six barbs.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Beta 0256773. This is going to hurt. A lot. But afterward, you'll feel much better."
The doctor plunged the needle into the crook of Hotaru's arm and she screamed in agony. Her body's natural reaction had been to bring her forearm up to her bicep in an attempt to protect the tender area that had been violated. Instead, it forced the needle deeper into the crook of her arm, and she watched, still screaming, as the doctor depressed the plunger. As the syringe was withdrawn, blood began to pool, and the doctor quickly pressed gauze to the wound.
Satisfied, the doctor headed out of the room, turning back to the two men.
"Make sure she's good. If not, you know what to do."
>
They nodded. Hotaru stopped screaming. Her face went blank, but the man closest to her noticed a glint in her eye that wasn't there before. As the door shut, Hotaru heard the deadbolt lock, and knew what was next. She moved with lightning fast reflexes to the back wall, and grabbed the oxygen cylinder. It was the last thing the two men saw.
Covered in spatters of blood, Alpha 0256773, Hotaru Kogame exited the room and walked confidently out of the building.