01-03-2020, 06:24 PM
Melissa City Police Department Temporary HQ, Lauchenoiria
3rd January 2020
Kerrie Lee was running late for work, and was not happy. She prided herself on always being punctual, but there had been some kind of incident on the subway which had caused a massive delay. She almost wished she had a car, but the tax on private vehicles in the city centre was extortionate, and so few people used them, unless they were super rich or had a disability exemption.
She made her way into the building which was hosting the temporary headquarters of the Melissa City Police Department, after the original building had been blown up by Conternian state-sponsored terrorists in the 2018 war. She had been hired shortly afterwards as a cryptology expert, after the MCPD’s previous expert had been killed in the bombing. It wasn’t exactly what she’d wanted from her career, but she had finished her PhD at an inopportune time.
As she was approaching her office, she noticed something off. There were far fewer people in the building than usual. In the corridor outside her office, there was nobody. She paused at the door, which was shut as usual. Her hand moved towards the handle, but she had a bad feeling. The coded message she had received last month had her on edge. She withdrew her hand, turned around and began to walk away.
She hurried down the corridor, turning back towards the exit, when she noticed two people standing by it that she didn’t recognise. She ducked back into the corridor, only to hear her own office door opening behind her. Thinking quickly, she turned down the third route available to her, which led to a fire door and a staircase. She sped up as she heard signs of pursuit and turned into the staircase.
“Dr Lee, I would advise against running,” a man said, blocking her way up. She froze. Her pursuers fell in behind her, blocking her exit. “There is nowhere to go, and it only increases the likelihood that you will be injured.”
“Am I under arrest?” she asked. She thought about fighting, but more men had come up behind the one who spoke, and she knew that she couldn’t win. She would have to conserve her strength for what was coming.
“Yes,” the man said and then motioned for those behind her to grab her.
“Then I would like to call a lawyer,” she replied as they handcuffed her.
“Oh, would you?” the man chuckled. “Unfortunately, we are operating under some… special measures which make that rather impossible. Do it.”
Kerrie felt a needle prick her skin and suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She hadn’t really expected them to give her access to a lawyer, and she wasn’t scared of them. They’re Lauchenoirians, what’s the worst they could do? she thought as she fell unconscious.
*
Unknown Location, Lauchenoiria
Simultaneous
Maricela Tobin didn’t look up as they came into her cell. She was far too exhausted for that. She was slumped on the floor, sitting up against the wall, her hair tangled with strands falling in front of her face. She whimpered as they took her arms and dragged her out. She didn’t know when the last time they’d allowed her to sleep was, but it had been long enough that she had experienced a rather realistic hallucination which had caused her to throw up.
They deposited her on a chair in an interrogation room and handcuffed her to the table – not that she had the energy to try and run. She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep now that she was out of the cell they’d been playing incessant background noise into. Unfortunately for her, the interrogator walked in and took his seat across from her at that moment. She blinked up at him.
“We’re bringing in another one today,” he said casually, watching her reaction. “An Aurora.”
A flash of fear, and interest, passed through Maricela’s eyes.
“Oh?” she croaked out. They hadn’t given her water in some time either. Noticing the dryness of her throat, the interrogator produced a bottle and passed it over to her. She took it immediately, unscrewing the cap with difficulty and pouring some down her throat.
“I remember when you wouldn’t eat or drink anything I gave you,” he remarked. “We make progress, albeit slowly. Perhaps Dr Lee will be more cooperative.”
“The other?” she asked, pausing from her drinking
“Do you know her?” he questioned.
“We don’t know each other,” she shook her head. The water had perked her up a little, even though she was still desperate for sleep. “No Aurora knows another Aurora.”
“So you say, but we can prove that’s a lie, Ms. Tobin,” her interrogator said, leaning back and smiling slightly at her. “You will know any other Aurora your own age... so tell me, who are they?”
She sat up, looking at him warily. She didn’t know how he had managed to ascertain that particular piece of information, and she wanted to. She had begun to give them tiny morsels of information every time her treatment started to get to her. Nothing important, certainly nothing that could help them, but just things that gave her a little relief. She would last longer with a little relief was how she justified it to herself. Perhaps it was time to buy a little more.
“That won’t help you,” she said. “They’re not in your country.”
“Oh, I know. So, you admit you do know the identity of other Auroras?”
“Not in the way you think,” she replied.
“You know the names they used during training, and their KCIDs, and their countries of assignment, yet you do not necessarily know the name they go by now. You would have heard it once at most, and would have tried your best to forget it. Of course, sometimes it is harder to forget things than one might think. You see, you are still trying to keep information from me, but look how much I know already. If you do not tell me, someone else will. And then you will have suffered for nothing. Why keep up this charade?”
She looked at him uncertainly, and quickly took another sip of water, afraid he would take it off her. He knew far more than the last time they’d spoken – or perhaps he had just kept his knowledge secret until now. She was uncertain how long she’d been imprisoned, how long he could have been gathering information from another source.
“What’s the date?” she asked him.
“You want to know how long you’ve been here,” he smirked. “That is not something I can tell you without you telling me something in return. What will you give me to know how much time you’ve lost?”
“Nicole,” she answered suddenly. “When I was a child, they called me Nicole.”
“You have three names, as far as we can ascertain, and a number,” he said, pushing her.
“That on our birth certificate, our training name, the one we take as a cover, and our KCID, yes,” Maricela nodded. “We are not told the name on our birth certificate, as you saw with Charissa Clarke. My training name was Nicole, and my KCID is 12547546.”
“It is the 3rd January 2020. As of tomorrow, you will have been here a month.”
A month. A month. It had felt like longer, and she shivered at the thought.
“But it can’t be…” she muttered, almost to herself.
“Happy new year,” he said. She looked up at him. There were the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She must be weaker than she thought: they hadn’t even hurt her that badly, and already she needed to buy relief to survive. A month. “I’ll let you get back to your cell,” he said, standing up to leave.
“Wait!” she called before she’d had time to think. He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. “I… will you tell them?”
“Tell who?” he said, sitting back down.
“If I give you the names of the other Auroras from my training class, will you tell the countries they have been assigned to?”
“That is not your concern,” he said. “But you would be well rewarded if you could give us such information.”
She paused, and thought. Surely, they’d get it out of her in the end, anyway? It had been a long time since that third document leak, it was entirely possible half of them had been recalled by now anyway. At least, that’s how she justified it.
“I don’t know the names they go by now, but I can give you the names they went by in training and the countries they were sent to.”
“That is acceptable, for now. The names, please?”
“Nora was assigned to LOM, Naomi was assigned to Laeral, Norma to Essena and Nadia to Xiomera. I can give you their KCIDs as well, if you wish.”
“That would be very helpful,” he smiled at her. “Please write them down for me, and anything you remember of the names they took upon leaving Kerlile.”
Feeling guilty and ashamed, as well as relieved and excited to finally get better treatment once again, she took the pencil she was offered and began to write down the numbers and names of four of her fellow Auroras. She was a coward, she knew, and a traitor, but she just simply no longer cared.
3rd January 2020
Kerrie Lee was running late for work, and was not happy. She prided herself on always being punctual, but there had been some kind of incident on the subway which had caused a massive delay. She almost wished she had a car, but the tax on private vehicles in the city centre was extortionate, and so few people used them, unless they were super rich or had a disability exemption.
She made her way into the building which was hosting the temporary headquarters of the Melissa City Police Department, after the original building had been blown up by Conternian state-sponsored terrorists in the 2018 war. She had been hired shortly afterwards as a cryptology expert, after the MCPD’s previous expert had been killed in the bombing. It wasn’t exactly what she’d wanted from her career, but she had finished her PhD at an inopportune time.
As she was approaching her office, she noticed something off. There were far fewer people in the building than usual. In the corridor outside her office, there was nobody. She paused at the door, which was shut as usual. Her hand moved towards the handle, but she had a bad feeling. The coded message she had received last month had her on edge. She withdrew her hand, turned around and began to walk away.
She hurried down the corridor, turning back towards the exit, when she noticed two people standing by it that she didn’t recognise. She ducked back into the corridor, only to hear her own office door opening behind her. Thinking quickly, she turned down the third route available to her, which led to a fire door and a staircase. She sped up as she heard signs of pursuit and turned into the staircase.
“Dr Lee, I would advise against running,” a man said, blocking her way up. She froze. Her pursuers fell in behind her, blocking her exit. “There is nowhere to go, and it only increases the likelihood that you will be injured.”
“Am I under arrest?” she asked. She thought about fighting, but more men had come up behind the one who spoke, and she knew that she couldn’t win. She would have to conserve her strength for what was coming.
“Yes,” the man said and then motioned for those behind her to grab her.
“Then I would like to call a lawyer,” she replied as they handcuffed her.
“Oh, would you?” the man chuckled. “Unfortunately, we are operating under some… special measures which make that rather impossible. Do it.”
Kerrie felt a needle prick her skin and suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She hadn’t really expected them to give her access to a lawyer, and she wasn’t scared of them. They’re Lauchenoirians, what’s the worst they could do? she thought as she fell unconscious.
*
Unknown Location, Lauchenoiria
Simultaneous
Maricela Tobin didn’t look up as they came into her cell. She was far too exhausted for that. She was slumped on the floor, sitting up against the wall, her hair tangled with strands falling in front of her face. She whimpered as they took her arms and dragged her out. She didn’t know when the last time they’d allowed her to sleep was, but it had been long enough that she had experienced a rather realistic hallucination which had caused her to throw up.
They deposited her on a chair in an interrogation room and handcuffed her to the table – not that she had the energy to try and run. She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep now that she was out of the cell they’d been playing incessant background noise into. Unfortunately for her, the interrogator walked in and took his seat across from her at that moment. She blinked up at him.
“We’re bringing in another one today,” he said casually, watching her reaction. “An Aurora.”
A flash of fear, and interest, passed through Maricela’s eyes.
“Oh?” she croaked out. They hadn’t given her water in some time either. Noticing the dryness of her throat, the interrogator produced a bottle and passed it over to her. She took it immediately, unscrewing the cap with difficulty and pouring some down her throat.
“I remember when you wouldn’t eat or drink anything I gave you,” he remarked. “We make progress, albeit slowly. Perhaps Dr Lee will be more cooperative.”
“The other?” she asked, pausing from her drinking
“Do you know her?” he questioned.
“We don’t know each other,” she shook her head. The water had perked her up a little, even though she was still desperate for sleep. “No Aurora knows another Aurora.”
“So you say, but we can prove that’s a lie, Ms. Tobin,” her interrogator said, leaning back and smiling slightly at her. “You will know any other Aurora your own age... so tell me, who are they?”
She sat up, looking at him warily. She didn’t know how he had managed to ascertain that particular piece of information, and she wanted to. She had begun to give them tiny morsels of information every time her treatment started to get to her. Nothing important, certainly nothing that could help them, but just things that gave her a little relief. She would last longer with a little relief was how she justified it to herself. Perhaps it was time to buy a little more.
“That won’t help you,” she said. “They’re not in your country.”
“Oh, I know. So, you admit you do know the identity of other Auroras?”
“Not in the way you think,” she replied.
“You know the names they used during training, and their KCIDs, and their countries of assignment, yet you do not necessarily know the name they go by now. You would have heard it once at most, and would have tried your best to forget it. Of course, sometimes it is harder to forget things than one might think. You see, you are still trying to keep information from me, but look how much I know already. If you do not tell me, someone else will. And then you will have suffered for nothing. Why keep up this charade?”
She looked at him uncertainly, and quickly took another sip of water, afraid he would take it off her. He knew far more than the last time they’d spoken – or perhaps he had just kept his knowledge secret until now. She was uncertain how long she’d been imprisoned, how long he could have been gathering information from another source.
“What’s the date?” she asked him.
“You want to know how long you’ve been here,” he smirked. “That is not something I can tell you without you telling me something in return. What will you give me to know how much time you’ve lost?”
“Nicole,” she answered suddenly. “When I was a child, they called me Nicole.”
“You have three names, as far as we can ascertain, and a number,” he said, pushing her.
“That on our birth certificate, our training name, the one we take as a cover, and our KCID, yes,” Maricela nodded. “We are not told the name on our birth certificate, as you saw with Charissa Clarke. My training name was Nicole, and my KCID is 12547546.”
“It is the 3rd January 2020. As of tomorrow, you will have been here a month.”
A month. A month. It had felt like longer, and she shivered at the thought.
“But it can’t be…” she muttered, almost to herself.
“Happy new year,” he said. She looked up at him. There were the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She must be weaker than she thought: they hadn’t even hurt her that badly, and already she needed to buy relief to survive. A month. “I’ll let you get back to your cell,” he said, standing up to leave.
“Wait!” she called before she’d had time to think. He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. “I… will you tell them?”
“Tell who?” he said, sitting back down.
“If I give you the names of the other Auroras from my training class, will you tell the countries they have been assigned to?”
“That is not your concern,” he said. “But you would be well rewarded if you could give us such information.”
She paused, and thought. Surely, they’d get it out of her in the end, anyway? It had been a long time since that third document leak, it was entirely possible half of them had been recalled by now anyway. At least, that’s how she justified it.
“I don’t know the names they go by now, but I can give you the names they went by in training and the countries they were sent to.”
“That is acceptable, for now. The names, please?”
“Nora was assigned to LOM, Naomi was assigned to Laeral, Norma to Essena and Nadia to Xiomera. I can give you their KCIDs as well, if you wish.”
“That would be very helpful,” he smiled at her. “Please write them down for me, and anything you remember of the names they took upon leaving Kerlile.”
Feeling guilty and ashamed, as well as relieved and excited to finally get better treatment once again, she took the pencil she was offered and began to write down the numbers and names of four of her fellow Auroras. She was a coward, she knew, and a traitor, but she just simply no longer cared.
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