03-31-2022, 02:58 PM
Mariya Adema had spent ten months with her latest subject. Where Cozamalotl had been infuriating, Samantha Collinsgate was intriguing. Where Cozamalotl had been stubborn, Samantha was yielding. Where Cozamalotl had made her want to scream and run away, Samantha always made her want to return. The Aurora, her second, had renewed her love of her work. And had changed her,, irrevocably.
“Good morning!” Mariya said breezily, entering the cell. Samantha was doing push-ups on the floor, unchained. Despite this, Calhualyana’s favourite torturer didn’t appear remotely afraid as she entered the cell alone. Samantha flipped over and sat down, smirking at Mariya.
“What do you have for me this time?” Samantha asked casually, and Mariya handed her a file. The imprisoned Aurora opened it, skimming through the papers, taking out a pencil from a pocket on her jumpsuit and beginning to make notes. “Has the Empress decided if I can be trusted yet?” she asked as she worked.
“I’m trying,” sighed Mariya, pulling out a pair of chocolate bars and tossing one to her prisoner. “But you know what it’s like; Auroras are notorious and scary.”
“Much like employees of the Restricted Region,” Samantha pointed out, to which Mariya laughed.
It was not an average scene in the deepest darkest prison of the Xiomeran Empire. And it certainly wasn’t average for Mariya. Never before had she established any kind of positive rapport with a prisoner. She was the quintessential bad cop; she only knew how to cause pain and suffering, and her only techniques were torture and fear. Yet Samantha Collinsgate had changed all that. Here’s what happened.
*
Ten Months Earlier - June 2021
Mariya dragged Samantha back into her cell after the meeting with the Empress. She had her assistants strap the Aurora to the wall, so tightly the other woman wouldn’t be able to move but to breathe and speak, at least a little. That was how Mariya wanted it; her subject to be powerless to do anything about the terror she would inflict. It was only then, once Samantha had been secured beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Mariya removed the gag.
“Why did you leave Kerlile?” Samantha asked the moment the gag was removed.
Mariya blinked. That was not the response she had expected.
“You’re Kerlian, I can tell from your accent,” the restrained Aurora continued as Mariya turned slowly away to open her case of interrogation implements. “Yet this isn’t Kerlile. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging you. I’m jealous, if I’m honest. You managed to get away from them.”
Mariya slowly turned back to her prisoner without choosing an implement. “Of course you are jealous,” she replied. “I’m free and you are not.”
“Oh, sure, that’s part of it. Well, in fact, that’s all of it but not in the way you think. I assume you chose to work here; you seemed happy enough earlier about it. You’re lucky, you know: you had a choice in what you wanted to do. Me? I was used by both sides.”
“Both… you are admitting to being a double agent?” Mariya said slowly. Auroras, in her experience, did not admit anything until months into interrogation.
“Sure,” Samantha said, and would have shrugged if she could have moved. “According to the official secret records of Kerlile, I am an agent of the Matriarchy trained by the Aurora Programme under the administration of the Pierre family. According to the Robinson family, I’m their own personal spy designed to overthrow the Kerlian government and work with remnants of the officially-extinct organisation known as Democratic Kerlian State to establish a democratically ruled state in its place. According to Zamastan I was a normal human. According to Huenya I was going to save their damn spokesperson. According to Xiomera I am an enemy agent infiltrating their country. According to, according to, according to. You ask me who I am, what I am, what I do? Depends who is doing the asking.”
“I’m sorry, has someone already been in here to administer interrogation aids?” Mariya asked, stuttering slightly in her surprise, asking even though she knew the answer.
“You find it unlikely, impossible even, that I offer a confession before you’ve done anything. Impossible that I would offer up the least bit of information without coercion. Well, I apologise if I’ve ruined your fun but to be honest, I don’t see the point in holding anything back. We both know you’ll get it eventually and it will just be a waste of time. It’s not like I particularly benefit from hiding anything. We both know I’m dead.”
Mariya opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. She was not easily startled. She was not easily surprised. She had seen everything from stubborn refusal to throwing up to begging for mercy but what she hadn’t seen was a highly-trained spy offering information without coercion or at the very least bribery.
“Listen,” Samantha continued. “You’re confused; I get it. Thing is, right, you’re used to interrogating dissidents and agents loyal to the enemy, and ideologues of varying stripes. And the difference here is that I don’t care. I don’t care who wins; I don’t care who knows my secrets; I don’t care because all I want is for the whole thing to stop. I will give you every piece of information you know and then you can execute me sooner rather than later, and I won’t have to play this goddessawful game any more.”
“You want to… no, this is some kind of trick,” Mariya shook her head. “Aurora mind games. I’m done with this. I’ll be back once I’ve dissected your little friend.”
With that, the chief torturer of the Xiomeran Empire turned tail, rapped on the door and exited the cell, hurrying along the corridor. She would not return to see her Aurora until after she was finished with Cozamalotl and her subsequent holiday.
*
Three Months Later - September 2021
By the time Mariya Adema visited Samantha once more, Cozamalotl was dead, Carmen Robinson was languishing in a Kerlian prison, and the woman in the cell in front of her had been starved for long enough that Mariya could see her bones. Still, when she entered, the Aurora grinned at her from where she was chained, shivering in the corner of the too-cold cell.
“My fellow Kerlian, here again at last,” Samantha greeted her. “Your subordinates - don’t give me that look, it’s very obvious who gives the orders around here - have not been listening to me for the past months. Eighty-two days, yes?”
Mariya could not hide her surprise at the correct guess. They worked hard to keep their prisoners disoriented down here; and she should not have been able to tell how much time was passing given the situation.
“Oh, don’t punish them, my fellow Kerlian,” Samantha shook her head ruefully. “It’s not their fault I’m good at telling the time. Truly, your drugs do work, it’s just they don’t work on me. But enough of the past, let us talk about the future.”
“You’re still going to play this game of false cooperativeness, hm?” Mariya asked, trying to keep her voice disturbingly cheerful, but falling flat. After Cozamalotl, she wasn’t in the mood for games. Perhaps she should have taken a longer holiday.
“It’s not a game,” said Samantha, her voice and expression turning serious. “I know who you are, you know: Mariya Adema. You are infamous; the cruellest professional torturer to ever grace the Restricted Region with her presence. I know what you can do to me, and I know you’ll succeed. But it is not the avoidance of pain that makes me willing to cooperate, Interrogator Adema. It is because I wish to inflict pain upon those who used me. I want revenge. That, surely, is easier to believe.”
It was, indeed, easier for Mariya to believe. So, she sat down, folding her arms in front of herself, and told the Aurora to elaborate.
*
Three More Months Later - December 2021
“We’ve confirmed it,” Mariya said that morning when she arrived at Samantha’s cell. “All the information you gave us, it’s all correct.”
“Told you so,” grinned Samantha, causing Mariya to roll her eyes and then pause. Once upon a time, Mariya would have responded to such a comment with a twist of a finger, or the slash of a knife, or the buzz of electricity. But with Samantha, she found it more amusing than anything else.
Over the past three months, Samantha Collinsgate had told Mariya everything she’d ever wished to know about Auroras and more. Not just information, but analysis: the Aurora in front of her offered up further pieces of tangential information and observations that helped link it all together, the kind of observations that one just couldn’t extract under coercion. At first, Mariya had thought it might still be a trick but after the first month, she began to realise that Samantha was completely genuine.
Samantha had despised being an Aurora. She felt like she was property; a tool of whichever faction had given her the most recent order, unable to live her life the way she wanted to. She hated the Council of Kerlile for the creation of the Aurora Programme, and she hated the Robinson family even more for their underhanded usage of Auroras. She had come on this mission, she said, out of fear of discovery. But now she realised that such things were inevitable, and that if she was going down she wanted to make damn sure that those who had used her came down with her.
After a while, Mariya had begun to test the waters, asking questions about Xiomera and Samantha’s opinions on the Empire. Samantha had laughed, rolled her eyes and told her she knew exactly what Mariya was doing.
“Look, whether it saves my life or not is irrelevant. I’d much rather die than be used by anyone else for their own purposes again. Sorry, Adema, you can make me talk but you won’t turn me; cause I hate everyone equally.”
So Mariya changed tactics.
*
Two Months Later - February 2022
Mariya had begun giving Samantha puzzles. They were based on old intelligence files, on old security problems that had long since been resolved. Each time, Samantha had given Mariya back something that, frankly, would have improved the response to these old puzzles had the Aurora advised Xiomera on them at the time. Eventually, Mariya started giving Samantha present-day scenarios. And each time, Samantha came through.
The Aurora did not, however, offer these services for free. Mariya hadn’t asked her to. Instead, she paid her. This was something Robinson had not done. This was something Kerlile had not done. This was something Huenya had not done. And she gave Samantha online order catalogues and let her buy what she wanted (within reason). If Samantha refused a certain puzzle, Mariya did not comment and instead gave her alternatives. No punishments for refusal; complete choice over what she worked on. And it worked.
One morning, in February, Samantha handed Mariya a handwritten contract. “That’s my offer, for Empress Calhualyana,” she said. “If she truly wishes to hire me, those are my terms. I won’t do it for my life; I won’t do it for my freedom because we both know that’s fake. I won’t be used for free; I will offer my services in return for the terms outlined there. So, take that to the Empress, if you’re still interested. We can always negotiate.”
And just like that, Mariya Adema turned an Aurora.
“Good morning!” Mariya said breezily, entering the cell. Samantha was doing push-ups on the floor, unchained. Despite this, Calhualyana’s favourite torturer didn’t appear remotely afraid as she entered the cell alone. Samantha flipped over and sat down, smirking at Mariya.
“What do you have for me this time?” Samantha asked casually, and Mariya handed her a file. The imprisoned Aurora opened it, skimming through the papers, taking out a pencil from a pocket on her jumpsuit and beginning to make notes. “Has the Empress decided if I can be trusted yet?” she asked as she worked.
“I’m trying,” sighed Mariya, pulling out a pair of chocolate bars and tossing one to her prisoner. “But you know what it’s like; Auroras are notorious and scary.”
“Much like employees of the Restricted Region,” Samantha pointed out, to which Mariya laughed.
It was not an average scene in the deepest darkest prison of the Xiomeran Empire. And it certainly wasn’t average for Mariya. Never before had she established any kind of positive rapport with a prisoner. She was the quintessential bad cop; she only knew how to cause pain and suffering, and her only techniques were torture and fear. Yet Samantha Collinsgate had changed all that. Here’s what happened.
*
Ten Months Earlier - June 2021
Mariya dragged Samantha back into her cell after the meeting with the Empress. She had her assistants strap the Aurora to the wall, so tightly the other woman wouldn’t be able to move but to breathe and speak, at least a little. That was how Mariya wanted it; her subject to be powerless to do anything about the terror she would inflict. It was only then, once Samantha had been secured beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Mariya removed the gag.
“Why did you leave Kerlile?” Samantha asked the moment the gag was removed.
Mariya blinked. That was not the response she had expected.
“You’re Kerlian, I can tell from your accent,” the restrained Aurora continued as Mariya turned slowly away to open her case of interrogation implements. “Yet this isn’t Kerlile. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging you. I’m jealous, if I’m honest. You managed to get away from them.”
Mariya slowly turned back to her prisoner without choosing an implement. “Of course you are jealous,” she replied. “I’m free and you are not.”
“Oh, sure, that’s part of it. Well, in fact, that’s all of it but not in the way you think. I assume you chose to work here; you seemed happy enough earlier about it. You’re lucky, you know: you had a choice in what you wanted to do. Me? I was used by both sides.”
“Both… you are admitting to being a double agent?” Mariya said slowly. Auroras, in her experience, did not admit anything until months into interrogation.
“Sure,” Samantha said, and would have shrugged if she could have moved. “According to the official secret records of Kerlile, I am an agent of the Matriarchy trained by the Aurora Programme under the administration of the Pierre family. According to the Robinson family, I’m their own personal spy designed to overthrow the Kerlian government and work with remnants of the officially-extinct organisation known as Democratic Kerlian State to establish a democratically ruled state in its place. According to Zamastan I was a normal human. According to Huenya I was going to save their damn spokesperson. According to Xiomera I am an enemy agent infiltrating their country. According to, according to, according to. You ask me who I am, what I am, what I do? Depends who is doing the asking.”
“I’m sorry, has someone already been in here to administer interrogation aids?” Mariya asked, stuttering slightly in her surprise, asking even though she knew the answer.
“You find it unlikely, impossible even, that I offer a confession before you’ve done anything. Impossible that I would offer up the least bit of information without coercion. Well, I apologise if I’ve ruined your fun but to be honest, I don’t see the point in holding anything back. We both know you’ll get it eventually and it will just be a waste of time. It’s not like I particularly benefit from hiding anything. We both know I’m dead.”
Mariya opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. She was not easily startled. She was not easily surprised. She had seen everything from stubborn refusal to throwing up to begging for mercy but what she hadn’t seen was a highly-trained spy offering information without coercion or at the very least bribery.
“Listen,” Samantha continued. “You’re confused; I get it. Thing is, right, you’re used to interrogating dissidents and agents loyal to the enemy, and ideologues of varying stripes. And the difference here is that I don’t care. I don’t care who wins; I don’t care who knows my secrets; I don’t care because all I want is for the whole thing to stop. I will give you every piece of information you know and then you can execute me sooner rather than later, and I won’t have to play this goddessawful game any more.”
“You want to… no, this is some kind of trick,” Mariya shook her head. “Aurora mind games. I’m done with this. I’ll be back once I’ve dissected your little friend.”
With that, the chief torturer of the Xiomeran Empire turned tail, rapped on the door and exited the cell, hurrying along the corridor. She would not return to see her Aurora until after she was finished with Cozamalotl and her subsequent holiday.
*
Three Months Later - September 2021
By the time Mariya Adema visited Samantha once more, Cozamalotl was dead, Carmen Robinson was languishing in a Kerlian prison, and the woman in the cell in front of her had been starved for long enough that Mariya could see her bones. Still, when she entered, the Aurora grinned at her from where she was chained, shivering in the corner of the too-cold cell.
“My fellow Kerlian, here again at last,” Samantha greeted her. “Your subordinates - don’t give me that look, it’s very obvious who gives the orders around here - have not been listening to me for the past months. Eighty-two days, yes?”
Mariya could not hide her surprise at the correct guess. They worked hard to keep their prisoners disoriented down here; and she should not have been able to tell how much time was passing given the situation.
“Oh, don’t punish them, my fellow Kerlian,” Samantha shook her head ruefully. “It’s not their fault I’m good at telling the time. Truly, your drugs do work, it’s just they don’t work on me. But enough of the past, let us talk about the future.”
“You’re still going to play this game of false cooperativeness, hm?” Mariya asked, trying to keep her voice disturbingly cheerful, but falling flat. After Cozamalotl, she wasn’t in the mood for games. Perhaps she should have taken a longer holiday.
“It’s not a game,” said Samantha, her voice and expression turning serious. “I know who you are, you know: Mariya Adema. You are infamous; the cruellest professional torturer to ever grace the Restricted Region with her presence. I know what you can do to me, and I know you’ll succeed. But it is not the avoidance of pain that makes me willing to cooperate, Interrogator Adema. It is because I wish to inflict pain upon those who used me. I want revenge. That, surely, is easier to believe.”
It was, indeed, easier for Mariya to believe. So, she sat down, folding her arms in front of herself, and told the Aurora to elaborate.
*
Three More Months Later - December 2021
“We’ve confirmed it,” Mariya said that morning when she arrived at Samantha’s cell. “All the information you gave us, it’s all correct.”
“Told you so,” grinned Samantha, causing Mariya to roll her eyes and then pause. Once upon a time, Mariya would have responded to such a comment with a twist of a finger, or the slash of a knife, or the buzz of electricity. But with Samantha, she found it more amusing than anything else.
Over the past three months, Samantha Collinsgate had told Mariya everything she’d ever wished to know about Auroras and more. Not just information, but analysis: the Aurora in front of her offered up further pieces of tangential information and observations that helped link it all together, the kind of observations that one just couldn’t extract under coercion. At first, Mariya had thought it might still be a trick but after the first month, she began to realise that Samantha was completely genuine.
Samantha had despised being an Aurora. She felt like she was property; a tool of whichever faction had given her the most recent order, unable to live her life the way she wanted to. She hated the Council of Kerlile for the creation of the Aurora Programme, and she hated the Robinson family even more for their underhanded usage of Auroras. She had come on this mission, she said, out of fear of discovery. But now she realised that such things were inevitable, and that if she was going down she wanted to make damn sure that those who had used her came down with her.
After a while, Mariya had begun to test the waters, asking questions about Xiomera and Samantha’s opinions on the Empire. Samantha had laughed, rolled her eyes and told her she knew exactly what Mariya was doing.
“Look, whether it saves my life or not is irrelevant. I’d much rather die than be used by anyone else for their own purposes again. Sorry, Adema, you can make me talk but you won’t turn me; cause I hate everyone equally.”
So Mariya changed tactics.
*
Two Months Later - February 2022
Mariya had begun giving Samantha puzzles. They were based on old intelligence files, on old security problems that had long since been resolved. Each time, Samantha had given Mariya back something that, frankly, would have improved the response to these old puzzles had the Aurora advised Xiomera on them at the time. Eventually, Mariya started giving Samantha present-day scenarios. And each time, Samantha came through.
The Aurora did not, however, offer these services for free. Mariya hadn’t asked her to. Instead, she paid her. This was something Robinson had not done. This was something Kerlile had not done. This was something Huenya had not done. And she gave Samantha online order catalogues and let her buy what she wanted (within reason). If Samantha refused a certain puzzle, Mariya did not comment and instead gave her alternatives. No punishments for refusal; complete choice over what she worked on. And it worked.
One morning, in February, Samantha handed Mariya a handwritten contract. “That’s my offer, for Empress Calhualyana,” she said. “If she truly wishes to hire me, those are my terms. I won’t do it for my life; I won’t do it for my freedom because we both know that’s fake. I won’t be used for free; I will offer my services in return for the terms outlined there. So, take that to the Empress, if you’re still interested. We can always negotiate.”
And just like that, Mariya Adema turned an Aurora.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax