Sylvia Chapter 12 (WIP)
"Do you want to go to Booty Joop?" asked Flameflower Mose as she slipped out of her desk at the shrilling of the school bell.
"No." Kaneesha frowned, but not at the girl that she had just recently named her closest peer. "My evening's booked. Maybe tomorrow. The new horrorvid comes out then anyway."
"Booked? What for?" Su Yang Benson paused, her elegantly jeweled brows lifting with surprise.
"Family stuff, I guess," said Kaneesha uncertainly. "My rearing committee said that my parents want to talk to me face to face."
"Both of them?" Flameflower's dark eyes widened, causing a flash of white that showed startlingly against her nearly blue black skin.
"Oh..." said Su Yang. "This will be something serious."
"Yeah. I'm a little bit scared. I mean, I've never seen both of them face to face at the same time before, and I can't think of anything important enough for them to decide they had to see me." Kaneesha's chin trembled slightly.
"Do you think your committee told them about your school progress report?" Flameflower gave her a sympathetic and supportive touch on the arm, feeling glad that her position as closest gave her the privilege to do so.
"They might have. But I'm in the average range, and all my aptitudes are pointing the way they should for Academy Prime. There isn't really anything to talk about there." Kaneesha's frown deepened as she hugged her computer pad.
"Ohhh. Don't do that, Kaneesha." Su Yang gestured gently at her peer's creased forehead. "You'll get marks that aren't cute."
"Huh?" Kaneesha scowled at her for a moment, but then blinked and nodded. "Right. I can't forget the important stuff just because of this. Thanks, Su Yang."
"It's a joy to support my peers." Su Yang's dark eyes shone at the thanks, then narrowed slightly as she saw the uniformed servant mecha that was waiting near the school teleportal.
"That's yours, isn't it?" asked one of the other girls in the group.
"Yes." Kaneesha frowned at it, wondering why it was there. It wasn't like she'd ever skipped any family appointments. Just what was going on?
"Oh, oh!" Flameflower suddenly stopped. "What if they want to congratulate you for something? Or they just want to see how great you've turned out? That happens, you know! Usually not till someone's sixteen and solid, but maybe your parents want to see how you look so far?"
"Yes, I bet that's it." Su Yang smiled with relief as the others perked and nodded. "When we see you again you'll be Somebody, and not just a Child anymore."
"Ohhhh, maybe you'll even get your Passage early!" said one of the other girls happily.
"No." Kaneesha shook her head. "I'm too young for that yet. I still need my rearing committee. But still... you're right. I don't need to be afraid. This is a good thing. They're coming to see me together before I'm even solid." Happiness and excitement brightened her expression. "None of the other kids can say their parents did that!"
A round of shoulder touches and promises to go to their favorite entertainment venue at the mall tomorrow then ensued, and Kaneesha was escorted through the portal by the servant.
* * *
Latifa Jones sighed and hugged herself, then paused in her pacing to look down at the little fabric wrapped incubator held by one of her peers. Inside the protective and flexible container a freshly revived two month old fetus danced and waved his arms and legs, utterly content with his world.
A slight smile touched her stunningly beautiful face, wiping away lines of concern and disappointment. Though this baby was a boy, and she hadn't been able to apply to waive the male quota when it came up for her child he still held promise. True promise, hopefully.
She pressed her lips together and looked across the room at Gregor, seeing her former closest's drawn features and darkened eyes. He was as stunned as she was by the report that they'd received from the educational authorities. Neither of them could believe the truth of it, which is why they'd called this meeting today. All their peers couldn't be present, due to the demands of their responsibilities, but the ones who were able were here to give support during this trying and bewildering time.
This is what happens when you choose children due to affection for their other parent instead of for reasons that matter, she told herself grimly.
But even as she said it she knew that the accusation wasn't true. Yes, she'd been fond of Gregor, but he was also a proven contributor who had always used his assets in the best way possible to improve the lot of human society. Just as she was. They were a perfect pair, genetically and physically. Their child should have been just like them. Her genetics were above reproach.
And care couldn't be the blame, either. The trained people and carefully programmed mechadrones who had been selected for their daughter's rearing committee were flawless and changed as needed in order to keep up with the girl's development. She had been surrounded by affection and positive reinforcement her whole life; denied nothing that could be beneficial to a child's physical and mental growth. And unlike many children she'd even had the personal reinforcement of her parents and their peers, given in regularly scheduled screen conversations, nightly affirmations of affection and approval, and personal visits on her birthdays.
No. It was clear that the poor thing was damaged in some way, maybe irreparably. It would comfort her to know that her new brother would be able to fulfill the roles that she herself had proven unable to.
"What are you going to do after this?" asked her other male peer, sitting up and looking at Gregor with sympathy and concern.
"I don't know," he said absently. "My work's done. Maybe I'll execute some slaves in 'Masters'."
"Can I come watch?"
"Sure." Gregor sighed, feeling unable to muster any enthusiasm even for his favourite sim game. "Eun Mi, do you want to come too?"
"I do." Long braids swayed gracefully as the tall, slender woman nodded. "I have a new sim skin you can use."
"Aww, you don't have to do that." Gregor looked up, touched by the thought of her letting him use her beautiful art for free.
"We're peers." She looked over at Latifa, her sympathy showing shyly in her eyes despite their gleaming lenses. "We're here to support each other, right?"
"Yes." Latifa sighed and sat on the couch next to Melody, but shook her head when Huong offered her the incubator. "No. I'm shaking badly enough that I'd frighten him if I took him now." She reached out and touched his shoulder. "I'd never hear the end of it from his father if he wound up being hurt by stress while he was on my shift."
Huong nodded, his eyes creased at the corners as he settled back again and made sure that the incubator was safely covered. "Do you want to come with us to Gregor's after?"
"I probably should." She touched her cheeks, feeling the thin raised texture of her temporary scardornment. "Killing something will be good for me."
"Not something," Aisha corrected quickly. "Sim-one. Killing things would probably ruin your day completely."
"Ugh. This has me so messed up that I can't even think clearly." Latifa shuddered and rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. "The doctors said she was perfectly healthy. Her genetics were spotless. We've given her the best care and affection. What went wrong?"
"Maybe one of her peers is negatively influencing her? Have the authorities looked at their personal security recordings?"
"There aren't any," said Gregor dully. "We thought of that and asked them to check. But none of the peer group have been wearing personal recorders. So all we have is the recording from the reject girl's device."
"It wasn't tampered?"
"No. They did all the tests. It's real." Gregor looked over at Latifa, wishing that she'd invite him into her personal space so that he could touch her shoulder and comfort her. But she seemed to have forgotten that he was even there. Huong had his free hand on her upper back, though, so at least someone was offering affirming and reassuring physical contact.
And then everyone stiffened as the door slid open.
* * *
Kaneesha's smile died as she saw the looks on the faces of her parents and their peers. The girls had been wrong. This wasn't a meeting about how good she'd been.
"M... mama?" she asked uncertainly, her forehead creasing up as her chin trembled. "What happened? Are you and Daddy and my peerants alright?"
Latifa started to speak, but then bit her lip and shook her head, glancing toward Eun Mi appealingly as Gregor put a hand on the tall woman's upper back.
"Kaneesha," said Eun Mi softly, her pale latte face still enough to look molded from some sort of artist's plastic. "Did you ask another girl to do your assigned school exercises?"
Kaneesha gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes went wide with shock. "Who told you something like that?"
"The educational authorities received a report and some personal security recorder footage of the incident," said Kaneesha's father, lifting his eyes from his knees. "It was verified."
Kaneesha felt her knees go weak, and squeaked softly as her butt hit the floor. Frightened by the fact that no one had stepped forward to catch her and help her, she began to cry.
"And there is a suspicion that there have been more incidents," said Eun Mi, still showing no more expression than a plastic casting.
"No! No! There were no recordings! I had to get the right reports!" Kaneesha leaned forward and hid her face against the floor. "I had to get the reports so that I could do what's right. I'm important, so my peers were helping me."
"No." Latifa spoke for the first time, her voice hoarse and tear filled.
"What? Mama?" Kaneesha looked at her, blinking through her own tears as her face glistened with more of them.
"Not mama," said her mother softly, her expression full of sorrow, pity, and revulsion. "And you aren't important. I'm sorry. We... somehow we made a mistake."
"You're not going to put me into a correctional institute!??" wailed Kaneesha. "I'll die. I can't do that!"
"No. No. We'd never do that to you. We're too fond of you to do that to you." Latifa pulled out a brightly coloured plastic pamphlet. "Don't worry. We'll make it all better."
Kaneesha stared at the pamphlet, struck numb with horror. "No."
Then she noticed her mother's other hand slipping toward the bundle in Huong's arms and realized what it was.
She screamed.
"No." Kaneesha frowned, but not at the girl that she had just recently named her closest peer. "My evening's booked. Maybe tomorrow. The new horrorvid comes out then anyway."
"Booked? What for?" Su Yang Benson paused, her elegantly jeweled brows lifting with surprise.
"Family stuff, I guess," said Kaneesha uncertainly. "My rearing committee said that my parents want to talk to me face to face."
"Both of them?" Flameflower's dark eyes widened, causing a flash of white that showed startlingly against her nearly blue black skin.
"Oh..." said Su Yang. "This will be something serious."
"Yeah. I'm a little bit scared. I mean, I've never seen both of them face to face at the same time before, and I can't think of anything important enough for them to decide they had to see me." Kaneesha's chin trembled slightly.
"Do you think your committee told them about your school progress report?" Flameflower gave her a sympathetic and supportive touch on the arm, feeling glad that her position as closest gave her the privilege to do so.
"They might have. But I'm in the average range, and all my aptitudes are pointing the way they should for Academy Prime. There isn't really anything to talk about there." Kaneesha's frown deepened as she hugged her computer pad.
"Ohhh. Don't do that, Kaneesha." Su Yang gestured gently at her peer's creased forehead. "You'll get marks that aren't cute."
"Huh?" Kaneesha scowled at her for a moment, but then blinked and nodded. "Right. I can't forget the important stuff just because of this. Thanks, Su Yang."
"It's a joy to support my peers." Su Yang's dark eyes shone at the thanks, then narrowed slightly as she saw the uniformed servant mecha that was waiting near the school teleportal.
"That's yours, isn't it?" asked one of the other girls in the group.
"Yes." Kaneesha frowned at it, wondering why it was there. It wasn't like she'd ever skipped any family appointments. Just what was going on?
"Oh, oh!" Flameflower suddenly stopped. "What if they want to congratulate you for something? Or they just want to see how great you've turned out? That happens, you know! Usually not till someone's sixteen and solid, but maybe your parents want to see how you look so far?"
"Yes, I bet that's it." Su Yang smiled with relief as the others perked and nodded. "When we see you again you'll be Somebody, and not just a Child anymore."
"Ohhhh, maybe you'll even get your Passage early!" said one of the other girls happily.
"No." Kaneesha shook her head. "I'm too young for that yet. I still need my rearing committee. But still... you're right. I don't need to be afraid. This is a good thing. They're coming to see me together before I'm even solid." Happiness and excitement brightened her expression. "None of the other kids can say their parents did that!"
A round of shoulder touches and promises to go to their favorite entertainment venue at the mall tomorrow then ensued, and Kaneesha was escorted through the portal by the servant.
* * *
Latifa Jones sighed and hugged herself, then paused in her pacing to look down at the little fabric wrapped incubator held by one of her peers. Inside the protective and flexible container a freshly revived two month old fetus danced and waved his arms and legs, utterly content with his world.
A slight smile touched her stunningly beautiful face, wiping away lines of concern and disappointment. Though this baby was a boy, and she hadn't been able to apply to waive the male quota when it came up for her child he still held promise. True promise, hopefully.
She pressed her lips together and looked across the room at Gregor, seeing her former closest's drawn features and darkened eyes. He was as stunned as she was by the report that they'd received from the educational authorities. Neither of them could believe the truth of it, which is why they'd called this meeting today. All their peers couldn't be present, due to the demands of their responsibilities, but the ones who were able were here to give support during this trying and bewildering time.
This is what happens when you choose children due to affection for their other parent instead of for reasons that matter, she told herself grimly.
But even as she said it she knew that the accusation wasn't true. Yes, she'd been fond of Gregor, but he was also a proven contributor who had always used his assets in the best way possible to improve the lot of human society. Just as she was. They were a perfect pair, genetically and physically. Their child should have been just like them. Her genetics were above reproach.
And care couldn't be the blame, either. The trained people and carefully programmed mechadrones who had been selected for their daughter's rearing committee were flawless and changed as needed in order to keep up with the girl's development. She had been surrounded by affection and positive reinforcement her whole life; denied nothing that could be beneficial to a child's physical and mental growth. And unlike many children she'd even had the personal reinforcement of her parents and their peers, given in regularly scheduled screen conversations, nightly affirmations of affection and approval, and personal visits on her birthdays.
No. It was clear that the poor thing was damaged in some way, maybe irreparably. It would comfort her to know that her new brother would be able to fulfill the roles that she herself had proven unable to.
"What are you going to do after this?" asked her other male peer, sitting up and looking at Gregor with sympathy and concern.
"I don't know," he said absently. "My work's done. Maybe I'll execute some slaves in 'Masters'."
"Can I come watch?"
"Sure." Gregor sighed, feeling unable to muster any enthusiasm even for his favourite sim game. "Eun Mi, do you want to come too?"
"I do." Long braids swayed gracefully as the tall, slender woman nodded. "I have a new sim skin you can use."
"Aww, you don't have to do that." Gregor looked up, touched by the thought of her letting him use her beautiful art for free.
"We're peers." She looked over at Latifa, her sympathy showing shyly in her eyes despite their gleaming lenses. "We're here to support each other, right?"
"Yes." Latifa sighed and sat on the couch next to Melody, but shook her head when Huong offered her the incubator. "No. I'm shaking badly enough that I'd frighten him if I took him now." She reached out and touched his shoulder. "I'd never hear the end of it from his father if he wound up being hurt by stress while he was on my shift."
Huong nodded, his eyes creased at the corners as he settled back again and made sure that the incubator was safely covered. "Do you want to come with us to Gregor's after?"
"I probably should." She touched her cheeks, feeling the thin raised texture of her temporary scardornment. "Killing something will be good for me."
"Not something," Aisha corrected quickly. "Sim-one. Killing things would probably ruin your day completely."
"Ugh. This has me so messed up that I can't even think clearly." Latifa shuddered and rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. "The doctors said she was perfectly healthy. Her genetics were spotless. We've given her the best care and affection. What went wrong?"
"Maybe one of her peers is negatively influencing her? Have the authorities looked at their personal security recordings?"
"There aren't any," said Gregor dully. "We thought of that and asked them to check. But none of the peer group have been wearing personal recorders. So all we have is the recording from the reject girl's device."
"It wasn't tampered?"
"No. They did all the tests. It's real." Gregor looked over at Latifa, wishing that she'd invite him into her personal space so that he could touch her shoulder and comfort her. But she seemed to have forgotten that he was even there. Huong had his free hand on her upper back, though, so at least someone was offering affirming and reassuring physical contact.
And then everyone stiffened as the door slid open.
* * *
Kaneesha's smile died as she saw the looks on the faces of her parents and their peers. The girls had been wrong. This wasn't a meeting about how good she'd been.
"M... mama?" she asked uncertainly, her forehead creasing up as her chin trembled. "What happened? Are you and Daddy and my peerants alright?"
Latifa started to speak, but then bit her lip and shook her head, glancing toward Eun Mi appealingly as Gregor put a hand on the tall woman's upper back.
"Kaneesha," said Eun Mi softly, her pale latte face still enough to look molded from some sort of artist's plastic. "Did you ask another girl to do your assigned school exercises?"
Kaneesha gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes went wide with shock. "Who told you something like that?"
"The educational authorities received a report and some personal security recorder footage of the incident," said Kaneesha's father, lifting his eyes from his knees. "It was verified."
Kaneesha felt her knees go weak, and squeaked softly as her butt hit the floor. Frightened by the fact that no one had stepped forward to catch her and help her, she began to cry.
"And there is a suspicion that there have been more incidents," said Eun Mi, still showing no more expression than a plastic casting.
"No! No! There were no recordings! I had to get the right reports!" Kaneesha leaned forward and hid her face against the floor. "I had to get the reports so that I could do what's right. I'm important, so my peers were helping me."
"No." Latifa spoke for the first time, her voice hoarse and tear filled.
"What? Mama?" Kaneesha looked at her, blinking through her own tears as her face glistened with more of them.
"Not mama," said her mother softly, her expression full of sorrow, pity, and revulsion. "And you aren't important. I'm sorry. We... somehow we made a mistake."
"You're not going to put me into a correctional institute!??" wailed Kaneesha. "I'll die. I can't do that!"
"No. No. We'd never do that to you. We're too fond of you to do that to you." Latifa pulled out a brightly coloured plastic pamphlet. "Don't worry. We'll make it all better."
Kaneesha stared at the pamphlet, struck numb with horror. "No."
Then she noticed her mother's other hand slipping toward the bundle in Huong's arms and realized what it was.
She screamed.