The female paused in her typing suddenly, leaning forward very close to the computer screen to stare at it for a long time. “Wait – your brother just had a female infant?”
I blinked at her, dropping my gaze when her own cut to mine. “Yes,” I croaked, “Joy Royal Mabel Bluewell.” I swallowed thickly. “She died shortly after birth.” I remember Roy coming out to tell us, holding the quilt Mom had stitched for her. Sunflowers on a bright blue field. Since it couldn't be cremated with her, we waited until Mabel came home and burnt it in the firepit and put it in with her ashes.
The woman chuckled and I lifted my gaze to see she was smiling again. “She didn't die, she was removed. From the colony.” She blinked and sat back in her chair, moving her head until I was forced to meet her gaze. “She’s still being placed with a family – you might be able to get her before she finds a permanent home, though.”
I stared at her. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. “They said...she died.”
She looked at the screen. “She was born a Novus – no Novus in the colony, babe. That’s kind of mess with the vibe we’re going for.” She said, her eyes cutting to me as my skin flushed all the way to my scalp. I felt myself beginning to experience an entirely different level of panic, my breath coming out shorter and quicker. She very obviously eyed my naked chest than before she blinked slow and looked up to my gaze. “You know...you get yourself a Novus mate real quick, and they’ll probably hand her over to you. It’s always best to have infants with blood relatives.” She said in a low, sultry voice.
"Homo. Sexual." The male behind me said, the female scowling at him with a dirty look.
“She’s alive?!” I shouted, reaching forward to grab onto the front of the desk. The Novus male behind me grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back and I tried to stay still, but my body vibrated so hard I could hear the chair shaking against the hard floor. “Joy is alive?” I stared right into her gaze then, my face twitching as my brain acknowledged I was being dangerously bold.
The woman chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I love them slow,” she said to herself, licking her lips as she sat forward again and started typing.
I held up a hand. “Joy is alive,” I stated, staring at her eyes. She looked at me with lowered lashes and nodded slowly. “She’s alive?!”
She suddenly stood and looked at the Novus male, nodding, and just like that, I was pulled out of my seat and walked by my upper arm toward a door at the other end of the room. I glanced back at her to see she was sitting backward in her seat, chin resting on the back as she watched me, and as I saw her lift a hand and wiggle her fingers at me, I was yanked out of the room.
The hallway outside was filled with what I was sure were Novus, all in their uniforms but without their masks to reveal such normal looking faces, and I dropped my gaze so all I saw were their boots, a few females walking by with boots that had short heels on them. There was talking, laughter - growling. Someone was thrown up against the wall and several others ran over before I myself was made to stand against a wall. I felt terror again as I waited in the unknown of what was to happen next, listening as someone was smacked, then smacked again, then smacked three more times before a man shouted in a voice that made my blood run cold to 'grow the fuck up'. It was so deep and angry. I didn't think anyone was capable of sounding so awful.
And I was probably next, standing against the wall, about to be punished.
When a set of clothing were dumped at my feet, I relaxed just a fraction.
They weren't going to kill me if they wanted me dressed, right?
“Get dressed.” The Novus male dressed in all red growled, my gaze on his boots. “We leave in five minutes.” He leaned back on his heels before he walked off in a hurry then.
I froze before I seemed to remember how to function, reaching out to pick up a pair of soft pants and a soft sweater, both the whitest white I’d ever seen and size too large. There were socks too, white, and a pair of laceless shoes, also white. Just as I finished dressing, the Novus male returned and snapped his fingers for me to follow, which I did in silence.
I passed a Novus male sitting on the floor and briefly saw his face - he looked like a normal young man, just with sharp teeth, which he was using to gnaw on something that looked like a granola bar but harder, a handprint on his face that was quickly turning black. He was the one that had been getting smacked, I realized- his gaze cut to mine and I looked away, returning my gaze to the calves of the male walking in front of me.
We walked through the building and went outside into the night, and I saw that we were at a station of sorts, where the one train that entered the colony and went to our city was being loaded with supplies and goods from a second train, one that was much larger and made out of a polished silver that reflected even the smallest amount of light.
The Novus male turned and grabbed me by the upper arm, dragging me onto the silver train and up onto the second level before he yanked forward through the different cars – it was seemingly empty, almost completely silent as the noise of work outside was shut out. When we got to a car that housed compartments, he stopped at one and unlocked it like magic with a swipe of his hand. Inside there were two seats that could sit two each very comfortably, a window there as well looking out at the empty field beyond the colony.
He released me and pushed me onto one of the seats, and I caught a quick glance at his face to see it was covered in deep scaring before he turned and left, closing the door and locking it.
I was left alone then.
I was too afraid to look out the window, too afraid of meeting the gaze of a Novus that wasn't so lenient as the others had been and pay the price for it, so I slid down out of my seat to sit on the floor, resting my head on the seat.
Hours ticked by, and when the sky just began to change color, I watched as a metal covering slowly slid down over the window to block out any threat of daylight, the lights at the top of the compartment slowly coming on so I could see my hands trembling against the seat.
No more than a minute after that, the train seemed to come alive, people walking down the hallway outside, talking, laughing, dragging things, brushing against my door on their way past. I kept my eyes closed and thought about Joy.
Joy, born a Novus.
How was that even possible?
Assuming the female Novus was telling the truth, Joy was alive and out in the world…
And what had Mabel said? She had said things right before she was sedated again. About Joy - what had it been?
I screwed my eyes closed tighter as I tried to remember, but there was a noise at the door and I jolted, suddenly struck with fear.
It opened to reveal a young woman with blue hair – blue! - and the same colored eyes as the young woman that had told me Joy was alive. She was carrying something against her chest as she entered, dressed in a short blue skirt and a white button-down blouse. When she saw me on the floor she stilled, frowning. “Are you alright?” She asked, and I saw her teeth were flat, like a sapien.
The tension seeped out of my muscles and I deflated, sinking against the seat to rest my forehead on it again.
I heard her close the door, locking it before she came over to sit down on the seat across from the one I was leaning against. “Lawrence Earnest David Blackwell?”
“Yes,” I croaked, digging my blunt nails into the seat as I sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
I heard tapping at that and I closed my eyes. I had to pull myself together and listen carefully. Things were happening, and I didn't have my parents here to listen and help. I had to do it all myself. I smoothed my sweat-soaked hair back against my head, dragging myself up into the seat to watch her as she typed on the object she carried, roughly the size of a book with flat surfaces like one as well. I saw an image flashing on it and I realized it was a type of computer as well.
“Mr. Blackwell,” She said, staring down at her screen. “I’m Holly Artison, and I’m a representative that is tasked with seeing over our clan's interests in the colonies. I’m here to explain a few things, but I need to confirm that you acknowledge that you have been removed from the colony due to one of the four disqualifying factors for residency – do you confirm this?” She glanced up at me and held my gaze.
“Yes.” I breathed, “I...I confirm this.”
She nodded and dropped her gaze back down to the item in her lap. “So I’m going to give you a rundown of the basics of what’s going to happen,” She said looking up to me, “The clan that you and I are both legally are part of is mainly housed in the country of Victoria, which is roughly fourteen hours from here – Minska, the Miss that help you just now, told me you have a niece that was recently removed from the colony as well?”
“Joy,” I blurted out, my heart leaping to my throat, “Joy Royal Mabel Bluewell. She's not even a week old.”
She let out a long breath, her eyes narrowing, “So – Bluewell is not Blackwell. You two are sponsored by two entirely different tribes in two entirely different countries – one is in Victoria, where you are going, the other is in Campora, where she would be sent.”
I shook my head. “I-”
She held up a hand and I fell silent, staring into her startling blue eyes. “I’m going to get into contact with the head of courtships in our clan and see if she can’t make a trade with Joy's clan. If we can have you mated with a member of the clan that Joy is part of, they will likely agree to transfer custody to you. We have a pretty good relationship with them right now.”
“Mated?” I asked quietly, “What does- what does that mean? Like marriage?”
She blinked at me, “Yes. Like marriage.” She lifted her gave briefly before she looked down at the item in her lap to tap at it. “Due to the unusual aspect of your case, it’s likely to be pushed through very quickly to avoid causing too much of a fuss with the other clans. We'll want to settle this quickly before people catch wind of us getting a sapien from the colony. That's bad press, you understand?”
I nodded a little, confused.
“I expect we’ll have an answer within the next seventy-two hours max,” She said, frowning before she looked up at me. “I must stress that your best shot at obtaining custody is to mate with a Novus as soon as possible, from Campora or not.”
I blinked at her, even more confused. “What does that mean?”
“It means our clan will arrange a selection of candidates for you and your matchmaker to choose from, you'll decide what mate best fits your needs, and you marry them...mate with them...and live happily ever after. Novus mate for life, so there's no divorce here, Mr. Blackwell, so choose very carefully."
Matchmaker.
Candidates.
Happily ever after.
Just like in the colony.
“I-I was removed from the colony be-" I licked my lips, "I wouldn’t marry a girl because I didn’t want to take the spot of a man that would actually love her as she deserves,” I said quietly, licking my lips. “I would rather not take the future of a girl out here either.”
“Oh, it’ll be a male you marry.” She said with a little smile, “A male Novus.”
I stared at her, not entirely grasping what she was saying right away. “A male Novus?” My mind immediately went to the male Novus that had ripped apart the boar and I began to sweat again. I leaned hard back into my seat. “I-I don’t understand what’s going on here at all,” I admitted.
She inhaled sharply, “Heterosexual relationships are only required in colonies to produce more sapien children, out here the only thing that matters is that every Novus has a compatible Sapien to mate with. That’s why the colonies were started – to produce more sapiens as quickly as possible. The Sapien to Novus birth rate fluctuates between Novus and Sapien pairs, but it tends to skew three to one, which is a major crisis if not managed....but two sapiens mating have much higher chances of having a sapien child, and when we carefully selected sapiens that lacked the more obvious genetic markers for the Novus gene, the likelihood of a Novus birth plummets. It still happens, like with Joy, but it's exceptionally rare.”
“What?”
She licked her lips, her eye glistening, “Every Novus,” she said, holding a hand to her chest, and I saw then she was wearing a wedding band, “Must have a sapien to mate with. Novus can not mate with other Novus. They are genetically incapable of reproducing or receiving the required hormones from them. Novus also can only mate with one sapien. Ever.” She pointed to me. “If a Novus doesn’t have a sapien mate, they deteriorate mentally and emotionally, some faster than others. The only way to stop that is to mate with a sapien, which is why we needed to start the colonies...there were too many Novus to sapiens, not enough to go around for everyone and it caused conflicts among clans."
I rubbed at my face as I began to feel overwhelmed again, “What?!”
She laughed a little to herself. “You’ll learn all that when we get you to Victoria, but right now I just want you to know that we understand your situation and we are working hard to process your case. There will be a lot of adjustments for you, but if you preserve, I think you’ll be just fine, and there is a high possibility that if you accept a Novus mate -” There was a high pitched ringing and she looked to the watch on her wrist, standing then before she looked back to me, “Then it is very likely that you will have your niece.” She started toward the door then, “I have to go now – the train is leaving and I’m posted here, but I suggested you stay in your compartment until your coordinator comes to get you. The train has to go through Claymoore territory and our clan is not on good terms with them right now, so it’s best for you to just say put.”
And then she left, and I was alone again with my thoughts.
And I was full of thoughts.
Marry a Novus male?
Interact with a Novus male?
I felt like I was losing my mind.
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