Sector 2

Chapter 14

"What is your name?" was the first question he asked me with intent eyes. He placed gloved hands on the table, crossing his fingers.

"Ai," I answered.

"Ai?"

"Zhang."

"Zhang... You're his daughter."

Although taken aback, I refrained from showing a reaction. I narrowed my eyes and said, "whose daughter?"

"Chyou's."

"And how do you know him?"

The chief officer – whose name I learnt was Isaac – pursed his lips and glanced down. Slowly, he removed his gloves. His hands were entirely replaced with metal castings and hardware. His fingers resembled pocketknives, with multiple miniature blades and tools that looked like what I would use on missions. I recognised lock picks and screwdrivers, chisels and tiny saw blades. When he moved his "fingers," the action felt insufferable and slow. The mechanisms scraped against each other and creating click-like noises.

"Oh..." I spoke.

"Yeah," he paused before telling me his story: "I was an orphan slum-dweller. Age fourteen, your father wandered through the neighbourhood I was in, looking all prim and proper. He saw me and told me that he could give me a better life if I went with him; he said I would be rich. Naïve and starving, I followed him. But before I realised what was going on, it already happened. When the operation was finished, I escaped and ran away. But my wrists would keep bleeding, and I was eventually reported to the police. Though confused, the head police at the time took pity on my situation and decided to take me in. When I was older, I tried looking for them, but they seemed to have moved. I haven't obtained a single lead on them since. Until now."

Isaac slipped his gloves back on. If I hadn't known what was under there, the uneven bumps covered by the material wouldn't have been noticeable.

"I also never knew he had a daughter. Why is that? And why only report him now?" Isaac asked.

"He abandoned my sister and I. Sent us to Sector 10 as an 'experiment.' After I thought I died, I woke up here and have been relearning everything I thought I knew about my life up to this point," I responded. It was strange how easy it was to drain information out of me so long as they understood me.

"And your sister? Is she here?"

"...She died."

Isaac slowly nodded his head. "My condolences," he said, answered by no reply. "If you don't mind me asking," he continued, "you said that you were sent to Sector 10 as an experiment. What did they do to you?"

"If you try to shoot me, you will most likely miss," I put it simply.

"Pardon?"

"There are also some other things, but I don't even know the details. They're just daily occurrences to me now."

"I think I understand," he said. "However, you can rest assured knowing that I'm not going to shoot you. I've never been outside Sector 2, but I've heard Sector 10 can be a brutal place."

"Whoever you heard that from isn't wrong. The lack of police doing their jobs doesn't help the situation," I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Oh? Maybe I should give them a talking-to," he said, lifting the corner of his mouth. I relayed the gesture half-heartedly. He took notice and finished the conversation. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'll see you on Friday. Remember the time, I want you there with us. And bring that gun of yours."

I left the room partly in a daze. Now paranoid I inspected the walls for metal detectors on my way out but to no avail.

How did he know about the gun?