The Heir Game

Chapter 15

"So we protect Opal's Clone, then what?" He asked, "There's no way to end the game except... to kill her."
    "Maybe if we reason with her-" Holly began.
    "Holly, this thing hates us. It wants our blood," Artemis interjected.
    "Then we protect her from a distance," Vinyaya interrupted. "Our job as LEP is to protect our citizens."
     "Clones don't have the rights of citizens," Artemis muttered. Holly heard.
    "That's because no one's ever seen fully sentient clones before," she argued, "Clone Opal - we shouldn't even call her that - is different than Nopal."
    Trinity, who had been silently sobbing in the corner, spoke up now.
    "We used to call her the Boss," she said quietly, "Myrex and I."
     She dissolved into tears. Holly walked over and patted her back gently.
    "We'll call her Almeda," Artemis decided, "It means achieving in Latin."
     "We need to find Trouble before anything," Holly interjected. Artemis felt a surge of irrational jealousy at her constant reminder of the LEP Commander. This was unjustified - Holly could have more than one friend.
    "Yes," Artemis turned back to the screen. While searching through the data base of prisoners, he scrolled across one which made him hum in interest.
    "What is it, Mud Boy?" Vinyaya pointed her gun at his head. He held up his hands in mock surrender.
    "No need to get testy," he said calmly, "Remember the swear toad and gnome problem in Haven?"
    "How could I forget?" Holly rolled her eyes.
    "Two college students accidentally created the swear toads - these two students are currently prisoners of this facility."
"You think Almeda is picking their brains to make the trolls smarter?" Holly asked.
"They made reptiles talk," Mulch shrugged.
"Amphibians," Artemis corrected, "And frogs always communicated. With the Gift of Tongues it wouldn't be hard to convert the meaning into English. Maybe toads swear all the time, we just don't know it."
"Your point, Master Artemis?" Butler asked patiently.
"The trolls are a much trickier business and the students may not have perfected it. With Almeda's brain we don't have a lot of time, but if we rescue the students quickly..."
"No!" Vinyaya picked up on his meaning. "We leave no officer in danger. We need to get Commander Kelp."
"We will," Artemis compromised, "Just second."
"By then, Almeda may have guessed what we're up to and use Trouble as leverage," Holly pointed up.
"The choice is, ultimately, the LEPs," Artemis concluded, "But one officer, albeit an important one, or maybe all of Haven? Who knows what kind of facts the students have on Almeda?"
The silence on the room was pressing as the LEPRecons thought.