Status One: Agent (Book One)

CHAPTER FOUR

Three corridors down from the little boy was a holding room. Arianne followed the Ambassador as she moved with purpose the door opening seconds before her toe reached the threshold.

The size of the room and lack of décor only added to its discomfort. Several people crowded in the small room, all speaking at once stopped at the sight of her. All of their heads swiveling in her direction.

The Ambassador scanned the gray room looking from one person to another. She made a quick evaluation of each. A man and woman sat on the nondescript bench holding onto each other's hands as if clinging to life. She had striking blue eyes and bright red hair while her husband held the dark features of a people accustomed to working outside.

A doctor, whose name escaped her for the moment, was wearing an official white coat sat across from them with a document reader in his hand, and looked more defeated than angry. Two nurses dressed in gray scrubs stood at the ready on his left, their faces carefully blank. They would be ready to spring into action and she made a note to reward them for their fast thinking at a later date.

There were only three seats not enough for five. It made the room even more cramped. The bald man accompanying the Ambassador stood with one foot in the room and one foot out wringing his hands.

The woman on the bench seat was the first to break the thick silence, "Don't think I won't go straight to the press. I'm sure they'd love to hear how you get your army of soldiers."

The woman stood up dropping her husband's hand. Her body shook with anger as she faced the Ambassador. Her hands fisted at her sides. She seemed to gain a little more courage when the Ambassador said nothing.

"I'm not giving up all my babies to become toy soldiers for Red Moon. I don't care who you people are. My husband and I want a real life and we want our children to grow up and have lives that don't revolve around being imperial bots."

"I assure you, what we have in mind for your children is something far more special. They'll do more good than you could ever imagine," the Ambassador said, her tone reassuring but firm.

The Ambassador could see their future stretched out in front of her as clearly as she could see her past. They would be ready for what was coming, they had no choice. She must have been silent too long because sensed the uncomfortable shift in the room as they waited for her to continue. The Ambassador's eyes dropped back to the face of the woman as she spoke to her directly.

"Why should they live ordinary lives when they, with the help of you and your husband's excellent genes, could be so much more? Don't condemn them to a life of mediocrity because it seems the easiest way to keep in line with your neighbors," she kept her voice soft.

"How dare you? I don't have to take this Red Moon propaganda from you. This is our family you're talking about and we don't want this. Find yourself another sucker to be a host for your agents. We're done." She waved her husband over to follow her, "Come on, James."

She hadn't taken more than two steps before an invisible force tossed her to the ground. Her husband rose to move but paused when he saw his wife fall to the ground.

"What's going on? I can't-" she said.

Confused she looked up at her husband for help.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

Her husband stepped forward kneeling beside her. He tried to lift her up but couldn't move her.

He turned on the Ambassador, "What are you doing to her?" His face reddened with anger before draining in fear.

"It hurts!" Her cry of agony pierced the room as she grabbed her head. Her body bent double as she lay shuddering and moaning in her husband's arms on the floor. Blood trickled out of her nose, mouth, and ears as she took her last rattling breath.

"No, No! Sarah, please, wait. Somebody, help her. Don't just stand there, do something," he pleaded turning to the unmoving doctor his voice choked with emotion.

Tears drenched his face and dripped onto his shirt as he held on to his wife's lifeless body.

"You can't do this. You can't just kill my wife. Why, why, why would you do this?" He crooned as he rocked back and forth on the floor.

The others had all stood back against the sterile walls looking on, fear written on every one of their faces. They wouldn't move until she gave them the order. Her people were well-trained.

"I'm giving you a choice," the Ambassador began, in the same soft tone as if she were speaking to one of the children. "We will have your genes, one way or the other. Your wife made her choice now you can make yours. I would hate to lose you both, but..." She let the insinuation hang between them.

"She was all I had," he choked out.

"Yes, and you can have her again. But, if you don't take this generous offer, which expires in ten seconds, you and your wife will be buried side by side. I'll see your children raised by another more compliant couple."

The husband looked from his wife to the Ambassador and back again. When he met her eye, she raised an eyebrow in question.

He looked down at the crumpled body of his wife and mumbled. "I'll do it." His shoulders slumped in defeat and quivered as he covered his face with his blood-smeared hands and wept.

"Get her to the operating room I want those eggs before she gets cold," she said turning to leave. When they didn't move fast enough to begin she gave them a warning look. Realizing their mistake they jumped into action.

Mr. Sinir with his nervous hands scurried to get out of her way.

"Don't worry," she said. Her voice was comforting and she smiled as she spoke to the husband. "She's already being replaced. You'll have your wife at home again long before the babies need changing."

"But she won't be my wife though, will she?"

The man sobbed into his hands.

The Ambassador whirled out of the room without answering him. She spoke telepathically to Arianne who waited for her at the end of the hall.

"Arianne, use the inhibitor on the new wife to keep her compliant. That way we can avoid all of this dissension. The husband will just have to settle for a wife with a little less fire."

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