Nukledeus

Colette was walking down a corridor in the lab next to the courthouse. Two No-Lights had just been captured and she had to determine whether to put them in quarantine before their Penance time dedicated to serving Nukledeus. She was just coming out of a court hearing and didn't even have time to catch her breath, let alone freshen up. So she made a detour to splash water on her face and swallow a small homemade c.o.c.ktail by Doctor Liston.

He had never given any drugs to her, nor sell them, of course. These substances were illegal. But Colette had found some pills in Daphné's pockets when she had to perform an autopsy on her friend's body, and had analyzed them. It had then been easy to follow the formula to the letter – for her personal use only, and she had immediately felt a great deal of well-being. It had been, and still was, very helpful to her in dealing with the pressure and with Daphné's death. Her own paranoia seemed more bearable to her with a little chemical boost.

She particularly liked the addition of Serotonin and Dopamine agonists that negated the effects of the antagonists in the standard chimiocs given to all Arkians. With these substances increasing the well-being and modifying the mood, one felt truly alive, vibrant with emotions. It was very addictive and reminded her of her youth when, as a teenager, she created soft but nevertheless illicit drugs that she shared with Daphné.

The flashing light of a neon lamp brought her back to the present time, like a call to order from the demanding Nukledeus. But she was still composed – and slightly gloomy – the pill's effects not kicking in yet. She first entered the main infirmary to check on the soldiers involved in the arrest. They filled all the cubicles but were, for the most part, in excellent health. The checkup analyses were quickly done, a formality to fatten yet another report. The men mostly talked about their dead comrade, who had his throat slit after being bitten by a fleeing No-light. None of this concerned her. She signed the compliance notes so that the soldiers could go back to work, issued some reservations on some of them, for the sake of form, and left.

When she arrived in front of the first guarded room, she put on a second pair of gloves over the ones she was already wearing. It was the only protection she imposed on herself, disregarding all other safety rules, whereas the guards had to bear the full overalls to protect them from contamination as well as assault or gunfire. Colette was not afraid. At night, she sometimes dreamed that she was contaminated and then she became her own subject of study. It was so exciting! Of course, it was just a dream.

She signaled to the team leader, entered the room and closed the door. Her first reaction was to say that she had been mistaken when selecting the pill. Surely she was hallucinating due to the drug. She closed her eyes and, breathing deeply, she slowly counted up to ten. She opened her eyes again, nothing had changed. She then approached gingerly, unsettled and uncertain for the first time in a long time. "Chloé?" The apparition nodded, her face utterly serious.

– But everyone thinks you're dead, devoured by the No-lights...

– I'm back. I need chimiocs, Colette. Look, I'm sick. I want to see Gili too. Could you tell her to come?

Colette quickly examined Chloé and injected her with a high dose of chimiocs. She had not yet regained her composure. She had been thinking of Daphné, as she often did, and thought for a split second that her friend had appeared before her. But Daphné was dead, Colette had conducted a post-mortem on the corpse herself. However, her sister Chloé was alive, she was right before her eyes and deserved to know to the truth about her friend Gili.

– Gili led the soldiers outside to look for you. They only brought back dead bodies. There had been quite a bit of trouble, you know the citizens are prone to panic and after the curfew had been decided, we lost track of her. She stopped reporting to the barracks shortly after the gates had been sealed shut. She was very affected by your disappearance and wanted to resume the search.

Colette paused. She seemed hesitant and was chewing her lower lip. She herself had been very affected by Daphné's death and the current situation brought her back again and again to the grief that she was unable to overcome. Without a word, Chloé was waiting for the next step with apprehension.

– She is accused of desertion and suspected of high treason by the Special Forces. In fact, every arkian is looking for her, even civilians. She is the number one public enemy. The temple ministers promised to be very strict with her, but also with all those who helped her directly or by withholding information.

Colette was a little disappointed to see that Chloé was neither worried for her friend nor afraid. She had just been captured inside the city in the company of No-lights. The facts, clearly damning, proved her collusion with the enemy. Truly, both Daphné and Chloé had a very strange relationship toward fear, that Colette, the paranoid gifted scientist, would never understand.

– Well, said Chloé, I'll start by reporting to Admiral Nelson. Maybe he'll know how to clear the air.

– Admiral? But there's no sea here!

Chloé smiled at this self-evident truth. Colette seemed to believe that the outside, or perhaps the sun, had clouded her judgment. Then Chloé sobered up as she remembered that she might face a heavy sentence, and being locked up in quarantine, in the asylum or in prison would not help her business at all.

– He's a bit of an eccentric. He's the bartender of the Capitans' pub and a friend of mine. I call him Noah or sometimes Nelson.

Colette guessed it was a pseudonym. "Chloé, like her sister before her, was really keeping bad company", she thought disapprovingly. Nevertheless, she went on with her warning.

– I wouldn't recommend the Capitans' pub. It's been under strict surveillance lately. Trust me, dozens of requests come across my desk every day for expert assessment, and a lot of them revolve around this place.

She spun around, startling Chloé. Her back to the window, she lowered her head, pretending to adjust her gloves, and whispered.

– Gili came to see me before she disappeared. She was looking for a way to make contact with Mona of the Shadow Girls. I told her the name of a doctor who had been in contact with them, at least with Daphné back then. I have not heard from Gili since.

Chloé was holding her breath, she had also turned a lot paler. She almost looked like an arkian again. Memories collided in her head. She had an inkling, in the midst of her chaotic ideas, that Colette had hidden this part and therefore would be, if discovered, under the threat of the authorities.

– I want to see this doctor, too.

– I'll give you his address, but I'd like to send him a note first. I want to know what happened before I let you go. You'll stay here until then.

Chloé let out a sigh and nodded begrudgingly. The quarantine wasn't something she looked forward to, and in her current situation, waiting was far more stressful than fighting. She began her breathing and self-control exercises; it helped a little when she had a hard time accepting the decisions others made for her. The chimiocs, even very powerful, did not completely manage to tame her strong character. She needed more self-discipline. But as soon as she adopted this new behavior, she had gradually but irremediably drifted away from Daphné. Deep down, she feared that her true nature – so similar to her twin's – would take over.

Colette went out into the hallway and told the guards that she would return the next day to double-check her diagnosis. Placing her satchel on the ground, she signed a temporary detention order for twenty-four hours, the maximum time allowed by the procedure, and handed it to the guards.

She deliberately omitted to write the prisoner's identity down. Officially, Chloé was still a No-light. To recognize her was to sentence her to death, and Colette was not ready to denounce her dear Daphné's sister. She needed a way to save Chloé from the fate of No-Lights prisoners while hiding the fact that she was an arkian: a real administrative puzzle.

She was still studying possible solutions when she entered the adjacent room. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, she was shocked once again and, feeling faint, she slumped on the floor. The pill she swallowed earlier must have been stronger than expected.

She raised her head to examine, from afar, the splendid specimen in front of her. He was n.a.k.e.d, standing against the wall to which he had been securely fastened. He must have struggled fiercely, these rings were reserved only for prisoners who were as aggressive as wild beasts. Colette had not met many of these and none of them had been as handsome nor as tall.

The aura of power emanating from him fl.u.s.tered the scientist who dared not move for fear of breaking the spell. His forearms and ankles were bloody because of the handcuffs, attesting to his vain struggle. He had lost a fight but he did not seem to care at that moment and plunged his intense gaze into Colette's eyes as if to hypnotize her.

She reluctantly woke up from this trance. She was in no condition to examine the prisoner. Moving back to the door, she managed to open it without taking her eyes off him and hurriedly returned to the shelter of the corridor, away from this mesmerizing stare. She wiped her sweaty forehead. Her breathing became calmer and steadier and, regaining control, she headed towards the guards. They blamed her condition on fear and one of them offered to accompany her in order to protect her. She declined the offer, adopting her most professional and slightly condescending air, and indicated that she was just coming back for her satchel. The substances stored inside could knock out an army, she really didn't need a few guards who would disrupt her work.

She returned inside the cell, opened her satchel to prepare what she needed and slowly approached the No-light. She was standing close to him and could smell the scent, so stunningly manly and attractive, of the prisoner. She observed with curiosity her own symptoms: her heart was beating wildly, she felt her whole body warming up, her flushed cheeks and her trembling hands were out of control. She made an effort to recover, she had a job to do.

Trying her hardest to ignore her embarrassment, she started by taking a blood sample. Not moving an inch, he allowed her to do as she pleased, so she followed with a quick auscultation. His burning gaze never left her and followed her every movement, especially when she was handling her strange instruments or when she was very close to him. His muscles, perfectly shaped under his brown skin, enthralled her and the soft and fine hairs, rarely seen in Ark City, made her want to c.a.r.e.s.s the skin of this stranger. Mustering all her self-control and willpower, she managed to resist.

She took three steps back and looked at this handsome and perfectly intact man. His virile member was admirably proportioned, Nature still had a head start on the maturation techniques used in the Materna. It was not unusual for Colette to take samples herself from the a.d.u.l.t prisoners captured among the No-Lights from the outside. There was such a shortage of accredited staff who could circulate in the courthouse, prisons or laboratories!

These samples were used directly for research aimed at improving the maturation of organs or the treatment protocols in the Materna which she headed. The idea of being able to study and admire this s.e.x.u.a.l organ all day in her office tempted her but Colette refused once again to yield to her urges. She should have taken the blue pill instead of the green one.

She finally left the room, signed the paperwork, taking care to state that the subject should not be castrated and no surgery was allowed without her consent, then went straight home. Once she was safe in her personal shelter where she had brought Gili once, she drank a glass of water and lay down. All these emotions had exhausted her, but her state of restlessness and excitement kept her from sleeping. She took a blue pill and closed her eyes to achieve the promised calm and serenity. Failing to sleep, she could still dream or daydream and the handsome No-light would certainly hold a prominent place in her fantasies. She was dying to find out everything they would do together in her intimate dreams.

After an hour, Colette, feeling refreshed, wrote a note for Doctor Liston. She sent it by courier for a fast delivery to the clinic. Then, she locked herself in her office to study the texts regulating the detention of prisoners. She still had about twenty hours to achieve the impossible and get them both out of the hell awaiting them.

After sixteen hours of hard work, she reluctantly gave up. Even if she could spare them an unpleasant quarantine, she hadn't found any way for them to avoid a Penance for life, unless she denounced Chloé who would then be executed in front of the entire city on the Worship square. However, this solution had to be a last resort and felt strongly unpalatable. Who would rescue her from the scaffold ? Moreover, betraying her friend's twin sister was unthinkable and utterly out of question from Colette's point of view.

Frustrated to have wasted all this time without significant results, Colette was tempted to take another pill. Perhaps the red one would allow her to think more clearly. These pills were like some common drugs: the addiction was not physical but psychological. Colette knew it and resisted the urge for comfort. She had only a few hours left, she had no time to lose, she had to act. She stood up, hoping that it could help her think, and strode across the few square meters of her office. Three steps to the door, four steps to the bookcase, another three steps to the fireplace and back.

She managed to reach a conclusion, her plan of action was clear in her mind. She had to help them escape, and to that end, she could only think of going to the Capitans' pub, on the pretext of inspecting it, to ask for help . Sir N could take action. She had not made the connection when Chloé had called him Nelson and then Noah, but realized now that she knew him. For Colette, he was only a manipulator without a real name who, in former times, could have been a godfather of a mafia. She had met him several times at the courthouse when he was heard as an "assisted witness". He had never been investigated. Colette was always amazed to see these big fish slip through the cracks.

She had one last look at her shelter, her desk, the neat shelves, her little world. So many years of upstanding work and distinguished service were to be swept away soon. Sir N did nothing for free and he would have a lever to manipulate her and get her to do what he wanted. Soon she would become a mere puppet, like many in Ark City. She turned around and walked away without regret. She was willing to trade everything she had to save Chloé and the handsome No-light. To live up to this new resolve would be a formidable achievement for the one who had always blamed herself for having left Daphné, so long ago, under a small bridge, to face her fate all by herself.