July, A.C. 189

“Nyah, we need to go now. Your mother is probably home, and she’ll be worried about you.”

Nyah slowly let one more handful fall to the ground, then stood up. Sand cascaded off her half-buried legs. She walked slowly over to the nurse, her muscles stiff from inactivity. The woman held out her hand to the little girl. Nyah took it.

They walked in silence for a little while. Then, “Marie?”

“Yes Nyah?”

“I went through nine hundred handfuls of sand in one hour and ten minuets. I tried not to get the same handful, but now I realize that that would’ve been impossible.”

“Yes. The wind was blowing.”

The little girl looked thoughtful. “When we came yesterday, the wind was blowing from a different direction, so the sand that I touched yesterday might have been the same sand that I touched today. And that would mean that this experiment was useless.”

Marie Slogan smiled. “Why do you think that?”

“I didn’t find out how many handfuls of sand are in the sandbox.”

“True, but you did find out that that method didn’t work.” Marie had figured out long ago that she could talk to the little girl in the same way as she would talk to an adult. “Now you just need to try something else.”

Nyah was silent for a moment. “Do you think Dad would shut off the weather machines for a little while?”

Marie laughed. “How do you think people would feel if suddenly there were no clouds and no wind? No, I think you’ll have to think of something else.”

They walked in silence for a moment. Nyah would periodically bend down and examine a rock, then either discard it, or place in her pocket. “What will happen if the Alliance occupies the colony?” she suddenly asked.

Marie hesitated. “I think your father is letting you sit in on to many meetings,” she said, not directly answering. The girl shrugged. “Mom thinks so too. But Dad says I have a right to know what’s going on.”

“And he’s right. Your mother just wants you to enjoy your childhood, not be preoccupied with adult things. Which is only natural.”

Nyah shook her head. “I don’t understand it. I’m interested in adult things, not in… playing with dolls or anything like that.”

“Well, not everything is easily understood. The maternal instinct is one of those things.”

Nyah bit her lip, thinking hard. “What’s maternal instinct?” she finally asked.

Marie smiled. “We’ll look it up when we get home. You can never stop learning new words. Your vocabulary…”

“…is one of the greatest tools you’ll ever have. Learn as many words as you can,” Nyah finished with a smile. “I know.”

Marie ruffled Nyah’s hair. “That’s my girl.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The home of Governor Ryan Hunt and his family was not large. Two floors, set back a good way from the street and surrounded by a simple Victorian fence. The two columns that framed the front door were elegantly carved, curving in a gentle hourglass shape. The numerous windows shown with soft light in the early evening atmosphere. From a second story window, the faint silhouette of Nyah’s mother watched the girl and nanny approach.

“Nyah, there you are!” Whitney Hunt ran down the stairs smiling as they came in the front door. She picked Nyah up and hugged her tight, then set her down. The girl went to a windowsill where she added to the row of rocks sitting there. “She didn’t want to leave again?” Whitney asked Marie.

“Yes, I’m sorry. She was very persistent.”

“Oh, it’s alright. Did you have fun Nyah?”

The girl looked back and smiled. “Yeah, I did.”

“Good. Now you need to get washed up for dinner. Go on.”

Nyah ran up the stairs with Marie following her.

Whitney watched them leave, then walked to the windowsill to look at Nyah’s new additions. She shook her head. What was her little girl turning into? Instead of playing with dolls, she was playing with rocks, microscopes, old computers she’d found… She never played with her friends, only with Marie. Sometimes she would find them sitting up late in Nyah’s room, discussing history, politics, physics… Whitney didn’t blame Marie. The woman was wonderful around Nyah, and with how busy she and her husband were, the nanny was very valuable. It was just the way Nyah was.

But her father loved that his daughter was so interested in politics. Ryan Hunt had greatly encouraged her to learn about how the government worked, and even let her sit in on his meetings, taking in everything she could. He said her intelligence and maturity would give her an amazing boost in life. But right now, Whitney just wanted a daughter. Someone who would play dress up with her, someone who would one day be begging to drive and bringing her tattoo-ridden boyfriends home. She sighed. She couldn’t force Nyah to be what she wasn’t. She went back to the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Now the Alliance has occupied Colony L3-0166. I told them. Didn’t I tell them that the Alliance would do this? I never thought they’d be satisfied with just ruling the Earth while the colonies are here,” Ryan Hunt said. They were having dinner.

“Honey, can we please talk about this later?” Whitney said looking at Nyah, who was watching him with interest.

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, the senate has called an emergency meeting for tonight.” Ryan pushed the food on his plate around, but didn’t eat. He knew his wife didn’t approve of their daughter’s interest in politics. He didn’t see why she shouldn’t be, but he tried to respect his wife’s wishes, if only because she respected Nyah’s. “So how was everyone’s day?”

“Good,” everyone responded.

“I went through nine hundred handfuls of sand in one hour and ten minutes,” Nyah said, with a touch of pride.

Whitney laughed. “Did you? Is that how many handfuls are in the sandbox?”

Nyah shook her head. “No, because I think I probably got some of the same sand more than once.”

Ryan started to explain to Nyah the wind patterns on the colony, but Whitney cut him off with a look.

“Nyah, I was thinking of doing something tonight,” Whitney said slyly.

Nyah perked up. “Is it… something in the kitchen?” she asked, the previous conversation forgotten.

Whitney nodded.

“And is it something that we have to roll up our sleeves for?”

“Right again.”

Nyah broke into a grin. “Are we making cookies?” she said with delight.

“Yes indeed, nice gooey, chocolaty, soft, chewy morsels.”

“With peanut butter?” Nyah asked. She jumped out of her chair.

“Yes, with peanut butter. And then afterwards…”

“Milk! Can we have them with milk?”

Whitney laughed and swooped her daughter up. “Alright, come on, before you start slobbering all over the floor. One thing though.”

Nyah nodded vigorously.

“You have to go to bed at a reasonable time so you won’t be a pain to get up tomorrow.”

“Aw, can I at least watch CNN for a little while?”

“Nope. You’re impossible to drag away once you sit down in front of CNN.”

Nyah considered, then nodded. “Cookies are worth it,” she said.

“That’s what I thought,” Whitney said, tweaking her on the nose.

She set her down and Marie joined them in gathering ingredients. Ryan poked his head into the kitchen. “I’m off to my meeting,” he said. “You ladies have fun now.”

“Come on Dad, you can stay and help, can’t you?” Nyah said.

“No, sorry munchkin. Important stuff going on tonight. You’ll save some for me though, right?”

“Yeah, we’ll leave them out with some milk,” Nyah answered.

“Good,” he said, picking her up and hugging her. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Later, wiping the chocolate off her face, Nyah went to turn on the TV. Marie suddenly appeared between her and the set. “What was your agreement?” she said with mock severity.

The girl sighed but nodded. “I know. To bed I go then,” she said, marching away dramatically.

Marie couldn’t help but laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nyah,” a voice whispered. Nyah grunted.

“Hey, are you awake?” A finger gently prodded her. She rolled over and yawned. “Dad? What time is it?”

“Midnight. I just got back.”

Nyah blearily opened her eyes. Ryan and Whitney were sitting down on the bed next to her. “How did your meeting go?”

“As good as can be expected. At least the other colony governors are beginning to understand what I’ve been telling them all along,” he said ironically. “Let’s just hope we can act in time.” His smile faded and he looked away, silent for a moment.

“Dad?” Nyah said.

He looked back down at her and sighed. He smiled. “You sleep well munchkin.” He kissed her on the cheek and stood up.

Whitney tucked the covers tightly around her and also kissed her cheek. “Sweet dreams.” She joined Ryan at the door and they exited, closing it softly behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nyah’s eyes flew opened. She was breathing hard, but she didn’t know what had woken her. She looked up at the faintly glowing stars on her ceiling, then to the bedside clock. Two in the morning. She sighed and took off her ring that her mother had given her when she was first born, and started running it along her small fingers. She tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she had. The look in her fathers eyes, the way he looked at her as if suddenly he was afraid. She didn’t know what it was, but something was keeping her awake and worried.

There was a loud thump. Nyah sat up. “Marie?” She looked fearfully around the dark room. The window was opened. Had she left it opened? No, it had definitely been closed. Her slight anxiety was cranked up and she looked wildly around. “Mar…” she started to call.

She heard something directly beside her and suddenly two long arms reached for her out of the darkness. She jerked away and fell off the bed. She started to scream, but was cut off a hand over her mouth. Another man held on tight as she wriggled and squirmed in his grasp. The first man came up and put something over her mouth and nose. She struggled, but her body started seizing up and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Nyah awoke, she was lying in a bed. Through her still-swirling vision, she looked around the room. It looked a lot like a hospital room.

A woman stood at a nearby table with her back turned. Nyah tried to sit up but her head pounded so she lay back down with a groan.

The woman turned. “Good, you’re awake.” She noticed Nyah holding her head. “I hope you don’t feel too bad. Those stupid fools gave you too big a dosage of chloralose.” She had a German accent.

“Where are my parents?”

“I’m afraid that is no longer your concern. You’re going to begin a new life.”

“What! You can’t just take me from my home, my family and tell I’m beginning a new life. Where are my parents?”

The woman ignored her question. She smiled slightly. “Forceful. That’s very good. Now we just need to keep that anger in check.” She turned back to what she was doing.

Nyah struggled again to sit up. “Who are you?” she asked, finally succeeding.

“My name is Doctor M. I’ll be supervising your training,” the woman said, taking a glance behind her and saw Nyah sitting up. She nodded approvingly. “I can see you’ll do well.”

“But why? Why would you want me here? What are you going to do?”

“All will be explained in due time,” Dr. M said without looking at her. “Let me run-down the situation to you. You no longer have a family, and you have nowhere to go. You either stay here and do what we tell you, or you can live on the streets.”

Nyah glared at the woman. “I’m not going to do anything you tell me. Not until I talk to my mother and father.” She thought for a second. “And my lawyer.”

Dr. M laughed. She sat down on the bed next to the girl. The smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Nyah, believe me when I say that this is best for you. I know you’re frightened, but this will be a good life for you. You’ll be extremely well trained and educated, and have a roof over your head.” She paused. “Do you think that the female is equal to the male?” she suddenly asked.

Nyah narrowed her eyes. “Why shouldn’t she be?”

Doctor M nodded. “Exactly. Believe it or not, there are some who believe that a woman cannot compete with a man, even mentally.” She eyes shined as if she was hearing a great ideological speech and she was caught up in the words. “That is why you are here Nyah. You will prove that you can live this life. That you can compete with, and even surpass boys undergoing the same training.” She stood there for a moment with the same look in her eyes. Nyah sat transfixed, unable to think of anything to say. Doctor M finally looked back down at her. “Now, get some rest. One of your teachers will be here in few hours to get you.”

“But...” Nyah was cut off by the slamming of the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryan jerked awake. Something was wrong. He could feel it. He looked over at his wife. To his surprise, she was sitting up, staring straight ahead. Their eyes met and without a word they jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to Nyah’s room. Ryan opened the door. The bed was empty, the sheets tangled off the side and the window was open, the curtains blowing eerily in the evening breeze.

“Nyah,” Whitney breathed out. “Nyah?” She rushed into the room, looking through the tangled mass of sheets. “No, no, no, no, no, Nyah!” She ran to the window, looking out. “Nyah!” she sobbed.

Ryan joined her, looking around. His eyes spotted a dent in the wall where something had hit there. Hard. How could he have not heard this? He cursed himself inwardly. “Whitney, get Marie. I’ll call the police,” he said commandingly. He picked up the phone in the hall and dialed the local police, then called the FBI office. After he’d hung up he turned and saw Whitney standing there.

“Marie is gone,” she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~