Puphive n.25

Neptune has arrived.

Shining white marble institution stands alone in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by green grass and a luscious garden, ridiculous in it’s austerity, an indiscreet display of wealth in a world suffering from drought and famine.

This is Puphive n.25.

Puphive is a clone hospital, where people who can afford it clone their pets, to cash in on their genetic qualities in competition or production, or just to replicate creatures they have grown fond of. It is rumored that Puphive clones people too.

Buttercups swing in the gentle wind, the heat vibrates off the marble walls. Neptune watches a couple leaving the hospital just now, escorted by a clumsy Orderly, a service bot. Unbeknownst to Neptune, the couple just returned their 6-months-old shepherd puppy, a clone they paid for, but could not fall in love with.

The Orderly sees Neptune - it looks at her with hungry eyes, excited but unhappy - and calls for someone. Doctor Mishano, a middle aged female with slick white hair and a motionless, expressionless face, pops out right away.

“What is that?” Mishano points to a mount on the ground by Neptune's feet. She just planted some of Mother’s Hellebore seeds in the flower bed, who knew if it came handy later. She is surprised Mishano noticed it. On second thought, the garden is royally well kept. Neptune glances at the service bots. Will they weed her sprout?

“Tell me your name,” Mishano demands.

“I have a name, yes. I am Neptune. I don’t use the name a lot. It’s new.”

“Why is it new?”

“Because I just got it.”

“And you walked in here with your own two feet?” Mishano sighs. It’s hard to interpret this tone, it’s completely expressionless, along with her face.

Neptune presents Mishano her sister’s cut hair and pieces of her skin in a leather stash. Always gloved, Mishano accepts it without hesitation and peels it open, inspects it in seconds and returns it to Neptune. “These cells were dead and contaminated ages ago. Nothing I could do if you gave me all the gold in the world.”

So then, Neptune shows Mishano her bag, with all of her home temple’s gold stashed in it.

“Well,” Mishano inhales.

Safe distance away, by the side of a calcium ridge, Betania, Abe and Kane all inspect the scene through their field glasses. They are on their regular tour of the plains, visiting all the old friends who deserve to be looked after. All in good shape, well eaten and dressed to match, not just each other but the hot weather, like the seasoned hunters they are. Their main focus is on commercial mercenaries or other corporation agents that bother or abuse civilians. Every day there is more and more people on the move, seeking shelter from the ridges.

“Any signs of the Gasbag?” Abe refers to identifying the Puphive staff.

Betania presses her binoculars to her nose to manage the long lenses fickle visibility. “It’s difficult to be sure.”

Just then, the encounter turns into a kidnapping, as the Orderlies drag Neptune indoors.

"It's Mishano," Kane confirms.

“Another city falls”, Betania scuffs and immediately packs her glasses away.

Solemn silence. Everybody searches their soul.

“It's not a tactful to move in right away --” Abe’s soul sounds like a splutter to Betania.

“Of course not right away... I can’t just sit in the sand while every day my destiny constructs!”

Combat fatigue is a common topic within the group.

“This is all happening just to you, isn’t it…” Abe hisses.

“Guys, keep watching”, Kane offers his binoculars to Abe. “Look.”

Betania peers through her own goggles… searching for what Kane meant… then finds it.

Betania sees sees a child playing where Mishano just stood, ripping buttercups from their bed. Mishano is an old friend of theirs and back when they knew her, she had a little daughter, just like the one they see now. Except, of course, that daughter died six years ago, in a school bombing.

“What do you think? Did she have another child, or is that a Puphive born clone?” Betania ponders.

Kane lights a hand-rolled.

“I guess the odds are fifty-fifty,” he exhales.

“I could talk to her,” Betania insists.

“Why do we have to talk with her? Can’t we just put a lead cap on her forehead and move on?” Abe sauces.

“Why can’t we even try to turn her? Are we here just to watch all go to hell?

“Yes - we are.”

In the dead of night, Puphive is disturbed. Mishano jumps awake, takes her pistol and rushes to the maintenance hallway. Just as she walks around the final corner, she sees a drill pushing through the back door.

The lock drops to the floor, the door swings open, and all Mishano can see is a figure in a dark suit, and a long braid resting on their shoulder. Before seeing their face, Mishano shoots the intruder in the throat. They fall down instantly.

Mishano kneels and fashions a gauze from the hem of her jacket. She pulls the shooters mask off and immediately recognizes her. It is Betania, a person from another life. She came to kill Mishano - that she is immediately sure of.

Mishano treats Betania's injuries the same night. Her Orderlies assist her. She almost shot Betania's chin off, she won’t be able to talk for weeks. But she will survive.

When Mishano is done, it’s well past midday. She sits next to Betania’s bed, exhausted. Innogen pushes her way into the room. “Who is that?”

Mishano pulls her into her lap. “This is an old friend of mommy's. Her name is Betty.”

“What’s that?”

Betania has a necklace, Mishano removed it for the operation. It lies on her nightstand, silver stained with dry blood. Mishano takes the locket and shows it to Innogen. It’s from the old world, a beautiful piece, in the shape of a heart, no less. “It opens”, Mishano demonstrates. “You can put stuff in it”.

“Can I have it?” Innogen asks.

“Yes, you can have it.”

Mishano locks the doors and activates an Orderly standing by the door. As she turns to leave, she faces Neptune, nose pressed on the glass door of her ward, her eyes flaming like the skulls of Baba Yaga. Mishano almost jumps out of her shoes.

“If you don’t let me get back home, your child will die.”

It’s not unusual for Mishano to get threats like this. It doesn’t really scare her, but she could do without it.

“Goodnight, little one."

Mishano returns a quarter of an hour later, with the recently abandoned shepherd dog’s puppy. She hands it to an Orderly that sets it free in Neptune's ward. The puppy, shaking with excitement and joy, hops into Neptune's lap. Neptune still stares after Mishano feverishly.

“I'll be here, when you need my help.”

The very next day something almost happens. The Orderlies register an interference with the facility's power grid, a staged sun storm effect. Mishano assumes there is a hack, and sure enough, he movement surveillance appears to be seized, even if she never gets a failure report. Mishano codes the Orderlies to man the fence and goes about her duties.

The day after,there is an explosion half a mile away, at the base of a calcium ridge. Mishano knows this is an attempt to clear the hospital from Orderlies, so she pays no attention to it.

Weeks go by. Whatever plan there was, something went wrong with it. Betania grows restless, even weepy. Once her chin is healed, Mishano moves her to the same ward with Neptune and the puppy.

“Gosh... Abe told me when I left that I was being ceremonious. Scolded me, really. That I said goodbye too much, and it’s bad luck. Well, here we are,” Betania babbles with a hefty bite of synthetic omelet in her mouth. The food in the Puphive is ridiculously miserable, but Betania doesn’t seem to notice - it’s the first time in four weeks she can swallow solid food.

Neptune tilts her head, her tone courteous. “Are you a clone?”

Betania is amazed. “Why?”

“You look like them.”

“Have you seen clones here?”

Neptune nods. “Mostly, they clone rich people’s pets, but I’ve seen kids too, and there are women on the other floor, gestating. I think that’s what they plan to do to us.”

“You’re right.“

“But you shouldn’t worry. They won’t implant you with a clone as long as you are pregnant.”

“Great, I’ll just get pregnant.”

“I can smell it from your piss.”

“You can smell it?” Betania whispers, her tongue dried just now.

“Protein.”

“Huh.”

“You are here on a mission, right?”

“I was. But not anymore. My company might come back for me... or not.”

Neptune nibbles open a piece of leather hidden in her palm, where she carries a tuft of Sulava’s hair and a suffered black bloom, rolled into a bud. Neptune places the bud inside the silver locket...

Betania’s hand immediately shoots to her throat.

“Where did you get that locket?”

“I found this on the ground. Mishano gave it to her kid. And the kid lost it.”

“What's the herb?”

“It's refined Helleborus. It will turn Mishano’s head.”

“I don’t know if I like this business of manipulating people into doing the right thing.”

“We can’t all be priests,” Neptune grunts.

The next morning, Innogen is unable to wake up. She seems paralyzed, her breathing is faint, her pulse irregular and quiet. Mishano is bereft. Neptune is sure she can guide her through her crisis and hypnotize her. It works on animals, it’ll work on this poor thing, she thinks to herself.

The following night, Mishano comes into their ward. Gemini, the shepherd dog, doesn’t even bark at her, just enthusiastically licks her ankles.

“What are you doing?” Neptune asks when Mishano releases her gurney bed.

“Preparing you for surgery.”

“Come on Mishano, you can’t be serious!” Betania screams. “Are you already implanting her clone? Just stop this crazy shit! Ask for her help! This is the old world talking to you, listen to her!”

“You don’t know that Betania,” Mishano shouts, pointing Betania needlessly with a scalpel. “Don’t you trust them. She is of the new world, just like us. She just has a poker face about it. ”

As Mishano leans to tie Neptune, Neptune lifts her finger on her forehead - for a second Mishano, Betania and Gemini all freeze, under Neptune's suggestion. Then Mishano grimaces, like she is choking, like she is holding back a sneeze, or pain. Tears stream on her cheeks unwillingly, she rattles like a territorial snake.

“Are you a witch? In your tribe?” Mishano coughs.

“I am like you. I help others around me.”

By the power of a quiet spell, Mishano relieves the guard and leads Betania and Neptune to the morgue. The cellar walls are granite, the cool and moist air fills Neptune with peace. Hello Mother, she greets the earth quietly.

Innogen lies under a white sheet on a stretcher Mishano pulls out of the refrigerated cabinet. “Thank you for coming to me so quickly. You almost froze her to death,” Neptune mumbles as she strips the locket from Innogen. She becomes conscious quickly - Mishano falls on the floor, weeping and wailing of relief.

Mishano escorts them out, hugging Innogen to her chest. Neptune carries Gemini, and Betania carries the gold and her gun. At the back door, Betania makes her last move.

“Come with us, please. You are not safe here.”

Mishano shakes her head. “You roam the wastelands and spend your days not drinking enough water. I work here. When one works as a scientist, one has to remain optimistic. You can never know the benefits of my research, but the future will. What will they know of you?”

It’s not Mishano, but Betania, who slams the door shut without another word.