Safe House, Oasis Springs, Present Day
As she walked up the path to the dusty, run-down house in the dusty, run-down neighborhood, she let the job drop away from her. Wet work missions were always ugly, but those agitators wouldn't be leading any more protests. The Axis would be pleased.
With long practice she buried the memory of their faces, like she had their bodies. She put away the mission and picked up herself again.
Of course, she mused, her 'self' was a lie. Even her name - Mallory Errant - was a fiction. They called her Mal... another example of PT9553's questionable sense of humor.
Like this house, its interior as dusty and run-down as the exterior... a disguise hiding something far more important underneath.
As she entered his lab, he greeted her with unaccustomed cheer. "Welcome back, Mal. I trust the mission was a success."
"Have I ever let you down, Doctor?" she asked.
"Of course not," Doctor Key replied.
"Have you remembered to eat?" she asked. He had that frail, brittle look he got when he was deeply immersed. He forgot everything else during those times.
"So concerned for my wellbeing," Doctor Key smiled. "Still, you surmise correctly... I have been very focused on my work. The latest samples from the subject are very promising."
"Are they?" Mal said cautiously. They'd been down this road before, without success.
"Yes, yes, I know," Key said, casually lifting her concerns out of her surface thoughts. "After more than twenty-five years, after so many failures, your doubt is understandable... but I believe we have finally succeeded."
"And how is our Gem?" Mal said, moving over to look through the small, meshed window in the security door.
"Gem? Oh, yes, another of PT9553's little jokes," Key mused. "You know, he keeps insisting I enroll her in the local public education system. Allow her some socialization. He may be right. The experience served you well enough, when you were that age..."
"Yes, it was... useful," Mal agreed.
"She's reading," Mal observed.
"Yes, she has a very active imagination," Key said. "I find it distracting, but perhaps it is significant to her potential."
"So, she is an Active?" Mal asked, worried. Psychokinetic Actives were dangerous.
"Not yet. She hasn't reached the necessary maturity, physically or mentally, and our last attempt at accelerated growth was..." Key said.
"Messy," Mal agreed.
"Yes," Key nodded. "But even this young, everything indicates high psychokinetic potential. After all these years, we have finally successfully cloned this sample. She has been quite as much a challenge as you were, my dear Bella."
"Come along, sir," Mal said indulgently. "Let's get you something to eat."
"Mal never comes in to visit," Gem said. "But that's OK. She's not really very nice."
Oh, that's too bad.
"I'm glad you came to visit me," she continued. "Even if you are only imaginary."
Am I?
"Of course you are," Gem said, "but that's alright. I don't mind. I'm Gem, by the way. Mr. Smith says that's short for Gemini. What's your name?"
I'm Bluebell, the fairy chimed. I'm an old friend of your family.
"I don't really have any family," Gem said, a little sadly. "Just Mal and Doctor Key and Mr. Smith sometimes."
Oh, but you do have a family, Gemini, Bluebell said. You are a Silveroak and a wonderful and wyrd family it is. May I tell you about them.
"I like stories," Gem said.
Well then, I will tell you a story about your sister, Miranda, and The Year of the Wolf.
