51. The Contract

        "This is for you" Orius picked up a scroll and handed it to Nolan. "Why don't you have a little read?"

         Feeling excitement and trepidation at the same time, Nolan reached for the scroll and untied the red ribbon. Written in a dark red ink on parchment the document was titled Oath of Secrecy, it outlined the terms and conditions of employment in the Firmary. It required a lifetime commitment of dedicated duty. Nowhere did it describe his initiation, nor the nature of his job. 

         "It doesn't say what I have to keep secret" Nolan pointed out.

         "That's because it's secret until you take the Oath to keep it a secret" Halios replied, with a smile.
         "Ah..." Nolan pondered the catch, last time he signed an Oath his life was implicated with dogons. "Is this another Blood Oath?"
         "Of course it is!" Halios replied.

         Signing Oaths with blood seemed to be a way of life and so far, he had only enjoyed the life he signed off on, in spite of the dogons. Without another thought, Nolan reached for his knife, eager to embrace the opportunity.
         But Halios reached over and held his arm back. "Not yours."

         "Not mine?" For a moment Nolan was lost, had he heard right?
         Silence confirmed he had.

         Adrenaline was excreting from their glands, thoughts raced, he could feel panic setting in, images of the dogons returned. "Whose blood?"
         Halios smiled. 

         "Is... Is this a joke?"

         "No. It's not a joke" Halios replied, serious. "If you want a position in the Firmary, you'll need to make some room for yourself."
         "Make some room?" Nolan echoed, suddenly catching his drift, shocked by what he was actually insinuating. "What are you saying?"
         "You'll need to take someone out" Halios replied. "Only with Firmary blood on this Oath can the Firmary offer you a vacancy."

         "Take someone out?" Nolan was breathless, he felt light headed and dared not ask, but couldn't help himself. "But I thought this was just an intern position... Who am I supposed to take out?"
         "Dell" Orius replied.

         "DELL?" Nolan leapt to his feet. "YOU WANT ME TO TAKE OUT DELL?"
         "Shhhh!" Halios snapped.

         Shell shocked, Nolan sat down, Orius didn't even seem to be upset about it? Was this a hallucination? A test... 

         Nolan struggled to keep his composure and stiffened in the chair. Dell was one of the original Anunnaki siblings, he was to the young merchants one of the most revered god of all. He could feel the skull staring at him from the desk... "You want me to take out Dell?" He knew the answer already, there was no backing out now, he had walked straight into the trap and already knew too much. He was green but he wasn't stupid, there was no point in turning down the offer. "How do I take him out?"

         "I'm sure you will find a way" Halios smiled. "It's easy. Just don't get caught. Have a good Cover Story ready. For the Tabloids."

         Zara woke up with a terrible pain in her tummy, she glanced around the dimly lit room, shabby and minimal, there were no fresh oranges here, not even a window to look out of, it was more like a cell. The faint glow which illuminated the space came from beneath the door. 

         She propped herself up and tried to recall what happened, only to feel warm fluids flowing from her womb. Terrified, she leapt out of bed, only to see a dark mess all over her bed. 

         "AA-AAA-AAA-AGH!"

        

         Zara's screams could be heard all the way down the hall, the ward attendant hurried down to her room.

         "Oh... My... God..." He clasped his mouth in horror when he saw Zara's bloody bed. Without a word, he closed the door on her again and hurried back to his desk to file an Emergency Report.

         It wasn't good news at all. Medena, Malodon and Seton gathered in the Moha Lab deciding Zara's fate. 

         "Let's just breed her in the lab" Seton suggested. "Use the artificial womb, that way we can develop her Product in a controlled environment."

         "Why don't we just try again without the invasive tests?" Medena countered. Not only did she resent losing Breeders to Seton's lab, her program was more promising for the crystallization project. "She's young, she'll have plenty of eggs, we can use her Products for experimentation" Medena leafed through her red folder, thinking out loud. "It's not as if she’ll ever be much of an economic asset unless we use her as a Breeder. I'd like to breed her again to another Serpent Gen, maybe a stronger bloodline. She's one of the best we have for the new line."

         "We may only be able to breed her externally." Malodon pondered the ideas being tossed around, Zara had the potential to be a very lucrative Breeder, he was still convinced. "Keep her here, increase her nutritional intake and try breeding her with a stronger bloodline, one that can handle these experiments. Bell is a strong bloodline, one of the strongest gen lines, do we even have any stronger lines?"

         "Only Orius" Medena offered.
         "Only Orius" Malodon echoed, thinking… 

         "Orius has the strongest Serpent bloodline." Medena confirmed.

         "And how do you propose to talk him into it?" Seton wondered. He had to agree, it was a good idea, there was only one catch. "He retired from your little breeding program, remember?"

         Medena smiled and reached into her briefcase, pulling out a tablet. "Orius put in a request to take twelve Nefilim Breeders to Ebar. I'm suggesting he'll have to barter for them. Won't you agree?"

         Zara sat at the edge of her bed pulling herself together, realizing she had lost the Product. There was a part of her that was relieved, it meant she could go back to Fina and get on with her classes, forget this whole thing ever happened. A loud knock interrupted her thoughts, the door opened and Medena's figure filled the doorway, much to her surprise.

         "Your Honor." She jumped to salute.
         "You should be ashamed of yourself" Medena scolded, wagging her finger, chartreuse eyes blazing.

         Zara gasped, she was in trouble? 

         "First you throw away the scholarship we had gone to great efforts and expense to give you, let's not even bring up the clothing you destroyed, and now THIS?"

         Zara felt terrible, she didn't realize it was her fault… Did everyone know about the wardrobe thing?

         "Obviously you need extra help with breeding" she continued, cooling. "We have decided that you remain here until your Product can be harvested."

         "What?" Zara felt the blood drain from her face. "But I lost it...." Suddenly she recalled Dena's warning... Were they going to breed her again?

         "Can't I go back to Fina?" She blurted out. Now she had just spoken out of line. Panicking, she made it even worse by trying to salvage her pitch. "I will be a great Architectural Designer, I have lots of talents to offer!!!"

         "Well, I'm terribly sorry to hear that your talents are being wasted. Unfortunately you signed a contract with Doctor Seton, so until you produce that example, your architectural talents will have to wait. You will be transferred to a residential dorm and if everything goes well, you can return to Lochia after you have fulfilled your obligations. You will remain bedridden so that this type of thing doesn't have to happen again. Am I making myself clear?"

         "I signed a contract?" Zara felt faint, they tricked her...

         "Yes" Medena hissed. "Don't you remember?"

         "But... But that was just to ensure the funds were assigned properly!"

         "Exactly!" Medena replied coldly. "Now you need to provide the Product so that they can be assigned properly." She tossed a clean blue robe on the bed. "Get dressed!"

         "Yes, your Honor" she replied, not wanting to cause any more friction.

         "Very good. Mask on! You'll find breakfast in the Cafeteria down the hall!"

         Medena left Zara alone once again, feeling absolutely terrible, knowing she was partly right. She had thrown her scholarship away with her drunken negligence, she had signed the contract without properly reading it, but she never destroyed the clothes!