Ella watched the scientists scurry around. They were a bit more motivated than usual. She wondered just what was going on.
"I think they're sending you and the others home finally," the older scientist who was always so nice to her said as he passed by her little cell.
Ella blinked at that. She'd thought that she'd be here until she was old and grey or at least until she finished puberty. She summoned up a smile at the thought.
"It's just going to be a couple days more," the scientist continued as if emboldened by the smile. "We're just gathering up all the data beforehand."
Ella nodded to show she was listening. Then she glanced over, her attention caught by a glowing dot that suddenly appeared. Looking around the lab, she noted that except for a couple of the newer scientists, none of the others were paying any attention.
The small glowing dot suddenly elongated and expanded tremendously into a doorway nearly the size of the double doors to the lab. The scientists for the most part stared at it blankly even as the glowing doorway filled first with darkness and then with an image that still lingered in Ella's worst nightmares.
Guards started to march through the door. Ella took a step backwards as she spotted two Overlords behind them. She'd been told repeatedly that all of them had been killed. Obviously the people responsible couldn't count because there they were, smiling as they stepped into the lab through the impossible doorway.
"I knew that we would find you, little Sphinxie," Overlord Pleja crooned, his eyes locking onto Ella.
She remembered him. He'd been there before her last operation, muttering about forcing out latent whatevers. Her next memory after that was of waking in a white room with a kind faced container murmuring that she was safe.
The guards spread out, corralling and herding most of the scientists. A few, the newer ones were frantically typing on the consoles, hopefully trying to summon help.
Ella turned her attention to the two Overlords who were standing before her cell. Overlord Pleja uncapped a small vial, releasing a weird blue gas. With a small toss, it slid through the small slot they used to give her her meals. Ella knew that smell. It was also a constant of her nightmares.
"And now that we've found you, it's time for you to go home," Overlord Ahplex said with that gentle, deceiving smile. His hands fiddled with the handle to the cell. With a frown, he looked back towards the guards. "Bring me the key to the cell."
Ella stared at him in horror as the sleeping gas flooded her little cell.
****
"What do we do? What do we do!?" Ella repeated, rocking back and forth on her bed.
Sphinxie eyed the bed warily. It had appeared with Ella. The bed was a massive thing, all carved pillars and sashed back curtains. She recognized the design from one of the shows that Ella was allowed to watch. Sphinxie hadn't understood why anyone would need a bed with curtains but understood the allure it posed for Ella.
Ella had no privacy. Except for a little half-wall that blocked her when she used the restroom, there was none. Showers were taken in a communal bathing area where she was escorted by two researchers. Sphinxie had yet to figure that one out; her current theory was that they were trying to see if she was developing any anomalous body modifications.
Sphinxie could have told them no but that would result in them knowing that she existed within Ella. They had been so careful during these past few years. No one should have found out that she—Sphinxie—existed. The consequences for being found out were so dire. She didn't want to be labeled as a walking biohazard and locked away forever. She still wasn't sure if San was locked away somewhere; he was classified as the overlords' most successful weapon and due for special classes when they'd been liberated.
"It's going to be okay," Sphinxie finally said, gingerly sitting on the bed and patting Ella's thin back. Her heart ached at the feeling of bones beneath her hand. For some reason, Ella's rations had been cut a couple weeks earlier. "We're going to get out of this place soon. Lucy will come for us."
"She hasn't so far," Ella whispered, leaning into Sphinxie. "Perhaps she's forgotten us."
"Perhaps she doesn't know we're here yet?" Sphinxie said. "I somehow feel that she knows now. Perhaps Court decided to look into everybody and found out."
"They do have more than me here," Ella ventured. She sat up and looked at Sphinxie. "The question is if they'll get here in time. Those new scientists scare me somehow. They're not like the usual ones."
Sphinxie bit her lip. She'd had bad vibes as well from the researchers but figuring out what they were doing would require her to reveal herself as well. The weird little mental quakes had started after they showed up as well which made her even more paranoid.
"What if they're really researchers and not scientists?" Sphinxie asked. "There were human people among the researchers, remember?"
"Not really. That was a long time ago," Ella protested.
They both fell silent as the small area started shivering. The mental quake lasted longer than usual and left shining cracks on the walls.
"If Lucy's really coming, I hope she hurries."
Sphinxie stood up and walked towards a crack. Deep inside the crevice she could see shiny hints of electrical circuits.
"I think they're here for all of us and not just Ella-Sphinxie," Sphinxie said. "I hope Lucy doesn't get here in time because then they'd have her as well."
"And maybe those new scientists weren't really scientists?" Ella said, tears welling up. "Why do I feel that way?"
"Because we're the same person and just feeling out just what's wrong? Because they weren't that shocked to see all those invaders walk in? And how did they do it?" Sphinxie mused. "Most of all, what do those circuits mean?"
"That they're trying to control us again?" Ella answered doubtfully. "They just don't have the right frequency yet?"
"Then we'll have to start changing it," Sphinxie replied firmly. "We can't let them win this battle."
"Or we will lose the war," Ella said, summoning the words up from the depths of her memory. "Kaylen said that."
"And what Kaylen says is always right," Sphinxie automatically said.
They both fell silent as another quake started shaking the small space again.