Transportation Day (Ch.9)

"Esteemed Candidates!" The voice over the intercom was the first sound that accompanied the crack of dawn. Vanya's eyes cracked open, but she made no attempts to move, silently watching as the women stirred awake and sat up on their beds.

Two days...it had already been two days since Vanya was captured and locked up in this facility and in these days, she had been poked and proded with needles, assessing her health status. Each day had been spent undergoing one mandatory test or the other, Vanya had lost count of exactly how many times her blood had been drawn and how many sermons on the honor of the project she had been forced to sit through.

They had been assigned Sync-cuffs, it was claimed to be their identity mark with their bio-data input as well as to keep track of health conditions and gene fluctuations during the course of the program. But Vanya knew all of that was just a fancy way of describing a tracker.

The cuffs were of varying colors, dividing them into ranks by the strength of their genes. Red, blue, yellow and black being the highest level assigned. Vanya glanced down at the black cuff around her wrist, one amongst the three of that rank that had been assigned. 

Since the cuffs had been assigned, Vanya sensed the candidates had become even more intolerant of her... like anyone would care to rig the rank assignment in the favor of a former UHF agent.

Lights out had been exactly five hours ago. Two hours after that, about 70% of the hall was asleep. Vanya could hardly blame them, if they had been retrieved from their homes in the same manner that she had been, followed by two days straight of medical checks and evaluations, they had every right to be exhausted and if they were uncertain of everything else, they were smart enough to know they would need their strength for whatever the coming days would bring.

Because today was an important day in the facility.

 "All matched women have been duly retrieved and registered into the alliance facility! With that, the commencement stage of 'Project Mate' enters the next phase! I am honoured to announce to you that today is transportation day." The voice over the intercom continued.

"All candidates, line up at the foot of your bunks. Attendants will come in with a change of clothing. Remember, your compliance is mandatory, together we can ensure the success of Project 'Mate' ."

As the order was given, the women complied. Since Vanya's punishment had been executed before all eyes, it had been complete compliance and the sight of it irritated Vanya. Soon, everyone was lined up at the foot of their bunks, except Vanya.

The doors to the ward hissed open and the droid attendants matched in, mechanical arms pushing a cart piled with neatly folded clothes. The pile of clothing was all white, which was no surprise, perhaps they felt it was more difficult to conceal weapons beneath the color.

The wheels of the cart whirred softly as it rolled down the line, from one woman to the next and the candidates picked up a batch of clothing as it stopped by them. Until the cart came to the only space in the line and the droid attendant looked around in confusion.

All eyes turned to Vanya, and Vanya gritted her teeth. Getting off her bed, she moved to take her place and picked up a bundle of clothing. The droid attendant then moved on with its cart and soon, all the clothes had been delivered.

"Agents will now escort you to prepare. You have two hours, till we are ready for transportation candidates." The intercom went off and Vanya grunted beneath her breath, turning around to head to the washroom, a hand grabbed her wrist, holding her back.

Vanya glanced over her shoulder to realize it was the woman from before. The one who had made a scene about Vanya's UHF origins. There was a black cuff around her wrist, the rank assignment had only fueled her feeling of superiority. The other candidates seemed to notice the exchange and stopped to stare. They kept their distance too, for some reason, they were all intimidated by this woman.

"I saw what you did there, throwing yet another tantrum. Do you need another lesson, agent?" She asked in a low, threatening tone, "This time, we can make it one you won't forget in a hurry."

Vanya prayed for calm, glancing over at the surveillance, she shrugged off the grip on her arm. "First, do not touch me." She made it clear.

"Secondly, you can tell I was UHF but you are not smart enough to wonder why one of us would be put in here." Vanya turned fully to face her. "Knowing the UHF, do you really think this is a coincidence... candidate?"

The woman's eyes widened slightly and she took a step back. "Good, keep that distance."

Vanya stormed to the washroom, ignoring the wary and even fearful eyes of the candidates fixed on her. She knew her words would further intertwine her with the UHF and would even mislead many to believe she was a spy for the federation, they would even think that her punishment had all been part of an act to keep the women in line, but Vanya did not care much for it. They already treated her like one of the UHF, it was only fair she used it to her advantage.

Besides, Vanya had no intentions of sticking around for much longer. Transportation day marked an important day in the Project 'Mate' alliance as the matched women would finally be taken to Lunaris where the next stage of the project would commence.

But for Vanya, transportation day meant something else entirely. It was the opportunity she had been waiting for... Perhaps the only chance she would get to get out of this grimy project.

Transportation day...was the day of escape!