E.I.G.H.T

I had to follow the Bear closely, just a pace or two behind the massive man at all times. I had to because the Rhoatian forest would quickly envelope behind him and if I was a step too late I might wind up lost in the thicket forever. The idea of being lost in the thicket forever made me quicken my step.

“So, tell me little girl what is your name?” The Bear had asked suddenly after getting through about 10 klicks of the thick Rhoatian forest.

“Persephone,” I said quickly, I still am not certain why I answered his question with Persephone’s name instead of my own, however my subroutines justified the action, I analyzed that had I said my actual name he would realize that it was an acronym for EIGHT and thus blow my cover.

“Do ye go by Percy then?” The Bear asked.

“Yes,” I said simply as if second nature.

“’re ye a Teal or a Turquoise, Percy?” the Bear asked.

“…A Teal,” I answered truthfully this time deciding not to say Persephone’s actual last name as this would blow my father’s cover as being the one orchestrating this whole thing.

“I thought as much,” the Bear nodded as he scratched his beard.

“Why did you ask that question?” I asked after fully analyzing what he had asked. It had taken a while for my subroutines to realize the anomaly in asking that question. He was asking as if he had inside knowledge or even prior knowledge of some sort.

“Ye ’ave a uniq0ue appearance Ms. Teal.” The Bear said thoughtfully. “With that look, of yers I ’ave only seen the Teals or those immediately related to them and the Turquoise ’ave that look as well. Though I was thinking you were a Teal, the Turquoise is a bit darker family than ye ’re.”

This struck me as interesting. I did not know that my father had based my physical appearance on a certain family line. He had always told me that my appearance was that which was the most perfect Golordian Female, and I did not know that others existed until the Bear said this.

“Is yerr mother Demeter Teal?” The Bear asked.

I nearly froze in my track. Demeter was indeed Persephone’s mother’s name but was her original last name before she wedded father? I had no idea.

“Yes, do you know her,” I said before my silence became too obvious.

“Aye, I knew her when she was a wee lass a bit younger than ye ’re now.” The Bear said nodding. “Yer a spitting image of ’er, hell when I saw ye I thought I was seeing my old friend again…How is yer mother?”

“She passed,” I said with my best sadden tone my artificial voice could muster. The Bear looked back at me as he paused his walk.

“Sorry Lass, I didn’t know,” The Bear said.

“It’s quite alright Mr. Teddy she passed a while ago,” I said.

“Oh,” the Bear said, and he started walking again. “To think I would run into Demeter Teal’s daughter all these years later only to find out that Demeter passed away.”

After that exchange it was quiet.

A short while later we made it to the rebel camp. It was not quite what I was expecting. To be frank I was expecting that there would be these slum merchants and convicted felons and the like. However, what I saw was anything but.

Men, Women and even children filled the camp. Many of the children were running around chasing each other in play. The men were off doing what looked like different forms of drilling their physical fitness. The women seemed to be mostly tending to injured and watching over the children, though there were few female soldiers that looked at me as I passed. I pondered why they were staring at me so intrigued.

“They’re wondering why ye look so different Ms. Teal,” the Bear said as if knowing what my subroutines were trying to figure out. “I told ye that your look is unique around these parts.”

“Sir,” a group of female soldiers suddenly appeared in front of us. A woman stood there in front of us with beautiful blonde hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen, they looked almost like ice you would see reflecting the light blue sky.

My subroutines quickly categorized this woman as ‘gorgeous.’ She indeed was. Her flowing blond hair was drifting in the bit of wind that suddenly appeared and strangely I had a hard time not looking at her. I was trying to understand her nature more, she was also not like any Golordian I had ever seen before. I noticed she saw my glance, not wanting to be rude I looked away from her.

“What is it Rae?” The Bear said.

“Lord Zephyr is waiting for you in the meeting cabin,” The woman said, and she gave a look at me as if wondering the same thing I had. After a strange pause between us the Bear brought us back to reality by saying:

“Oh Rae, you don’t need to stare at ’er so much she’s just a Teal, no different than you being a Mauve.”

“See ’er Percy, ‘er name is Rae Shell Mauve,” The Bear said as she pointed at the girl. It was the first time that I realized that The Bear had a very thick accent it sounded as if he came from Golordia Epsilon, they had the strangest accents among the Golordians. At least it was the first time my subroutines recognized his accent. “She’s about yer age, and a Captn’ of the female squad.”

“Captain Rae Shell Mauve,” the girl said kind of seriously at first. I was uncertain if I should act the same at first. It was as if she realized she was suddenly put on the spot to be formal.

“Oh, come now Rae, she’s a girl yer age!” The Bear said.

“But Sir,” The girl said, and the Bear looked at her sternly. “Fine, I’m Rae Shell Mauve.” The girl said a bit more social and gave a big smile.

“Persephone Teal,” I said returning the smile.

“Your smile is nice,” Rae suddenly said extending her hand.

“Thanks so is yours,” I took her hand and shook it nicely.

There was another strange pause between us. I was analyzing her face it was quite beautiful I had never seen a Golordian female like her before. She clearly had never seen one like me. I liked her facial features, for reasons I was not quite understanding. I was supposed to not have emotions and yet I felt something here.

“Ahem.” The Bear cleared his throat and brought us back to reality. “Can you show ’er around Rae?” The Bear said and Rae looked very bright at the idea.

“Yes, sir.” Rae said and as if realizing she was a bit too enthusiastic about it she got serious again. I gave a small smile, she made me laugh…something that I didn’t know I could do as an android.

“I ’af to go and see what the boss wants,” The Bear said and he walked off towards the center of this massive camp.