Simone

They'd bred them, the Cats, if it could be called breeding. It had taken them hundreds of attempts, hundreds of abandoned foetuses, dozens of specimens who didn't make a month. The original engineer had died, and her position taken by a rival. The government had no care for scientific politics. And they were patient.

It was the grandson of the original engineer who finally suceeded. A man named Roger, on his second marriage. His first wife had left him when he took up the reigns of Progect Felix. His new wife was a teacher, and a staunch pro-engineer.

When MZ043 was born, they hadn't expected her to be the one. Roger had taken her home when she was two months old. They hadn't named her at first; they were trying not to get too attached. They'd been let down before. Even when she was a year old, a furry, vicious baby, they hadn't named her; she wasn't the first to have lasted so long.

She learned to speak late, and even then they didn't name her. She wasn't the first to have spat out words.

Roger's wife, Claude, read her stories: mostly fairy tales. Claude thought it was perverse when Roger told the child about the Japanese cays of lore. In defence, she read stories like Sleeping Beauty, and Aladinn; not a hint of anthromorphism anywhere.

When they found the child reading, out loud in a soft and uncertain voice (The Owl and The Pussycat) Claude decided they should name her. She was three years old, and they called her Simone, after Roger's grandmother. Simone was a fast learner. She devoured any books they let her near (in a metaphorical sense).

They had their next success when Simone was four, a fuzzy little boy this time. They took him home too, eventually, and when he too learnt to read, they named him. They called him Edward, for Edward Lear who wrote Simone's favourite.

The children asked questions, soon enough. Why didn't they look like the children in books? Who were the other children who came and went (buried with too little sadness)? Why didn't the people on the 'T-B' have fur, and pointy ears? Why didn't Roger and Claude?

Shush, Claude told them. They were special, that's all. There's nothing wrong with being different.

Roger's employers asked questions too. They wanted to see the children. They wanted to take over guardianship.

Roger took the children in to see the offical in charge. The children didn't like him. Edward hissed, and the official made derogatory remarks about their lack of discipline.

The official gave the children lollipops. The children went home with Claude, and refused to eat the lollies. They didn't like the man. They didn't like the way he talked to them. They didn't like the way he looked at them. Why were they different? Why did they have to see the man?

Claude didn't answer, and eventually the children stopped asking. For the time being.

Roger was still in meeting with the official. When would the next specimen be ready? Roger said they weren't sure. How would they school the current specimens? Claude was going to homeschool them. When would he agree to let the government take guardianship? That depended. He did remember they were government property, didn't he?

Roger got angry then, and said they were no one's property. When Roger got home, Claude was watching the children, asleep in their cots.

He wants to take them away, Roger told Claude. Claude didn't answer, but watched the furry little children. They were more cat then human, in sleep; and they slept a lot. Eventually Roger left, and drove out to the labs. He slept there overnight, and didn't come home until the next evening. He and Claude didn't talk about what the government wanted of their children.

Claude began the children's schooling. She taught them mathematics and writing. She avoided science as much as she could, but when the children asked questions, she answered. Except of course, when the children asked about their origins.

The chidren fought together often, and they were doing so (Edward had taken Simone's book), with Cladue trying to seperate them, when Roger came home one evening. There was another child, he told them. The children stopped fighting. Claude sent them to their rooms. She asked if they were going to take it. Roger didn't know. It was a boy child.

But that wasn't all his news. He was pale and sweating, and Claude guessed. The government wanted the children. They wanted her babies. Roger didn't say anything, but Claude knew it was true. She began to cry. They couldn't let them take their children, they couldn't. Roger told her he knew that.

They made plans to escape. They would smuggle the children out of the country. Start a new life.

The next day Roger showed up to work to find himself without a job. They told him he was getting too attached to the subjects. They wanted someone less emotionally involved in charge. Roger told them that was absolute rubbish, and went to pack his bags. When he got hoome, Claude was in the middle of their lounge, weeping.

The children were gone. There was nothing Claude could have done. They were gone. The word echoed about in Roger's head. He hugged his wife, and they sat there wondering at the fate of their children.

Simone was confused now. She'd yelled and howled and bit and scratched before; but now she was just confused. The men wouldn't talk to her, even when she screamed at them. They had long gouges down their arms before they used the tranquilisers. Edward stared at them in shock, and when Simone collapsed on the floor, he ran at the door. They caught him and he screamed and wept and called for Claude, but no one came, and they tranquilised him too.

The next day, Simone woke alone, curled in a small bed in a small room. Her head hurt. The room was too bright. She squinted about at it - there were no windows, and one door. The lights turning on had woken her. Even when she closed her eyes, it hurt. She decided that was an excuse for the tears.

She wanted to throw a tantrum, but there was no point if there was no one to see, or hear.

She wished they would turn the lights down.

She rolled out of bed, and began to explore the small confines of the room. Bed, door, walls. A tray of small white stones. She didn't know what that was for.

She wondered if anyone was going to come get her. She was hungry. She was thirsty. She needed to go to the toilet. She needed bathing.

She waited, uncomfortably.

When the woman came in, Simone ran up and threw her arms around her. She wailed to be taken home. The woman waited in silence. Simone let go, and dropped to all fours. The woman told her too follow. On two feet, she said. Simone glared at the woman, but followed her out, down the halls, all the while squinting in the harsh light.

Simone had a bath, and the woman asked what she wanted for breakfast. Simone asked for scrambled eggs on toast, and was annoyed when the woman laughed. The woman said she hadn't thought Simone to be so civilised. She'd thought she'd be a meat eater.

Simone was, just not for breakfast. She said so.

When Simone was fed and watered, she asked again to go home. The woman laughed. Simone was beginning to hate that laugh. The woman said she was home. Then where were Claude and Roger? Where was Edward? The woman's face went serious. Claude and Roger, she said, were somewhere else. Simone would not see them again. She might see Edward though, after she'd completed her training. What training, Simone asked. And, where am I? And, who are you?

The woman's name was Margory Ross, and Simone was in a government military facility. She was here to be trained. She was a genetically engineered creature, designed to be a government soldier.

Simone didn't believe the woman.

But it did make sense.

The woman told her she was going to learn to fight. If she learnt to fight, Simone thought, she could escape. She could find Edward and they could escape. She decided to go along with Margory's plans.

It wasn't as easy as Simone had thought. Learning to fight was hard. She had to go through dozens of exercises, morning and night. She had to learn stealth, and how many ways there were to kill a person. She had to learn those ways. She often thought of killing Mrs Ross, but she dind't dare. She was a government creation. Government property. What rights did she have to freedom? She was unnatural. She was freak.

She became stubborn, and vicious. She grew fast. She grew good. She began to forget she'd had a life that wasn't fight, kill, hide, run. She began to forget she'd ever been loved. She hated the government. She hated herself. She broke any mirror she saw, but that only left more reflections. Sometimes she would go into fits and try and pull all her fur out. She was certain that underneath, there was a human girl. A normal, human girl who the government would neither need nor want. A free girl. A girl who could love, and be loved.

It never happened. It hurt too much for far too long. She wanted to cry, but she didn't. She didn't have the right to cry, to be unhappy.

Sometimes she woke in a rage she didn't understand. She wanted something, but she didn't know what. She screamed for it. Mrs Ross hit her, and told her to shut up.

She saw very few people, in the faculty. It was outside of the norm when Mrs Ross told her, one day, that she was going to have a visitor. Who was it? Mrs Ross wouldn't say. It was a surprise.

The visitor was a boy, and he was furry like her, and scared like her, and full of hatred, just like her.

Edward, she gasped, and ran to hug him. Although at that time, she barely remembered what a hug was.

Edward pushed her away. Suddenly she was on the floor, and Edward was on top of her, growling. Out of the corner of Simone's eye, Mrs Ross laughed. Simone got angry. She wriggled out of Edward's grasp, and threw him against the wall.

The walls in that place were hard. Edward sunk to the ground and didn't get up.

Mrs Ross tutted. What a waste, she said.

Simone told her to shut up. Shut up, she said, or I'll kill you too. Mrs Ross started to reply before she saw the look in Simone's eyes. She shut up.

Somewhere, a couple sat in each other's arms, remembering and hoping. Two small furry children. Hoping, almost, that they were dead, rather than living the dream the government had for them. They would've been both right and wrong.

So, Simone still lived and breathed. She obeyed the government's commands, and did what they said. Still, she could not be called alive. She'd been alive once, but she hadn't just killed Edward that day; she'd killed herself.