Chapter 11: A Task Completed

When the overseer announces that they will have the day off, Ayasha high-tails it to the secret room she had discovered three days earlier and teleports for what she hopes will be the last time to the home of Professor DeHaviland. She had received a text message in the wee hours of the morning from her grandfather. He had said he looked forward to seeing her in the morning and she knew exactly what that meant.

He is standing there patiently as she appears and walks over and gives him a hug; not something she would normally do; but considering that she may not see him again, finds it strangely fitting and finds that he returns her hug; another oddity considering his normally old-fashioned and reserved nature. “Everything is arranged… shall we finish this?” He asks and she nods, turning to the house, where the strange professor is standing in the doorway regarding them with his quirky smile.



Ascending the stairs, they enter the house and the doctor gives them a brief welcome, but knows they are a little pressed for time. Ukito is soon ensconced in the kitchen with a cup of tea with a particularly talkative housekeeper named Francine keeping his porcelain cup filled and his time filled with conversation. Ayasha is taken to the study where she is offered a glass of lemonade, which she takes and sips as he speaks.





“Everything is prepared as per your instructions and those of your Grandfather; we are expecting guests in only a few minutes but I thought to give you a chance to see what we have created and expect that should you survive your upcoming trials, we could perhaps do business again in the future.” Ayasha just nods, unsure of how to respond, taken by surprise by him knowing of her situation. “Thanks, that would be nice and I hope the same… you have been very accommodating.” She hopes that is sufficient. She has really never been good about expressing herself or articulating herself in anything other than anger and it give her an unfamiliar feeling of awkwardness. 

Sensing her unease, he lifts his glass. “Here is for the conclusion of our project and to your continued survival.” He says cheerfully. With the clinking of their glasses, each of them finishes their juice and sets the glasses down on the table.



“Follow me… I thought you’d want to see the fruits of our labors before everyone else.” He says leading her deeper into the house and takes a set of spiral stairs recessed into the floor that lead to the basement. It is dimly lit with candles and colored in reds and blacks as she follows him down the short hallway and passed by two doors, one on the left, then one on the right and wonders only idly what lay behind them. She is strangely hesitant about this but if she can stare down her enemies than this should be easy… but it’s not. 

Professor DeHaviland rests a hand on her shoulder warmly and turns to enter the last door they had passed and there is a slight metallic smell intermingled with chemicals as the door closes behind him.





She steels her will and opens the door. He is sitting at the computer playing chess and all she can see is the back of his red head and his orange shirt through the slats in the back of the chair. Like the rest of the basement, the room is decorated in red and black, but the coverlet on the bed, seat of the chair he is sitting on and an area rug on the floor are set in patterns reminiscent of his namesake and apparently chosen by him since it kind of clashes with the rest of the decor. 

“Blaze?” She asks, moving into the room so she can see his face and is taken by surprise at the hint of familiarity in it. It is very likely that this is what his namesake looked like when he had been a child and it’s wonderful to see that he seems to be smart, but she is curious if he has that endearing (and slightly annoying) childish nature he had.







He looks up from his game and regards her with a look of intense concentration. “Do I know you?” He asks after a moment. “I don’t think so… I am Ayasha Miakoda.” She replies slowly and he gets to his feet. “How do you know my name?” He asks and she just looks down at him. “I knew it when I saw you… if that makes any sense.” She says quietly. His smile is pure innocence and trust. “It’s kind of the same thing as thinking I have seen you before… but haven’t.” He replies with a happy smile. 

“The Professor told me some people were coming to take me home today… are you them?” He asks, suddenly serious to which she shakes her head sadly. “I would love to take you home and make sure your life is as easy as possible… but I just can’t.” He hugs her. “It’s okay, we can still be friends.” He says idly and reaches in to hug her and for the second time today feels the strange comfort in having someone give her a hug. “Of course we can…always.” She replies and pulls away from the boy, blinking to keep tears from forming. Even she hadn’t really known what the outcome of this venture would be… she had succeeded in giving Blaze a second chance.

He seems to sense how she is feeling. “I was reading something about Llamas the other day and wondered if Llamas’ had a religious leader, who would it be?” At first she thinks he is joking, but by his serious face, perhaps it is really something he wants to know. She thinks for a minute, but can’t really think of any intelligent response to his question. “I don’t think they have a religious leader.” She replies simply and he laughs… “Sure they do, the Dalai Llama!!” He replies, bursting out laughing; which is so contagious even Ayasha chuckles at the prospect of all the world’s llamas listening to the prayers and musings of probably the most holy man in the world. She tousles his hair playfully getting an impish grin from him. “Are you ready to meet your new family?” Ayasha asks, changing the mood back to sober and he shrugs noncommittally. “I guess.” He answers and she leads him out of the basement and into the living room.



A married couple, Hector and Marisa Medina are sitting on the sofa and look over at them as they walk into living room and seem on the border of rushing over to the boy. Blaze doesn’t seem to be frightened or even concerned when he sees them; in fact it seems to Ayasha that he is eager and a bit curious. He stops a few feet from the sofa and Ayasha goes to sit down on the loveseat to make sure he will be in good hands.





Hector gets to his feet and advances slowly on Blaze, who takes a couple steps towards him. The man smiles as he looks over the boy. “Hello Blaze, my name is Hector Medina and this is my wife Marisa. She and I would really like to have you come and stay with us. I have a gift for you, but don’t think that means you have to say yes.” He says warmly, producing a package from behind his wife’s back. “Thanks a lot!” He says happily and tears into it, revealing a stuffed bear made up to look like a rocker… complete with a spiked Mohawk, sunglasses and studded leather jacket.”Wow, it’s so cool!” He says hugging the bear close and something about the bear tickles the back of his memory, but he can’t figure out what. 

They chat for a few minutes before he is comfortable, then Blaze goes up to Marisa. “I’m Blaze… and I was hoping you could tell me why in the Lion King movie Simba’s dad died.” He says with a straight face looking up the woman. “I think it was because he was trampled by wildebeests.” She ventures a guess, having only seen the movie once or twice and only vaguely remembers the plot. He shakes his head sternly. “Nope… because he couldn’t Mufasa… get it… move fasta?” He says triumphantly with a laugh to which Marisa just laughs with a rueful shake of her head. 

To Ayasha; who is watching the exchange, it is definitely a sign that Blaze will get a second chance at the life he was cheated out of; maybe even a better one. She watches as Marisa crouches before the boy. “I want to tell you how much it would mean to me and Hector to have you come and stay with us; to be our son, and so we can be your parents.” She says soberly and the boy catches onto the seriousness. 

“We cannot have children of our own, but want nothing more than to have a family. We’d do our best to make sure you always have love and support… I won’t lie and tell you that everything will be perfect because it won’t. We will likely have disagreements, hurt feelings and maybe even yell at each other. But we will put your welfare above our own and try to give you the best life we can afford to.”



There are tears in young Blaze’s eyes as he extends his arms up to Marisa. “I would like a family.” He says softly, almost too softly for Ayasha to hear even a handful of feet away. With a long hug, they thank Professor DeHaviland for his time and service and meet with the social services workers that are waiting outside for them to sign the necessary paperwork and Ayasha watches them drive away from the window while waiting for her grandfather.



During that exchange, Professor DeHaviland is meeting with Ukito Miakoda in the study. “I have fulfilled my obligation to you in this matter. I can assume the debt that I owe you and yours is dispatched?” He asks hopefully and with a touch of nervousness. “It is indeed, you performed admirably in fulfilling what instructions I gave you. Perhaps the time will come when I will have debt to you.” He says simply but with a knowing smile and with a clasping of hands, the deal is concluded and Ukito walks out without a further word. Ayasha thanks him and bids farewell to her grandfather for what may be the last time and returns to the arena the way she came.





Simon and Saraya are heading for the courtyard above when they hear a strange grinding sound and see a door opening in what had seemed a solid wall. At first they are concerned for what could possibly be coming out, but when the door swings fully open, Ayasha steps out into the hall, freezing when she sees them standing there. All three are surprised by the situation and don’t see or hear the door close seamlessly behind Ayasha.



“So this is where you go when you disappear for hours… what’s in the secret room? I think I should let the overseer know so she can take care of it.” She growls as she steps towards Ayasha threateningly. “I can explain…” She stammers, but Saraya starts yelling at her again. “I think it’s extremely selfish of you to keep such a room from the rest of us… how do you know that we don’t want a place to hide too? What were you thinking keeping something like that a secret?” She demands. Before Ayasha can even begin to explain, the other woman throws her hands up and stalks away, muttering under her breath.





As Ayasha rounds the corner a moment later the far door is closing behind Saraya, but Simon is standing there in the main hall waiting for her. “I found it a while back…” She says defeated; assured that the crazy Saraya is already looking for Lainee and telling her all about Ayasha’s secret hideaway. “I was going to tell everyone, but I had something I needed to do and needed a quiet place to do it.” She finishes. 

Simon sighs heavily and adjusts his glasses. “I think you should have told us when you first found it… hopefully Saraya doesn’t do anything foolish.” He says in his squeaky tenor. “I hope so too…” She says softly, her sentence fading to a whisper of exhaled breath. They part ways once and she feels strangely fortunate to have Simon’s trust in this matter, hoping most ardently that Saraya didn’t go looking for Lainee or Katie.





Saraya is on the ramparts of the arena staring out at the beauty of Hidden Springs and wondering if she will ever be able to leave this place. She is upset about Ayasha keeping a secret like that, but the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes that everyone likely has secrets. “Look at Troy being gay… he kept that a secret to the end. It didn’t really do him any good though.” She says in a low harsh whisper. “And poor Blaze having such a hard life, but he still kept laughing and joking like it never happened… I hope it helped him there at the end.” She continues rambling to herself for several minutes before she hears someone coming up behind her and turns to face Ayasha.

“I had meant to tell you…and the others” She stammers, not in her usual, confident way. “I just had something to do first.” She finishes in a rush. It is all unnecessary and Saraya is strangely cool and relaxed, definitely not her normal, psychotic self. “It’s alright… most of us have secrets… good to finally see yours.” She says idly. If only the woman truly knew her, she’d know that she has many secrets, and some of them dangerous enough to kill her if they are revealed. This is a slip, nothing more. “I appreciate your discretion, thank you.” Feeling like she has a mouthful of peanut butter by the time the last two words come out.



When Ayasha departs, she heads down to inspect the newly furnished barracks; which had had workers busy all day clearing out debris and building the new military style bunks instead of single beds. She finds Simon selecting a bunk and approaches him. She had had a change of heart in all her musings on the wall and tells him so. “I decided not to say anything to the overseer, or the others. Perhaps we can keep it as our little secret for a while too; maybe one of us will find some use for it. Simon isn’t normally one for secrets, but knows if even one of the others lets it slip to the overseer or enforcer, they could all be in serious trouble. In the end he agrees and lies down for a nap after today’s events.







Each of the others come to pick their bunks since the sun is going down outside and the workers have finally left. Owen and Katie are standing near one of them and she is surprisingly verbose and wanting to express to Owen how she feels about yesterday’s events. Since her manufacturing at Simoptic Industries thirty years before, she has tried to be a model of behavior for a simbot, never getting into trouble or causing harm to people, but this job has inevitably changed her; and not in a good way. She has grown more testy and violent in the company of such violent and potentially deadly people. 

The first one to call her “Rusty” was a woman named Noe White and she was defeated in the first ever competition 10 years before and called her that when she was “escorting” the young lady to the cell. The girl had tried to run, fearful for her life and nearly escaped from the arena before Katie brought her to heel. She screamed “RUSTY!!!” over and over as she was dragged to the cell forcefully. Even now Rowena and Noe’s harsh words echo in her cybernetic brain and bring her pain.

When Katie finishes telling part of her story, Owen is surprisingly sympathetic to the simbot as he was in a similar situation himself. “I was exactly like you are now, so I know what it feels like. I was in the military and like you it changed me the longer I was there.” He says sternly at first, but softer as he goes along and some of the others present stop to listen. 

“I was with my unit and we had charged into a warehouse where the enemy was supposedly hiding. We made contact and opened up with our guns in their position. We had searched long and hard for them and I was so overzealous that I didn’t hear the change of our orders until it was too late. Two men from my unit were dead and I had killed them. I was court-martialed and sent back to the world in disgrace.” He says with a sigh. “There are only two things you can do, either live with it… or leave it behind like I did.” With that he goes to lie down on the nearest bunk and pulls the blankets up around his shoulders facing the wall and it seems to those watching that he is crying.





Katie ponders her dilemma for a while, but eventually reaches the only logical conclusion in her mind; to find a way to get out of here before she does something worse than shredding the furniture. She finds Lainee in the training room, practicing on some dark stone and confronts her, though the woman still seems cross with her since she is smashing the stone block with an almost inhuman fury. “I want to resign my post.” She says plainly and the other woman turns to regard her with a sour look. “You signed a contract… there is no resignation without two weeks’ notice and likely this contest will be over by then.” She says gruffly. “I don’t want to do this anymore!” Katie reiterates, putting as much strength in her monotone voice that she can. “Too bad… I will take your words as a two weeks’ notice, but you signed the contract, so you are here until that two weeks is over.” She says acidly and starts to turn back to her board breaker.





Katie grabs her arm and spins her around roughly, her hard metallic hard lancing in to smack the overseer with enough force to shake the woman’s teeth loose. “How dare you!” She hisses as she recovers. “For that I should be expelled.” Katie says impassively. “I don’t think so… you leave when I say you leave… not a minute before!!” The ruckus brings everyone into the room to watch the event and Katie simply turns back to face the red haired overseer. “You don’t control me, the sponsors do and their rules state that should the enforcer ever strike the overseer, they are to be immediately removed from the arena. Now it is my wish to go… or should I slap you around again, harder this time?” She replies blandly. “Get your sorry ass out of here before I make your Rusty insides your outsides!!” she shouts at the retreating simbot, who pays her no mind as she walks out of the arena forever; with a certain levity to her spirit and if she could smile, she’d have one from ear to ear.