"I will be sure to be home for your birthday, habeebi." Sekhmet smiled, a simple facade and apeasement to her father. She knew he would not be.
The holosuit faded into black, the adobe porch overlooking the beutiful shimmering sands of a desert stretching endlessly into the horizon, the colored silks blowing gently in the breeze. The real world room came into focus around her. Her room was large, baby blue walls stretching up around her into a dome above, a large canopy bed with red silks, and a glass desk with the latest computer system against the wall across from it, her classwork strew about on various papers. Large double glass doors opened onto a veranda overlooking the city of Medina below.
Sekhment Abdel was a week from her 18th birthday and was the daughter of Ibrahim Abdel, a driven and intelligent entrepenour. He founded Abdel Biomedical Firm and was working to grow its influence in the city. It has been weeks since she had seen her father. Even though the company was based in the same city, he would often stay at the offices and labs, working around the clock on his project. Her mother had long since left the family, trying to convince Sekhment to join her, "He will never make time for you. He loves you, but his first love is the lab."
She considered giving her mother a call, but her comlog beeped, informing her it was time for her self defense classes to start. Groaning, she quickly changed into athletic clothes, and headed out of her room and down the stairs of the alabaster mansion to an outdoors sports area. Even under the burning sun, the black topped court was cooled by pipes, and the glare of the sun abatted by UV glass pannels arching over the court. Palm trees, flowering bushes, and other plants adorned the perimeter of the garden.
"Punctual as usual, Sek."
"To be early is to be ontime-" Sekhmet began.
"-to be ontime is to be late. Yes, yes. Lets get on with our pre-workout stretches, and less of your fathers wisdom." replied the tall, beutiful woman.
Atena was a tall, lithe woman, formerly an odalisque with the previous Sultanate. When the new Sultan came to power she left and became a mercenary. She was one of the few gifts left by Sekhmets mother, who hired her to both guard and train her since she was 10. They met every other day out on this blacktop court to exercise and spar, and Atena had become one of her closest confidants. Sekhmet herself becoming something akin to a little sister. The two were now going through their usual stretches and exercises before their combat training. As she finished, she hopped up on her feet, bouncing up and down, warming herself up.
Throwing a wooden sword over to her instructor, Sekhmet rolls her shoulders and adopts a general stance, readying herself.
Atena catches the wooden sword and chuckles, "Awefully focused today aren't we? No chit-chat? No girl talk?"
"I just need to hit something."
Sekhmet charges the taller woman, swinging her 'sword' with measured abandon. Clack! Clack! Clack! The blows rained down as Atena backed up, trying to gain some control as the younger woman assaulted her. The teenager was not unskilled, the years of training, and her natural inclination to the martial arts meant she was growing into a very skilled opponent. The former odalisque still had experience on her side though as she finally turned a blow, twisted away and regained a more stable footing. Sekhmet twirled away with the momentum, following the blade through to bring it back around. Sweat was already glistening on her face and neck.
"Someone had a call with their father where he promised something." Atena said with a knowing smile.
Rather than answer, Sekhmet launched another assault.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
The blows rained down again, Atena standing strong and allowing the young woman to blow off steam, deftly deflecting and blocking hits. The older woman knew this session would be less about learning, and more about stress relief. Whatever she would try to teach would not stick, so she played the role of a friend and guardian rather than an instructor. The two women traded blows for about 20 minutes before Sekhmet fell back on the black top, breathing heavily as sweat poured off of her. Her geist pinged a message, warning her about dehydration, and upcoming heat sickness. Atena grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby table, and passed it to the teenager, who took it and sipped slowly, sitting up.
"Your father doesn't make these promises to upset you on purpose. He truly does wish to be here for your birthday." Atena said, sitting down next to her.
Sekhmet replied snidely, "I never said anything about promises."
"I have been with this family and you for almost 9 years now, the pattern is well established, and I can read you like a book."
Taking another sip of water, she sighs, "Next year I am leaving for university, and never coming back."
"Thats what I did, minus the university part. Just, don't go joining any wars. Use that brain of yours to get a good job."
Sekhmet smiled and stood up saying, "Thanks."
The week went by as it usually did. Physical fitness training, arts, school, and homework. Most of her free time was taken up by scheduled activities during the week, and before she knew it, the sun was rising on the morning of her birthday. Being a teenager, though, the sun climbed high into the sky before she finally groaned and woke up. She felt something on her bed, and blinked a few times to focus.
"Good morning habeebi." the man said, a smile on his face.
"Dad?" Sekhmet asked in astonishment.
Ibrahim smiled down at his daughter before placing a creature from his arms onto her bed. The creature was roughly the size of a dog and began sniffing around her blanket with excitment, a strange creature that looked like a cat until its paws, which were scaled claws instead of cat paws.
"Of course, I promised I would be here for your birthday, happy birthday! My gift is this creature, the only one of its kind. EX-36. It was the test subject for our new program, Taniyn."
"Well its cute I suppose, is this what you have been working on?"
Sekhmet sat up and reached over to pet the creature, who happily accepted.
"Yes, we begin human trials in a week."
Raising her eyebrow, Sekhmet asked, "Human trials? How could you have gotten approval from the MAA so fast?"
Smiling and waving his hand, Ibrahim replies, "You dont need to worry about that my dear its not a public endeavor, it is your birthday, do not let such things trouble your mind. I have breakfast ready downstairs, get dressed and come join me!"
He stands up, adjusting his suit and heads out of the bed room. EX-36 sits on the bed, stareing at Sekhmet. She had a bad feeling about her fathers work, but he would never listen to her anyways. Sekhmet got dressed quickly into her favorite color shifting skirt and tank top. She had plans this afternoon with her friends in town, and even if her father had made himself available, she was not about to cancel. Getting on a pair of light boots, she headed downstairs, and found her father serving eggah at the table.
"Birthday breakfast! Filling and nutritious! Come eat!"
"I didnt know you knew how to cook..."
"Well I can, not many dishes mind you, but breakfasts were always one I could do."
Sitting down, he took a fork full of the eggs. As Sekhmet sat down, and took a bite herself, she found the dish was not bad. Bland, it was lacking a lot of spices, but it was not bad.
"Well its not....bad." Sekhmet said, swallowing.
"Yes, it has been a bit since I made the dish, I might have forgotten some spices...salt always is a good substitute."
Sekhmet reached for the salt in the center of the table when pain suddenly shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. She gasped as she doubled over, collapsing to the table and sliding onto the ground. The pain pulsed through her several times as her father clicked his tongue and stood up, grabbing a tablet.
"Date and time recorded, it appears Taniyn began acting before the full dose. Note to add a delay to the gene sequence to ensure full dose is ingested. Sekhmet, how do you feel?"
Her mind could not comprehend what was happening between the pulses of pain, had her father drugged her? Would he have done that? That did not make sense, how could a father do that to his daughter. Why would he given her the drug? As her thoughts raced,she tried to respond but could only gasp. He picked her up off the ground and took her back up to her room. Somewhere on the way, she blacked out, the pain finally becoming to great. When she finally opened her eyes again, her commlog told her it had been two days. Missed calls and messages flooded her overlay from her friends, putting her hand to her head where a throbbing headache ensued she rolled over. The creature her father had given her nuzzled her, almost in an understanding way.
"Sekhmet, are you awake?" the voice of Atena came from the other side of the room, "Are you alright? That beast wont let me near the bed, and it did a number to your fathers arm when he tried to check on you this morning."
Sitting bolt upright, fury suddenly filled her, "Where is he? Ibn al kalb, that bastard!"
Atena obviously was wanting to run over to calm Sekhmet but the creature was growling at the guard, getting more worked up as its master did, "Calm down, what happened? Your father said you collapsed. I came over as soon as he called two days ago."
"He drugged me! He used the drug he was experimenting with on me! I guess it didnt work so he left me here!" Sekhmet began to realize she could not control this fury, and it simply kept rising. Panicing she grabbed the glass of water and poured it on herself. The cold water shocked her out of it.
Atena looked confused and startled, "What are you doing? What are you talking about? Settle down, I will get you some food and a towel."
Sekhmet sat back against her head board water dripping from her face as she tried to steady her breathing, "Okay...umm...creature, shes a friend."
Immediatly the creature changed its disposition, looking at her then at the departing woman. It seemed to understand her as it hopped off the bed and sat next to it. After some time, Atena came back with some lentil soup, a spoon, and a towel. She walked carefully to the bed, eyeing the creature who showed no signs of aggression now. Handing Sekhmet the towel, she let the young woman dry herself off before handing over the bowl of soup. Eating the soup, weariness suddenly broke over her. Putting the bowl on her bedside table, she changed her sheets, laid down and immediatly fell asleep.
She awoke again in the dead of the night, her room was bathed in the light of the moon, and a man sat in a chair in the corner, dressed sharply, reading a leatherbound book. He had an air of calmness as he read, but Sekhmet suddenly noticed the pistol on her dresser next to him. Looking at the creature, it was sleeping peacefully on the floor. Flipping a page, the man settles a silk book mark between the pages and closes the book, settling it on the nightstand, he gently takes his pistol, and looks up at Sekhmet.
"Good evening, young miss. Atena, you may join us now."
Atena gently opens the door and enters the room, a black suitcase in her hand, a slight look of concern on her face.
"First, my dear, how are you feeling? Thinking straight? Normal vision? Any heart palpatations you feel?"
Shaking her head, the man continues, "Do you mind if I give you a brief examination? I assure you I am unrelated to your father, and this is to check on your well being."
Sekhmet looks to Atena, who nods her head. If she trusted the mans word, then Sekhmet will give him a chance. She nods to the man who stands up, disappearing the pistol beneath his jacket. He sits gently on the edge of the bed and pulls out a small medical bag, hidden behind him and pulls out a few instruments. He thoroughly checked her throat, eyes, ears, nose, heart, and skin.
"It looks like the minor dose of the serum did not produce much effects on you luckily. Your skin is slightly harder and drier, and your pupils appear to dilate a bit more than they should, your canines are slightly elongated."
Subconsiously, Sekhmet ran her tongue over her teeth, and did notice her canines were slightly longer. Standing up, the man put the medical bag away, and gave a slight bow to Sekhmet, "I am Agent Diwan with the Muhafiz Intelligence Department. I am here to give you a choice. At this time, your fathers company is ruined and he is soon to be dead. If you go with Miss Atena here, you will give up your family, last name, and life as you know it. If you stay, then the next agent to arrive will not be of the Muhafiz. I was given 1 hour to warn you. The suit case that Atena has is approximatly five percent of your fathers worth for you to begin a new life with."
Sekhmets mind raced. Was this a dream? Was her father dead? Why did she feel so little at that news? Looking at Atena, the woman was visibly anxious.
"I apologize Sek, I have been reporting to the Hassassin order since I was hired, your father was a person of interest. But it did let me negotiate for your survival. You are a victim here, not an enemy. Come with me, and we can find our own path!"
She sighed, and sat on the edge of the bed. Agent Diwan stood calmly, watching.
"I assume my mother will be told I am dead either way?"
The man nodded.
"Fine, leave me to get dressed and grab a few things. Atena, I will meet you in the hallway in a few minutes."
Smiling, Atena nods, leaving the briefcase by the door and stepping out. Smiling, and nodding, Diwan picks up his book and says, "Best of luck Miss Sekhmet."
As the door closed Sekhmet stood up, grabbed some clothes, threw them in a backpack, put on her boots, and grabbed the suit case. Clicking her tongue to get the creatures attention, she said, "You need a name...how about Mau?"
Mau gave an approving growl, then followed her closely as she ran to the balcony of her room. Leaping off she landed with a thud in some bushes, Mau scurrying down the wall. They both ran. They ran as fast as they could away from the house, and her old life. She ran towards Medina, hoping the money she had will be enough to set herself up, and start her new life. Perhaps she could be a mercenary?
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