Blood - Chapter 2

Something to show you! The Ultra says, come, come.
The door opens and in the corner of the room – a small figure.
What is? The other says.
A human! The Ultra sounds. The other expresses amazement – a hissing sound.
Where did it come from?
Can't say. The Ultra hisses.
Sure all are in service? The other hisses too. How can?
They trap them wild. More hissing, both Ultras.
They go towards the human. It's young, we think, the Ultra says, Another says they are intelligent! The Ultras laugh – a sound like oil bubbling. The human looks at them.
What has it? The other asks.
It makes things, little humans.
Is it safe?
We say it is. Another touches it. She cleaned it. When came was covered in dirt!

Andia hears the hissings and the bubblings. The Ultras are there in the room with her but she does her best to ignore them.
She's heard stories though.

One who escaped them came back to the Outer Land and told. If you were aggressive they just had you taken away. Not freed. Done.. Andia shivers. If you are done you never come back, your body will be used to power the generators like all the other bodies.

Andia thinks of the fire – all her people ringing round it – singing, stories – her mother's arms. Her throat fills with a lump and she knows she mustn't cry. She must just be quiet so they keep her. She must escape. If that other one did it then she can do it.
She uses the cloth and the little sticks they've given her to make her people. She will make each of them so she doesn't forget.

What I don't like about human young, says the other, skulls are too big for faces. Oil bubbling.
One I saw smelled like burnt leaves, the Ultra says. I didn't like. Doesn't matter how they clean it – it smells like that. This one better. Sweeter.
The Ultras look at the human child twisting threads from the fabric they have given her, to tie the stick limbs of the tiny humans together.
The Ultras smile.
When you give them they make things always.
There is a sound from the doorway. Another is there, speaking minds like them.
Some changes have been reported, another says. Five are being brought from Servicespace – the refinements on the testing brought something. You must come. The Ultras take a last look at the human child and reluctanctly follow.
What will it eat? The other asks.
They say give them meat! The hissing fades as the Ultras draw further away. The door slides closed.

Andia waits. The door is in the wall, seamless. Now she can't tell where it was. Her fingers twist and tie – twist and tie. The one that came back said sometimes they can see you when they aren't even there. She'll have to wait.