Air still.

No movement.

No prey.

No Vet, No Takers, No Namegivers.

Kimiko.

Spades sniffed the air. Nothing. He couldn't smell anything new inside the giant room. The big room was bright, the lights never went off, but the windows in the roof always showed the night sky. The whole place was wrong. They were in a big room, but the room was filled with outside things. Sand, dam water, plants, but the plants were not growing, not living. They were like Namegiver things; the same taste and smell. Spades had tried to recall one of the many names he had heard his partner call it but there were too many. Too many sounds to remember and he had already learned so much.

Kimiko was digging again. Trying to find real dirt, trying to find a way out. Sand shifted beneath his paws as he walked over to Kimiko. He turned his head to look, sitting by her hole.

‘Kimiko, did you find something?’ he asked. Kimiko stopped and looked at Spades.

‘なんでしょう？’

“Bark! Bark! (What Find?)” He asked again, speaking as the Namegivers would have done.

“Whimper (Steel floor)” She answered, not happy. The thing in his ear the Vets gave him; it changed her bark from her Namegiver’s words to his Namegiver’s words.

“Growl (big room)” He tried to explain; he had been in many rooms like this. “Whine (no leave)”

‘私は道を見つけるでしょう!’ Kimiko refused to believe him, - he did not need Namegivers’ words to understand that. She left him to find another hole to dig. Spades whined. He missed Beau, his Namegiver, his partner. He didn’t like the sand without Beau. Bad things happened in the sand.

Kimiko stopped abruptly, turning to the door. Spades knew he was getting old. He didn’t hear sound like he used to.

Whirrrrrrrrr.

The Vets were returning.

They would take them to the white rooms. They would be told what to do, they would be flashed with bright lights and harsh sounds blasted in their ears. There would be no comforting hands or soothing voices. Insect clicks and the growls of bigger beasts.

The doors opened and three walked in. The Vet with the white coat, who smelled of salt and car wash. The tall ones, they looked like the crickets he chased back home. They smelled like moonshine and fresh cut greens. Kimiko ran to Spades’ side, ready to growl and refuse the Taker’s orders.

Spades knew they would not listen.

The Vet stood behind the tall Takers and barked orders in fake Namegiver words.

“We are going to take you for the Physical Examination, do not resist.”

He gave orders, but he wasn’t from the Pack. Only Pack Namegivers gave him orders.

“Growl(NO!)” He answered, there was no respect in the Vet’s words. The Vet spoke to the tall ones who came for him and Kimiko.

“Dose them.”

The tall ones were fast, like crows they took to the air and swooped. Striking with painful stings.

Kimiko had her mouth opened and missed. She was jabbed and yelped in pain. Spades knew to jump last minute, to attack the arms.

He whipped his head to the side, as the black armoured hand tried to strike his neck. Teeth met crunching flesh. The arm felt like crawfish, tasted like cricket. The tall one hissed, and another hand stung him. Hands ripped at his fur trying to pull him off but Spades would not let go, not until he was too tired to hold on.

The Takers took Sieglinde, they would not Take him without a fight.

-*-

Duuarn sighed.

Even with the translators, his specimens were uncooperative. Users never understood what was going on anyway, there was no any point in trying to explain that is was for their own good, that it was necessary.

“Dose them.” He gave the order to Arc and Suk, waving a hand in the air dismissively. The twin Arvas guards muttered to themselves.

“You take the male.” Arc asserted, unfolding his wings “Honour in battle and all that.”

“Honour? You never took the code seriously!” Suk sneered.

“Yeah? Well it’s your turn to get bit!” Arc spat before launching into the air, clutching the Medipen in his left hand.

“Tsk!” Suk sulked, taking a moment more in his approach. The male quadruped had already taken a chunk out of his sloppy compatriot. It would not be doing the same to him. Suk unfolded his wings and jumped into the air, taking a graceful dive, the creature was fast on the ground but Suk had training. He focused in on his prey, who stood its ground ready to strike at the guard. Suk would almost consider this a duel, the beast clearly knew he was being challenged and did not attack unless approached first. The first lesson of a defense artist, but without a weapon there was no code, and his job was to dose the creature. Suk extended his right arm to jab the beast’s throat but without warning the creature jumped, whipped its neck around and its teeth sunk into his armour.

CRUNCH

Suk let out a hiss of rage. The beast stared him down with intense eyes, it’s growl so deep Suk could feel the vibrations through its teeth. The penetrated armour’s defences kicked in, immediately constricting the blood flow to the wounded appendage and applying the inbuilt concoction of chems. Clotting agents to stop the bleeding, opioids to stop the pain, adrenaline to increase battle effectiveness. Suk cursed the creature and pulled the Medipen from his jaw locked arm, dosing the quadruped hastily in the side.

“LET GO!” Suk tried, but he could not command the beast’s will. It would not surrender even when defeated. Honourable.

“Hurts, don’t it?!” Arc yelled triumphantly, holding the other Specimen by the scruff of the neck.

“Would you two hurry up!?” Duuarn berated, waiting at the enclosure door. “I want to be early for the Perceptions Test!”

Suk hissed.

"It penetrated the armour."

He looked at his main right arm, a dozen or so puncture marks oozed clear liquid. The emergency chemicals flooded his suit worked to end the pain fast, soon he wouldn't even feel it.

The creature lay limp on the ground, refusing and unable to move.

Arc picked up the female, tucking her against his left side and chuckled at his twin’s misfortune.

"That one is smart-" Arc waltzed over to the ever impatient Dr. Duuarn. "-and stubborn as stone. Kinda like you, Doctor!"

Duuarn's upper lip twitched.

"Hmmm yes," he snit back, "Intelligence can be such a burden, the creature is lucky it is only half as dense as you."

Arc's expression dulled and he looked at the dog Suk was hauling into his own arms.

"Does being smart make you heavy?" Arc asked out loud to the disbelief of both Suk and Duuarn. "I mean, is it ‘cause your heads have more stuff in them or?..."

Suk gave a stern sigh. "Specimens subdued and secured. Ready when you are Doctor," the guard stated, ignoring his brother.

"Finally!" Duuarn exasperated, tapping away on his Dataslate. "Krydon should have finished with the Creator Subject’s test and be on his rest period, I should be able to have the Specimens’ systems flushed and ready for the next Quarter." He tucked the device into his long jacket and presumptuously made his way to the elevator.

"Hey Suk..." Arc stopped his twin before the door. "Is that why they're called bulge heads? ‘Cause you know, like how Nerve-slates are heavier than normal data slates cause they hold more stuff? They're denser cause they weigh more, cause there's more stuff in them?"

Suk shook his head.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how it is that you and I came from the same egg."

"So?"

"No, Arc. Being smart doesn't make you heavy."

"Right, I knew that..." The guard hurried ahead of his brother. Suk closed his eyes, thanking Akira they had not been born as office clerks or something that required the use of a brain.