A noise caused Scarlet to wake once again, from an uneasy slumber. Her mind had been on the edge of waking all night, every time one of the others in the room moved too much, or turned around in their sleep, she had taken notice, her powers ready to strike, if the person made a move towards her. When she noticed a bit of light, just the glimmer of dawn, outside the window, she decided that trying to get real sleep would be futile. With a thought, Crysna materialised next to her and she closed her own eyes, letting her mind look through his eyes, even as her body relaxed into a near-sleep state. Not quite sleeping, not quite awake, hovering on the boundary of the waking world, almost like a dream.

Some time later, when the others in the room seriously started to stir, she was startled from her not-sleep, still a little tired, but ready for the day. Deciding that she had Crysna out for quite some time, she pushed him back into his crystal and, when she got dressed, took her things from her locker, letting Cyca out. Cyca preferred to walk next to her and she had no problem with that, at least while indoors. Outside, she would put her away, but for now, her little monster could roam freely. She had noticed that her monsters preferred to project their presence and felt that working with them, as if they were pets, got better results than treating them as tools. Maybe they were both, pets that she liked and took care of, and tools that helped her amass power, while amassing power themselves. Symbiotic, one of the teachers at the training-institute would have called it.

She declined to go with the others, instead going to wake up Keera. She sent a short, psionic jab into the psionic mind she could feel sleeping in the room Keera was assigned to, pushing against her sleeping mind, causing her to startle awake. She giggled a little when Cyca’s hearing allowed her to hear the thumb inside the room, followed by muttered curses, telling her that Keera had fallen from her bed and was not happy with it.

There were steps coming towards the door and the next moment, she witnessed a monster. She had seen Keera in quite a few states, but in that moment, Scarlet was afraid. Blood-shot eyes with a slightly insane look in them, hair that looked like something a few birds had made their nest in, before having a hardcore rave and trembling hands.

Pushing down that slight tinge of fear, she spoke with a cheery smile. “Good Morning!”

She would have to talk to Keera about getting that particular look down, pat, it would frighten off anyone she used it on. For a moment, she let the other get away with it, before meeting her eyes head on. “Cut that shit out, or I will rip your head off and shit down your throat.” Scarlet warned, her glare ice-cold, designed to remind Keera of who was boss and who the follower. Or servant. Maybe even slave.

It seemed to work, Keera flinched, as if slapped and lowered her eyes. “I am sorry, I didn’t sleep very well.” she said, by way of apology.

“Nightmares?” Scarlet asked, her voice compassionate once more. When the other nodded, she feigned to think for a moment.

“If you want, I can try to help with them. Up to you, though.” Scarlet offered, before continuing, “For now, get your things ready. If we manage to get to the Doctor right now, great, if not, we leave without meeting him.”

Keera nodded and went back into the room, coming out only a minute or so later, carrying her pack. Scarlet was quite glad that she still had it, but on the other hand, if Telram took it, he might get into trouble with the Doctor for it. It was in the Doctor’s best interest to have his psions able to go out there and harvest, even if the quotas might be lower than he stated, something Scarlet suspected. The quotas and he as their sole arbiter, it was just an opportunity too juicy not to abuse.

The two of them left the barracks, quickly walking towards the clinic instead of following the stream of people walking to the mess.

“Say, what’s breakfast like in this place?” Scarlet asked, slightly curious what culinary delights she was missing.

“They claim its oatmeal. Not sure if they are lying or not, I’d just call it warmed up, grey slime. It might be useful to use in construction, substituting mortar or something.” Keera answered, the look on her face taking away what little curiosity Scarlet had before. Her camp-cooking wasn’t great, maybe not even good, but the fresh ingredients and maybe the primal atmosphere of the forest made it far more appealing than eating in the mess.

Scarlet opened the door to the clinic, at least that was what she called the Doctor’s building in her mind, leading the way inside. She waited in the reception-area for a moment, feeling that the Doctor was inside and awake, just from the powerful emanations of his mind. Normally, they were concealed but it seemed he just didn’t care that moment. Or he was too distracted, doing who knew what. She certainly didn’t know and didn’t want to know.

It took about ten minutes for him to appear, greeting them with a single raised eyebrow.

“Good Morning, Scarlet, Keera. What brings you here, this early in the morning?”

“I want to exchange a few crystals for supplies.” Scarlet answered, keeping her answer short. After their last meeting, she wasn’t quite sure that she wanted to give the man too much of an opening.

“Of course. What is it that you need? Or, what is it that you desire?” the Doctor asked, giving his best, smarmy smile. It reminded Scarlet of the street-stalls in the slums, selling brand new electronics, fallen off the back of a robotic mover.

“On your list was a set of air and watertight containers, some sort of insulating plastic, I think, for two credits.” Scarlet told him, before showing him two of the rat-crystals.

“Ah, yes, those. But those are surely not all you want, right? We have some great things back there, why don’t you come with me, to look at them?” he asked.

“Keera, could you get them? I need to rearrange a few things in my bag. You don’t mind, do you, Doctor Oak?” Scarlet asked, sending Keera into the beast’s den.

Keera nodded, apparently not getting why Scarlet hadn’t prepared her bag in the room. The Doctor’s smile seemed to grow for a moment, before he simply smirked.

“No, of course not. Come with me for a moment.” The two of them left and Scarlet messed around with the things in her pack, shifting the crystals around pointlessly, just in case someone was keeping an eye on her. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Aida, looking a little rumpled, but ignored the other woman. Nothing good would come from getting involved with her, or anyone, really. She just wanted to leave town, leave the intrigues, the oh-so-human power-plays and all the mess.

It didn’t take Keera long, returning with a slightly shocked look on her face and the set of plastic containers Scarlet had bought with her crystals.

“Thank you, Keera. Pleasure doing business with you. The quota is due in fourteen days, right?” Scarlet asked, taking the containers from Keera and putting them into her bag, quickly closing it to conceal the amount of crystals she already had.

“Yes. If you are out longer, there will be a penalty for late delivery, so keep that in mind. It is annoying when the guards need to get me, if you are not on the list.” The Doctor warned, his smile never faltering.

“Come on, let’s go, Keera.” Scarlet startled Keera out of her strange state, not quite pushing her to the door.

On the way to the gates, Keera started to almost gush.

“Have you seen all the things back there? Bourbon, good stuff and even what looked like quality bud.”

“Yes, all one needs to make people addicted. And, guess what, he’s the only dealer in a few hundred miles. Control is the name of the game on this planet. You will not spent a single crystal outside of the quota without talking to me, understood?” Scarlet ordered, her voice calm.

“But…” Keera started, only to be cut off by Scarlet.

“There’s no butt, other than the one I’ll kick if you disobey. You’ve shown that you can’t keep others from controlling you, whether it’s Telram or the Doctor, that’s why you asked me to lead you or did you already forget about that?”

Keera let her head hang on the way to the gate, while Scarlet’s vigilance switched into the highest gear, if they managed to get away without being seen, they could likely use the river to hide their tracks, just in case someone tried to get them. Once they were in the deeper wilderness, she would feel a lot more secure, even with the monsters out there. At least, those were honest in their intentions, unlike the two-legged monsters in town.

For a second, she chuckled, realising that she was one of those two-faced, two-legged monsters. But that was fine with her. Monsters didn’t need to be afraid.