"What is your real plan? Why did you let that woman off the hook and hurt your assistants?"
Doctor Bryce took off his glasses and placed the thick book he was reading on the table. He looked at General Colten who was frowning deeply while watching everything that was happening in the detention building. General Colten's eyes were fixed on Clio who was walking hastily across the front yard to go to building B.
"Believe me that is the most brilliant plan. There's no need to involve violence, but little by little you will gain trust from her. And you don't need to use a serum to tame her either."
"You shouldn't have let Giselle hang around with Clio. She could be up to something?"
"Who? Giselle? No, you are wrong to think Giselle will betray us. Giselle is very loyal. I told her to approach Clio gently. You should know that a stubborn woman like Clio cannot be subdued in such a cruel way."
"Really?" asked general Colten scornfully. He's been using this method for years. And during that time he has achieved great victories for implementing a very harsh punishment system for those who have violated his rules.
"Yes, of course that's true. After all, I saved you from all the things you might do to her. You can't repeat the same mistakes you made to Jessie. A small woman doesn't seem to compare to you who have a big body with sturdy muscles all over your body."
"Jessie was an accident. I know I killed her, but I never meant to do it."
"That's a long time ago. I hope this time you can control your emotions so that what happened doesn't happen to Clio again."
"Why do you always use that to threaten me, Bryce."
General Colten turned his head with clenched fists. His facial expression was tense. He looked like dynamite ready to explode at any moment.
"Sometimes you need to be reminded of the old days before you forget it."
"I really want to forget about it and just look to the future. Soon all my goals will be realized. Those women have given birth to my babies. They will be the superior generation in the future to restore Earth's civilization to its original state. Better of course."
"I appreciate that, Colman."
Doctor Bryce stood before General Colten, smiling gently. In all the years he had known the general, he knew the right way to deal with his anger. General Colten liked it when he was touched with tenderness.
"Clio is not a threat at the moment. You'd better think about the remaining people outside the White Wall. You must save them before the Centurions fill their minds with hatred for you. After all, there are still so many women waiting for you out there. Those born in the midst of war or after war. You also need tough men to be your soldiers."
"You are right. I will focus on my work to open up new lands out there. Let me know if Clio has been handled properly. No matter what that woman can't escape."
Doctor Bryce nodded slowly and let General Colten out of his room with some anger remaining in his body.
After the door to his room closed, Doctor Bryce put the book back on the bookshelf. Instantly his interest in reading disappeared. What happened today had awakened an old wound that he had been trying to endure for years. But sometimes the wound will bleed again and make him feel the pain he had forgotten for a long time.
Doctor Bryce lifted the picture frame on his desk. He stared at the portrait of a young woman who was brave, tough, and always cheerful. Jessie, his younger sister who died in an accident involving general Colten. Though to be honest he was deeply saddened by the death of his younger sister. But he couldn't blame the incident entirely on the general. He is also responsible for the incident. If he could protect his little sister seriously, Jessie wouldn't have died at the general's hands.
-00-
Clio stared at the building in front of her with trepidation and a pounding heart. She stopped in front of the building to rethink her hasty decision. Meanwhile Giselle had walked quite a distance ahead of her, almost reaching the door and looking very excited. Giselle was obviously very happy that she was forced to follow her advice to stay in this building for a while. She didn't even plan to stay more than a day here. She immediately wanted to find a way out. But that seems a bit impossible now. Her idealism was shattered in an instant as she faced the true reality of this place. There is not the slightest gap in this place. Everything was a vast expanse of land and tall buildings with solid white walls that separated this place from the arid outside world. Maybe only one door that she can really use to escape from this place. The main door, the place where the Hyperion Army goes in and out of the White Wall to conduct patrols around the White Wall.
"Hey, come on hurry up. I have another job after this."
Giselle snorted in annoyance. She had to go back and grab Clio's hand so she could walk faster towards the entrance of building B.
"Can't I go back to my treatment room yesterday? I'm not sure about this place."
Clio lifted his head, surveying the rows of black windows that were tightly shut. It looked scary to her because she thought she would be locked in a room and not be free to go anywhere.
"Don't worry, you will find new friends. They can help you. Maybe."
"How do you know they can help me?"
"I don't know." Giselle shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just saying that maybe you can get some help from one of the women who live here. Besides that, Vella will also be brought here tomorrow morning. So you can meet her."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm just telling you what I know. Vella will also be a mother-to-be, right."
"Hmm.. I don't want to be a mother-to-be or carry that damn general's baby."
"Ssshhh....can you not berate General Colten at his base? Maybe you're free to do it out there, but not here."
Giselle's expression was frantic and frightened. Clio didn't care at all about Giselle's response or her frightened reaction. She was sick of living under the shadow of general Colten's cruelty. There was even a rumor that she had heard from some of the Centurions, her father might be imprisoned in the Black Hole if her father had not been killed by General Colten.
"Have you ever heard of Adam Yilmaz?"
Giselle's brows furrowed. "Nope. What's with him?"
"Nothing. All right, let's go in. Where is my room?"
"On the seventh floor. Room number 208."
"Should we use the fire stairs?"
"No." Giselle smiled widely. "This place is not like a detention center. There are two elevators available here and one fire stairs. Two more hours is lunch time. The ladies are going out to go to the dining room."
"What do they do between the hours after breakfast and lunch?"
They walked hand in hand towards the elevator in the north, past the very quiet and silent lobby. The interior of the building was not much different from the interior in Clio's treatment room building. Precisely in this place is more boring because everything is white. There was no black or silver trim as she had seen in other buildings. Giselle deliberately took Clio to walk further so that she could show some important rooms in that place.
"For the women who have just arrived, they have nothing to do but sit in their room or read a book. We provide several guidebooks for pregnant women, books on childbirth, books on the history of the White Wall and other important books."
"No fiction?"
"Unfortunately we don't provide fiction books. Such books are forbidden in this place because they are of no use to the women. Well, on the right is the yoga room."
"Yoga?"
"Well… it's a kind of light exercise for pregnant women so they can give birth normally and smoothly. Here we are very concerned about the quality of the babies to be born. So we just had a normal delivery. Surgical procedures are only done when there are certain things that require us to do surgery."
"What about the room over there?"
"Oh, that's the entertainment room. Once a week we allow the women to watch a movie so they don't get bored. Films about the struggle of a mother giving birth to a baby and films about wars that occurred in the old days."
"I've never seen a movie. But hearing everything you tell me, I think it's very boring."
"Of course." Giselle laughed softly. Her laughter was very sweet, like the sound of church bells in the morning. "Usually they only come to watch once. After that they will prefer to stay in their room doing nothing. They didn't really like the movie," Giselle whispered quietly.
Just as they arrived in front of the elevator, the door swung open revealing the interior of the elevator which was very boring to Clio's eyes. Just a white box and black and silver trim. As she stepped into the elevator box, Clio could feel the general Colten's aura wafting around her. His rigid nature, expressionless face, and eyes that radiated a mysterious aura. If this elevator didn't smell like lavender and smell like General Colten's body, Clio would definitely be short of breath while standing in this elevator.
"Hey, why are you just silent? Are you thinking about something?"
"Do you often meet with general Colten?"
"What? No. He's very busy. A lot of things for general Colten to do outside the White Wall?"
"Like what for example? Kidnapping young women to be his sex slaves?" asked Clio skeptically. Her hands were folded in front of her chest. She was still hurt by the system that General Colten had applied to women like her. Whereas the task of women is not only to give birth to a baby and become a mother. A woman can also fight alongside the men on the battlefield or repair the broken earth. Whatever it is we are free to choose and have the right to it.
"You described general Colten too ruthlessly. In fact General Colten never even touched those women in the slightest."
"Is that true?" Clio's eyes almost popped out as she was taken aback by what Giselle had just said.
"That's true. The general never did anything to the women. Do you think the general has been sleeping with them all this whole time?"
Clio's cheeks turned red. She had read old magazines about more intimate relationships between men and women. But all of that is just general knowledge for her so that she knows the boundaries that can be done between men and women.
"Didn't he?"
"Of course not. The general didn't have that much time. There are more than three hundred women here. He can't fuck them one by one. Well... although some women want it. You must know that General Colten is very handsome. His aura, his charisma…"
Clio looked at Giselle with furrowed brows. Giselle's expression was different and redundant.
"You like General Colten?"