"Wh-what? Sssshhh..."
Suddenly Giselle jumped in front of her and pressed her index finger to her lips tightly.
"Don't say that here." Giselle frantically lifted her head to look at the dull looking ceiling of the elevator. Her eyes darted to the right and to the left warily. She's looking for bugs or tiny cctv that might stick to the elevator walls.
In Clio's eyes the elevator box was just a box, nothing interesting in it. But to Giselle, the elevator box was like a box filled with bugs and cctv cameras, so she panicked a lot when they talked about general Colten-related things.
"Watch your mouth while you're here."
Giselle stepped back just as the elevator doors opened. Clio snorted in annoyance at how annoying Giselle was when she threatened her and gave her a warning. She wouldn't heed the warning anyway. She will say whatever she wants to say.
"You should have told general Colten. It's possible that you'll get a rare chance to date him."
"That's not possible. General Colten was very cold towards women. He only has ambitions to restore the glory of the earth and human civilization. There's nothing about women or even sex in general Colten's head."
"Is that true? You sure General Colten is a normal guy?"
"Of course he is a normal man. There's no way he's infertile if his seeds is capable of fertilizing the women here. But that's only in a biological way and in a laboratory."
"Hmm, I understand. Why don't you be one of those women? You'd love to have General Colten's son."
Suddenly Giselle's face dropped and she turned quiet. Clio frowned in confusion at the sudden change in Giselle's face.
"You okay? Did I hurt you?"
"Nope. I'm fine. I just can't get pregnant like the women here because my job is as a doctor, not as a mother. I've been exposed to too much radiation, after all. I can't be a mother."
Clio didn't really care about the problems faced by Giselle. She was actually surprised at Giselle for having feelings for general Colten. How did it happen? she asked in confusion. Even though she admitted that general Colten had a handsome face and such alluring eyes, but she would not like general Colten or even fall in love with him.
"Well this is your room. There are twenty-five women who occupy the same floor as you."
Clio pushed open the metal door in front of her and found a room with very complete facilities. A king-size bed with soft pink sheets. Two pillows, two bolsters and a plain white thick blanket. Then there is the dressing table and mirror on the left. A wardrobe is near the door which is the bathroom. On the right side was a window that was tightly closed and didn't seem to be able to open. She had seen all the windows in these buildings. Everything is always tightly closed and nothing is open.
"Can the window be opened?"
"Well no. Too bad. The window will only tell you when the sky turns dark and when the sky turns light. Someone once nearly jumped out of a window, so General Colten decided to permanently close the windows." Giselle spoke half dreamily.
Clio's head spun rapidly, staring at Giselle with a furrowed brow. "Who is the woman who has ever tried to jump out of a window? She must be a very brave woman."
"Oh nothing." Giselle suddenly seemed to have regained herself and she started walking towards the closet to stop a topic that was quite taboo to talk about in this place.
"You'll want to see what's in your closet."
Clio just kept quiet and let Giselle open her closet door wide. There are several sets of clothes hanging in the closet. It was all gray trousers and a cream colored blouse like the one she was currently wearing. There were no clothes of any other color in the wardrobe. On the shelf, Clio saw that there were some neatly folded clothes. Giselle pulled one of them out and showed it to her.
"This is your sleeping robe."
"Why are they all the same color?"
"These are clothes before you got pregnant. You will get other clothes in different colors according to your gestational age."
"Is that true? Today I didn't see anyone wearing clothes of another color in the dining room."
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Monday is uniform day. All the women here will wear the same uniform. But starting tomorrow you will see clothes of different colors in the dining room. Want to check the bathroom?"
Giselle glanced at the door next to her and left the closet door wide open. Clio felt she didn't need to check the bathroom because she was sure the bathroom interior was not much different from the one she encountered in her treatment room.
"No. I can see for myself later."
Giselle's gaze fell down. She looked disappointed and her shoulders slumped as she walked over to her.
"Okay. I know you are tired and want to sleep."
"Is that door always locked other than at meal times?"
"Yeah, it's always locked. Unless you have activities scheduled. The door will open automatically. So make sure you're not late to get into your room after you wander outside the room. The Hyperion Troops would be going around after mealtime to check on the women here. They will catch women who wander around for no apparent reason."
"What will happen to them?"
"Believe me, you won't like what happens to the women who end up in the hands of the Hyperion army. There are harsh punishments for women who disobey. They will be taken to the detention building. But I don't know what the details of their punishment are. Rumor had it that they would be tortured into begging for forgiveness. And the women who continue to commit offenses after receiving their sentence in the detention building will be thrown into the White River."
Giselle's expression darkened and looked scary. Clio didn't know what Giselle was trying to do to her. She obviously wouldn't be intimidated by the look in her eyes.
"Hmm, I understand. I'll make sure I always get to my room on time."
"Good!" Giselle's facial expression brightened. "Have a good nap. Enjoy your new room."
"I will."
Clio escorted Giselle to her bedroom door and waved softly as a formality. It was Giselle who closed her bedroom door as soon as she stepped out. A low beep echoed through Clio's new room as the automatic lock worked. Now she was completely alone in the room. For a while she had nothing to do. So she climbed into bed, took off her shoes carelessly, and lay staring at the boring ceiling of her room until lunch time came.