The Exchange,

Chapter 16
The exchange part 16

Chapter Description: The initiation ceremony is great for everyone, accept maybe Alice. Poor girl. Comments or constructive criticism warmly welcomed!

Sandra’s eyes opened slowly and she saw her dragon staring back, smiling at her. She smiled drowsily at him and rolled over, aware that she was wet like every other morning she had woken up on this ship. She contently sucked on her binkie, knowing she would be changed soon enough, there wasn’t much point in getting flustered over something that was now clearly out of her control. On rolling over she came face to face with her mummy. It was then that Sandra realised she wasn’t in her cot but was in her mummy’s bed. Sandras large blue eyes studied her mummy’s relaxed sleeping face. She resisted the urge to touch her for fear of waking her up. Sandy wondered why she was sleeping in her mummy’s bed and not in her cot. Sandra paused on sucking her dummy as she realised that she actually did think of it as HER cot and not THE cot.

She had really begun to accept that this was her life now, yesterday spending all day with her mummy after the ordeals they had both been through had really made Sandra sit up and take stock of her previous life.

She had been accomplished, respected in her profession, and regarded as one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet in regards to genetics and stem cell research. She had been one of the pioneers of hybrid technology. She felt proud of herself on a daily basis, or so she had thought, but she hadn’t had anyone to share any of her success with. A common problem for those work hard people, where work was her life and there was no room for anyone to squeeze into what little free time she had. She always felt important, always felt like she was respected. But when had been the last time she had felt loved?

Anya loved her, Sandra knew that without a shadow of a doubt, and Sandra admitted to herself that she loved Anya. She loved seeing Anya smile, she loved making Anya proud of her, and when her mummy had said she was proud of Sandra, that had filled Sandra with such amazing happiness inside she had thought she would burst into joyful tears. She wanted to be with her mummy all the time, she realised that now if someone were to come and offer her a chance to either stay on the ship or go back to earth and resume her old life, she would actually have a difficult decision on her hands.

Anya murmured in her sleep and Sandy held her breath, then slowly Anya’s eyes opened and those large deep dark hazel eyes stared into Sandy’s wide baby blue ones, a smile slowly spread across Anya’s face, as she brought one of her arms up from the duvet and wrapped it around her tiny daughter, pulling her closer and farther into the bed into a large encompassing hug

"Morning sweetie, did you sleep okay?" Her mummy asked. Sandra nodded as she continued to suck her dummy.

Anya smiled at her little girl, last night had been a strange one for Anya, she had eventually gone to bed after connecting to Arlie and talking to him for a while, she had felt so lonely sleeping in the large double bed by herself, in the room she and Blake had shared for several years. She had just wanted company and had snuck into Sandra’s nursery and carefully moved the sleeping baby into her double bed, only for one night, only for company.

She would have to go to the council today and announce Blake as officially moved out. It would mean less space for her and Sandra, but it had to be done. She also needed to work out how she was going to contribute to the ship. It was possible they wouldn’t accept her resignation at the lab and that she would be forced to return there in order to earn enough to support her and Sandy. Could she bring herself to work there again after what had happened? Anya felt a cold ball of fear settle itself in the pit of her stomach.

Sandy noticed her mummy’s soft relaxed expression slowly shift into a concerned one. Sandy’s hand edged out and whilst Sandy had meant to stroke Anya’s cheek she instead, succeeded in poking her mummy in the eye, causing Anya to sit up abruptly and rub at her eye whilst it watered.

"Sowwy! Sowwy." Sandy profusely apologised, Anya simply chuckled.

"Its okay kiddo, I know it wasn’t your fault." Anya suddenly took note of the time. "JEEZ! Its that time already! We’re gonna be late!"

In a flurry of bed sheets and scrambling adult, Anya was up and pulling out clothes from her wardrobe in a flash, leaving a rather confused looking sandy on the bed.

"Late? Late for wat?"

"I told you didn’t I? The ceremony. The initiation ceremony. After the last exchange student wakes up we hold a mass ceremony to welcome all the students, get them embedded into the chip system, and generally get to know each other. It’s going to be loads of fun. I’m really excited about it!" Anya said enthusiastically leaving out the fact that she was also nervous and apprehensive. She didn’t want to worry Sandy unneseccarily. She pushed the negative thoughts from her mind, and pulled on a cream dress with pale pink roses all over it. It had buttons up the front, was made of a fresh floaty material, accentuating Anya’s womanly curves. She pulled a large straw looking, white hat that had flowers folded from the same material as the dress on it. Sandra knew Anya was pretty, but the dress really highlighted this and Sandy simply gawked at the woman as she walked across the room and picked up her soggy child.

"Right. Now to sort you out kiddo." She said as she whisked her daughter back into her own nursery and laid her down on the changing mat. It always made Sandra gasp just how cold the changing mat was first thing in the morning. You’d expect on a space ship travelling millions of miles across the galaxy that they’d figure out a way of making changing mats warm. She squirmed uncomfortably for a few moments until her body heat warmed the mat underneath, by which point Anya had already unpinned the wet nappy, was already cleaning her up, and dusting her down with talc. Sandy realised her mummy was working double time today, they must really be late. She was in a clean disposable nappy quicker than she could blink. Her mummy also carefully clasped the small purple bracelet onto Sandras left wrist. Then her mummy pulled out that ridiculous red pineapple fruit outfit, and Anya paused to squeal excitedly at the outfit when she looked at it.

"I’ve been waiting to put this on you all week!" Anya cooed, her eyes sparkling with utter adoration. Sandy wanted to protest, she didn’t want to go to some ceremony dressed as a vegetable, but her mummy looked so excited that Sandy didn’t want to ruin the mood. So she sucked on her binkie more agitatedly as her mummy first put a pink t-shirt on that had writing on it but Sandy couldn’t read, then Anya threaded sandy into the rotund bodice of the red pineapple vegetable outfit known as a pymatri. The little booties went on afterward, little leaves rimmed the top of the feet holes, and the little leafy hat was placed on her head. The leaves jingled gently every time Sandy moved her head. She tried to keep perfectly still, she knew that the jingling was going to annoy her by the end of the day. Anya simply clapped her hands in glee.

"Adorable! Ab-so-lu-tly Adorable!" Sandy just blushed as her mummy grabbed a camera and took a picture of Sandy looking meek on the changing table. Just then the strange chime went at the door.

"Ahhh, they’re here already." Whisking Sandy up under her arm, Anya rushed through the house and pulled open the door, Arlie stood there looking dressed up and uncomfortable, in a dark navy suit, a pale blue shirt buttoned to the top and a tie of black with strange symbols in pale green dotted along the tie, one of his hands held onto Lycian’s hand, although most of Lycian was hidden behind Arlie’s leg. Sandy looked down at Lyce, and Lyce looked up at Sandy, both seeing one another as looking a bit on the ridiculous side. Whilst Sandy wore the vegetable outfit, Lyce was wearing a stiff looking Sunday best outfit of blue shorts, that matched Arlie’s suit, a little white shirt tucked into the shorts, a cute little blue waistcoat with red and purple tartan panels on the front, and a black bowtie. Sandy remembered Lyce’s brown shaggy hair had looked a bit on the wild side last time she met him, but this time round it was brushed to perfection, side parted. Tamed. He blushed, she blushed, as Arlie and Anya stared at one another.

"WOW you look..." Both Anya and Arlie said at the same time. Then they both burst out laughing realising they had said the same thing at the same time. Arlie scratched the back of his head, bashfully, feeling foolish in this outfit, but all exchange carers had been told to make a proper effort, so he’d had no choice but to dust down his suit and wear it, no matter how uncomfortable it was.

"Anya, you look wonderful." He said finally finding his voice. "We’re here to escort you young ladies to the function, if you would do us the honour of accompanying us..." Arlie said, putting on a posh accent and holding out his arm for Anya to loop her arm into his. Anya sadly shook her head.

"We’ll be right with you. Do you want to come in and wait? I’m really un-organised. I accidentally slept in and I haven’t even gotten Sandy’s stuff together yet." Arlie could see Anya beginning to panic. He always recognised that in her, even back during school years Anya was prone to bursts of needless worry. He smiled gently at her and ushered Lyce forward from behind his legs and into Anya’s quarters.

"Don’t rush. Seriously, we have plenty of time to get there. Look, I’ll keep an eye on Sandy, you get whatever it is you need together, and we’ll be done in a few minutes."

The gratitude on Anyas face was immense, and she plopped Sandy down on the carpet of the hallway with a jingle and disappeared into the nursery.

"Thanks! I’ll be a few moments" She called from the nursery as she rummaged around for supplies.

Arlie looked at Sandys outfit and chuckled. Lyce had walked over and sat down beside Sandy, Sandy was studying the carpet, hard. Trying to not make eye contact, feeling foolish in this outfit, Arlie’s quiet chuckles were just re-affirming how she felt and what to expect from people today.

"Hey, yoo look good today." Lyce said kindly as he randomly plucked at one of the felt leaves on her bootie. "I like yoor hat" He could see that she was embarrassed, , and had mentally made a note not to call her cute, just in case that made her even more embarrassed, he wanted her to feel happy. "It looks pwetty" He fiddled with his bowtie.

"Lyce, don’t fiddle with that. I told you already. I don’t want to do it a third time." Arlie said more sternly than he had meant to. It had taken Arlie an age to get that bowtie tied right.

"Yes, Arwe." Lycian said apologetically, looking down at the carpet with Sandy as his hands went back down to his pants, trying to keep them still.

Arlie could hear Anya clattering around inside the quarters. He worried about her. She had talked to him via the collective link, late into the night last night, whilst the kids had both been asleep. She had confided in him that she felt lost, she didn’t know what she was going to do now that her and Blake had gone their separate ways.

She had told him everything. From Blake’s betrayal and Sandra’s ranger abilities, to the fact that Sandra had almost been neutralised at the lab and that as a result she had quit her job . Arlie had listened intently, letting Anya offload everything that had happened, onto him. It always worked like that, ever since they had been kids, they had always looked out for one another. Arlie cared deeply for Anya, and Anya looked up to him like a older brother. With all her problems shared, Arlie had suggested they go to the ceremony together in the morning. Anya had agreed and then grown sleepy. He had said goodnight and lain awake for the majority of the rest of the night, running through their conversation over and over in his head, worrying, and trying to come up with a battle plan. He had one now. He adjusted his tie nervously.

Arlie shifted from one foot to another, fidgetting in much the same ways he had been scolding Lyce off for earlier back at their quarters. Arlie had struggled to keep Lyce neat and tidy, that unruly hair of his had positively been a nightmare to control. Still, Arlie watched Lyce and Sandy talking to each other, Lyce seemed to be happier now he was with Sandy. Those two really seemed to click as friends, he wondered if it had any relation to the fact that their subsequent carers were close as friends, so the gene splicing would make it more obvious that Lyce and Sandy would be friends too? It was an interesting concept and Arlie filed it away, making a note to ask Anya about it later.

Anya appeared carrying the white changing bag over one shoulder, Pea was poking out from under the flap and Anya also held a bottle of warmed milk. Picking Sandy up off the floor, Anya whisked the dummy out of Sandys mouth and unceremoniously plonked the bottle into the vacant hole before Sandy had a second to fuss or complain.

"Sorry Lyce." Anya said sympathetically realising she had probably interrupted play time for the two of them. "Little Sandy hasn’t had any breakfast yet, and if she doesn’t eat, she’ll get grumpy."

Sandy tried to protest, tried to say she wouldn’t get grumpy, she had never gotten grumpy because she was hungry, that was just an absurd thing to say, but she was caught between trying to defend her honour and trying to feed. In the end feeding won and Sandy settled down and quickly finished the bottle, trying to ignore the light jingling of her hat. With the bottle quickly polished off and Anya tapping Sandy’s back gently as Sandy squirmed in her mummy’s embrace, Anya nodded towards the door.

"Okay, we’re good to go." She said and she smiled as she was rewarded by Sandy burping in response.

Arlie opened the door and held it open for everyone to walk through, then pulled the door closed once everyone was out in the hallway. He and Anya exchanged apprehensive glances at one another, then Arlie broke into a large boyish grin, it made him look much younger than he was.

"Okay everyone, lets go PARTY!" He strode off down the hallway, one hand firmly holding onto Lyce’s hand as he led the small group down several corridors and into a lift.

Sandra listened as Anya and Arlie chatted, she wanted to join in on the conversation but now that she was outside their quarters her mummy, or any grown up, wouldn’t be able to understand her. She tried to lean over to speak to Lyce, but the way Anya was holding her meant she couldn’t really twist round, propped up over her mummy’s shoulder all Sandy could see was the lift wall. They seemed to be in the lift for ages. The lift was so smooth Sandra was convinced it had actually stopped at one point.

"Errmm... Are we stuck?" Lyce asked, mirroring Sandras concern. Causing both adults to chuckle. Arlie shook his head.

"No Lyce, We are going to the main hall, it’s right at the front of the ship, so it takes a little time to get there you see."

The lift at that point shuddered to a halt and Arlie’s smile broadened.

"We’re here." He said in hushed reverie.

The doors whooshed open as Anya adjusted Sandy so she could see straight in front. Both exchange students gasped in awe as the four of them stepped from the lift.

The room was large, and the most noticeable feature of the room was a high ceiling of glass this meant that the stars could be seen beyond, and what a show they were putting on. Stars spiralled across the length of the large hall ceiling, thousands of them twinkling in the blackness of space, the ship was passing some planet that Sandra didn’t recognise, it swirled with emerald greens and pale terracotta colours. Three large rings circled the planet, space debris caught in the planets gravitational pull. She pointed at the planet, her mouth wide open, making her dummy fall to the floor, Anya stooped to collect it as tears came to Sandys eyes at such visual wonderment. Even if she could speak right now, she would have been speechless. Lyce was in a similar state, craning his neck back as far as he could to catch sight of a comet far off in the distance.

The whole room was dimly lit to make good use of the ceiling as a feature. There was around 200 people in total in the room, adults mainly and about 20-30 children, Sandy guessed these must be all the exchange students, some of them were hard to tell from the adults as some were teenagers, The room could easily fit a thousand people in it. Half the room was taken up with tables and a large stage at one end, the other end of the room seemed to be a childs play area.

Glowing orbs the size of footballs bobbed towards people who had congregated to chat. It seemed that the larger the group of people then the more orbs there seemed to be as guests naturally broke off in groups to chit chat. These glowing floating orbs seemed almost ethereal. One orb began making its way towards the four of them as they stood infront of the lift. It bobbed up and down slowly, as if being blown on the wind. As the orb approached, Sandy felt a little light headed and she shook her head causing her hat to jangle madly. Anya looked down concerned at her baby.

"Is the bracelet working?" She asked Sandy. Sandy looked at the purple bracelet that was supposed to be nullifying her ranger abilities. How would Sandy know if it was working or not? What an odd question to ask. It was only when the orb was directly above the four of them, shining down its soft yellowish glow that Sandy suddenly understood the question. The orb wasn’t an orb at all, it was more like a football sized jellyfish. Being completely transparent meant that Sandy could see directly inside the jellyfish, at all its insides which gave out the luminescent glow that was spotlighting their position. It had very thin tendrils snaking down from the main bulk of its body Sandy felt light headed again, and she looked up at her mummy, she guessed this light headed feeling was her ranger abilities being suppressed. Meekly Sandy nodded in response to her mummy’s question and Anya smiled. Sandy looked up at the glowing, floating jellyfish, wishing she could connect to it, wanting to know what it was.

"What’s that?" Lyce said, pointing at the jellyfish.

Arlie answered "They’re called Nodes. In the wild they can be pretty deadly, but raised right they make excellent companions." Lyce didn’t tear his eyes from the creature.

"I think it’s kinda creepy." He didn’t like them and began to pull arlie away from the creature, the Node was trained to shed light on the visitors though so simply followed as Lyce tugged at Arlie, causing Arlie to chuckle.

"It won’t hurt you Lyce, its here to provide lighting" Lyce simply scowled at the creature trying to mentally shoo it away. Sandy tried to reach up and grab at one of the tentacles but as she came within grabbing distance, the tentacle swiftly moved upwards and out of her way. She felt cheated that she couldn’t connect with the creature, already she was planning on removing the purple bracelet at her first opportunity. The scientist in her couldn’t resist the unknown.

The 2 adults and children made their way across the room. Large round tables that seated about 10 to a table were dotted around the large hall, each seat had a place name, Sandy could see her seat a mile away, it was the only highchair. Anya must have spotted it too because she began weaving her way round the tables to get to it. The four of them were halfway across the hall when they were stopped by Kim, holding a half empty glass of what looked like white wine, she was dressed in a stunning khaki green, figure hugging dress. It almost looked like snake skin. The dress accentuated her chests and waist. Her blonde bobbed hair had a shimmering green hair clasp in it. It was a simple design but it worked well and complimented her green eyes nicely.

"Anya, Arlie! Great to see you both, and how adorable are you two?!" Kim knelt and gave Lyce a hug causing him to blush, and then Kim stood back up again to poke Sandras hat causing it to jingle. "So cute!" She then caught a glimpse of the purple bracelet that Sandy was wearing.

"That’s an inhibitor. I had wondered how her ranger abilities we’re going to be controlled. Interesting method though." Kim went quiet for a moment, a distant look on her face. Then looked directly at Anya, an intense look in her eyes, bordering on pleading. "You know I’m a ranger, don’t you?"

Anya shook her head, she hadn’t known. Anya knew that when it had come down to the crunch, the two of them had been evenly matched in winning the position of looking after Sandra, it had only been the fact that Anya had a science based job background that had sealed the deal. Anya wondered, that if the council had known from the outset that Sandy had ranger abilities, perhaps they would have given custody to Kim. Suddenly Anya not having a job any more, felt even more of a problem in keeping Sandy. Anya hugged Sandy tight, causing the little girl to squeal a little in discomfort. Anya instantly loosened her grip, feeling tense but keeping a smile on her face.

"I didn’t know. No. Perhaps you can help me teach Sandy as she gets older?"

Kim nodded. "I’d like that." Suddenly Becky appeared at her mummys side. She wore a red and white pleated skirt a white blouse with a large blue bow. She had matching blue bows in her hair and wore knee high socks and black patent mary jane shoes. She was tugging on the black clasp bag that Kim had slung over one shoulder. Her face was flush from having run around the large hall. "Mummy mummy, theres loadsa uvver kids here. Can I pway now?" Becky spied Lyce and Sandy a massive grin instantly appeared on her face.

"Hi HI! Wanna Pway?!" Lyce simply tried to merge himself with Arlie’s leg causing Arlie to chuckle and Sandy, well she held onto her mummy tightly, she still remembered the last time Becky had played with her and she didnt fancy some rough housing. Kim was about to chastise her daughter for running around when a loud announcement echoed around the room.

"Would all guests please take their seats? The ceremony is about to begin."

The gentle murmur of chatting people died away as people threaded themselves through the throng to find their placenames and take their seats.

Anya popped Sandy into the high chair watching other people join her table. There was Arlie and Lyce, Kim and Becky, Neka and Andrea and a woman and little girl she hadn’t met before. The little girl was about 5 years old. Anya guessed they had organised the tables in age range. That made sense really what would be the point in mingling the teenagers with the preschoolers.

The Nodes settled in the centre of each round table, acting as soft spotlights allowing each individual sat round the table to see what was on the table. Each table simply had a large circular mat in the centre. That was it.

The stage, which had been in darkness up until now suddenly started to get brighter as if a dimmer switch was being turned on. Out walked four men, two of whom wore outfits that glowed in a similar fashion to the Node’s. The two front men walked with an air of authority, they strode out into the centre of the stage, one of the man, the younger of the two, stood by the side of the lectern as the older man took his place behind. Above the lectern was a larger Node. It was less transparent, instead it had a greyish blue hue to it. Both men were dressed in long white robes which emanated light, the hems of these robes were gold, and the gold hems had runes embroidered into them. the robes stretched to the ground. They looked heavy. They looked ceremonial.

The other two men who had accompanied the religious looking guys were scientists, they wore the same white coats that Sandy had seen in the lab she had been kept in.. They pushed out a trolley, it had some strange medical equipment on it. Sandy was instantly on edge. She didn’t trust scientists, she knew her mummy had been one, but just seeing those white coats made Sandy scared. She struggled against the high chair, trying to get out, not knowing where she could go, but just suddenly wanting to be away from here.

The man at the lectern cleared his throat. There was no microphone yet when he spoke his voice boomed out across the room. As she struggled against her restraints Sandy realised that the sound was actually coming from the Node that hung above their table, in fact each Node that hung above each table seemed to be acting like a speaker. She turned her attention back to the large grey node on the stage, pondering whether all the nodes were connected somehow. She stopped struggling in her baby seat and began concentrating on pulling her purple bracelet off, wanting to know more about the Nodes. Her podgy baby fingers were to un-coordinated and weak to get the clasp undone. She tried chewing on it as the man on the stage finally spoke.

"Welcome guests to the initiation ceremony for this trips exchange students. I would like to welcome all you new comers into our flock. Some of you have been awake for a while now, others may have only woken up this past week, but now that the final student has woken we can properly welcome you into our world. I know this has been a massive up heavel for each and every one of you, but I am expecting great things from you all. Look on this as an adventure, something very few humans will ever have the opportunity to take part in. We have chosen each of you for special talents you possess, we aim to make those talents grow tenfold, we have extended your lifespan by several hundred years, and all we ask in return is that you accept your position and become part of our family. We will start by giving each of you your Chip. "

The man at the lectern held out his right hand, palm facing his audience.

"Everyone on board has a chip. It is required when working in such a confined space to have order and balance. This chip allows us to know information about you, who you are, where you are, it allows us to know how much money you have..." The man chuckled at this. "...Although for some of you it will be a while before you are earning anything. In essence this chip enables you to participate in our society. I shall call out each student singularly and if they could come up here to have their chip placed, then once thats all done we shall get on with the celebration." The man smiled, his robes seemed to intensify in light.

"Sandra."

Sandra stiffened in her high chair, why did she have to go first? Her mummy unstrapped her from the chair and carried her towards the front of the stage. Sandra buried her head in her mummys neck, clung to her wavy hair. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay away from the scientists. She felt Anya stiffen and sandy looked up at her mummy to see the colour had drained from her face, sandra craned her neck to see what her mummy was looking at and saw instantly what the problem was. One of the men dressed in the lab coats was Blake. He was looking apologetically at Anya as she approached the stage and climbed the steps so that she was a few paces from the lab coated men and the medical equipment on the trolley. Anya kept her expression neutral although she just wanted to scream, she knew she would run into Blake eventually, she should have guessed it would have been here.

"Give Sandy to me." He said gently, keeping his voice soft, his expression friendly.

Anya froze on the spot, she couldn’t hand her baby over to this man, for a fraction of a second she shook her head, then realising she was being watched by every person in the room, she pulled the clinging baby from her shoulder and gently handed Sandy over. Sandy instantly began to panic and kick and cry.

"Sandy, hush, it’s okay. I’m still here." Anya touched Sandys head, causing the hat to jingle, ignoring Blake, ignoring everyone. She smiled calmly at Sandy, trying to show her that everything was alright, even though her heart was pounding so hard that she was in danger of passing out herself. Sandy looked over at her mummy, who was smiling calmly and felt herself relax a little. She looked up at Blake, a mix of dread and sadness filled her. She missed him a little, even after what he had done to her, Anya had been so happy with him around.

He took Sandys right hand in his large one and guided it towards a large metal box with a hole in it. Sandy struggled again, but to no avail, she was just a child in the grasp of a giant, she stood no hope of battling against him. She whimpered as he placed her small hand into the hole in the box. She held her breath as the second man pressed a few buttons. Then she felt her hand go hot and tingly and a sharp stabbing pain made her squeal in shock. Causing a few students in the audience to noticeably jump in their seats. Blake let go of Sandras hand and she instantly yanked it out of the machine inspecting her palm. She could see a small black dot in the middle of her palm, she went to poke it but her hand was grasped by the other man. He shook his head.

"Ah Ah AH little one. I wouldn’t touch it if I were you, you have to be careful for the first 24 hours while the chip integrates with your body."

Blake took her by the chipped hand and placed her hand back in the machine, she tried to tug away as the second scientist pressed some additional buttons on the consol and she felt her hot tingling hand instantly cool. Letting her hand free a second time she could see that her hand was shiny, like it had a glove on it but it was skin tight and see though, almost like her hand had been given a coat of varnish. Blake looked at Anya and explained talking past Sandra as if she couldn’t understand because she was too little.

"We’ve put a protective coating over the chipped hand, it should be robust enough to last a couple of days even with Sandy. After that, give her a bath and it will dissolve in the water." Anya nodded feeling a mix of mistrust and relief that the ordeal was over so quickly. She took Sandra from Blake and backed off the Stage and returned to their seats. All the while Anya hugged and comforted Sandy.

"Such a brave little girl, Mummy is very very proud of you. Hardly any tears at all, who’s a big girl"

Sandy felt good about not crying, she looked at her chip, the protective glove seemed to cool the tingling sensation. It didn’t hurt so much as it felt foreign. Like a deeply embedded splinter. Lyce whispered to her, looking fearful, he didn’t like pain.

"Sandy, did it hur’?"

Sandy shook her head as Becky was called up on stage. Becky was back in her seat in a matter of moments after having her chip placed. She too had a protective coating on her hand and she giggled as she poked at it, Kim kept grabbing Beckys hand to stop her poking at it.

Lycian was called up next, and whilst it was obvious he was petrified, the fact that Sandy had had it done with relative ease made him a little braver than he would have been had he had to do it on his own. Part of him wanted to watch the process, but a larger part of him really wanted to not look. Arlie was holding his free hand, which made Lyce feel a little better. he scrunched up his eyes as he felt the doctor guide his hand into the machine. He gritted his teeth, trying to be brave infront of all these people, and then before he knew it, it was over and he too had the protective coating and was being ushered back to his seat.

Andrea was called next then the next girl, called was Nadia, the little dark haired girl sat at their table was taken up, she squealed the loudest out of their table. then the process moved onto the next table. Alice was sat at that one, dressed in a velvet green dress with white lace collar and when her name was called she just sat there. Her carer Mark took her by the hand but she snatched her hand away and jumped up on her seat.

"Big brother will not watch me. I shan’t have that chip in me. Keep the hell away from me! You’re bastards the lot of you!"

There were muttered gasps and a few shocked faces, a few grins from some of the older exchange students, poor Mark looked furious and embarrassed at the same time. He dragged Alice off her chair and into a fireman’s lift. She kicked and screamed as he weaved his way to the front apologising profusely as he passed people, and up onto the stage. her pink bunny childrens pants on show to everyone in the audience. Blakes gaze was hard on Alice, it was clear she’d need some special treatment. He gave a nod to the other doctor who typed furiously on the keyboard. Alice continued to kick scream and swear as Mark continued to apologise to both the people witnessing this display and to Alice herself. He didn’t like seeing her distressed, he just wanted her to be happy. Blake pressed something onto Alice’s exposed arm and suddenly all resistance stopped. She felt confused, fuzzy, like she wasn’t in control. She tried to move but found herself unable to. He took his hand away and a small spherical metal mound was attached to her arm. it had a flashing blue light on it. In his hand he held a slim metal remote, he spoke neutrally into it.

"Alice, quietly place your right hand into the slot please" Alice whilst crying, but now not saying a word placed her hand calmly into the hole. She received the same tingling hot feeling and the sharp pain as the others had received, then the cool feeling.

"Please remove your right hand and place your left hand into the slot please." As she removed her right hand without a fuss she could see that instead of the clear plastic coating that the others had all gotten she had been mittened. Her right hand was covered in a large pink mitten. She put her left hand in the slot and the cool feeling surrounded her left hand.

"please remove your left hand" She did so and saw a second mitten, her eyes widened as she flexed her hands realising she had suddenly been rendered helpless. Blake swiftly removed the device he had placed on her arm and Alice suddenly felt her mind and body belonged to her once more. Blake nodded to the man at the lectern.

"Each and every one of you need to have this chip, we want to make your stay here as pleasant as we possibly can but if you resist we can make your life difficult, Let dear Alice here be an example to you. We have to keep the chip safe, she will be in these mittens until we can ascertain that she will not try and remove the chip. Anyone else putting up resistance will receive the same treatment."

Alice was sobbing by this point. "I’m sorry. I’ll be good. I promise" Blake shook his head at her and pointed towards the table they had come from. Leading a broken and meek looking Alice from the stage Mark returned to their table.

The rest of the process went without incident, many looking at Alice in sympathy, a few of the teens continued to smirk at her, enjoying her humiliation. Sandy felt terrible for Alice. "poor girl." She said. Lyce was within earshot and nodded. Andrea simply giggled. "She shouldn’t haf put up a fite. Silly girl"

With the eldest exchange student finally chipped, the Node lighting in the great hall got brighter as the mats in the centre of each table suddenly hummed into life. Sandy recognised that hum and she looked eagerly at the mat in the middle of their table. She tugged on her mummys dress, noticing how it felt weird not to have her touch in her right hand feel completely connected due to the coating protecting her hand.

"Its a buddy system isnt it!" She said proudly remembering watching her mummy put away the shopping the other day. Her mummy simply jiggled Sandy up and down on her lap, she spoke in that sing songy way reserved for small children, causing Sandy to blush

"Babamawa? Whats that you’re trying to say to mummy?"

In her eagerness Sandy had forgotten that mummy couldn’t understand her, it was weird having her mummy unable to understand yet Lyce could.

"Hey lyce. tell my mummy..."

But before she could finish her sentence five gift wrapped parcels appeared on the Buddy mat. Anya clapped her hands.

"Ooh birthday presents for everyone. This one’s for you Sandy." She said, pulling a brightly coloured parcel towards the pair of them. Arlie was doing the same, and so was Neka and Kim and the other woman who had Nadia as her child.

Anya pointed at the scribbles on the paper and as she pointed to each symbol she read.

"To Sandy, happy 2nd birthday from everyone on Alexander" Anya paused. "That’s the name of the ship we’re on. I think I told you that before." Anya guided Sandys hands onto the wrapping paper and helped pull it apart, it tore easily and soon Sandy could see what she had been given. It was a large blanket it had all sorts of different patchwork animals on it. Sandy liked her old blanket but something about this one just made her fall instantly in love with in. She pulled it close to her and hugged it, it was fluffy and warm. She squealed contentedly causing most of the adults around the table to chuckle or coo in her general direction.

Lyce had managed to pull the majority of his large present open to find a grey wolf plush toy smiling up at him. It was massive, almost as big as him He struggled to take it out of the wrapping paper, grinning all the while. It was amazing. He had never had anything this cool as a kid the first time round. Then Lyce noticed there was more in the present and picked up the other part. It was the same colour grey as the wolf. Arlie was confused and took it off of his boy.

"What else do we have hear kiddo?" It unfolded as Arlie took it and became apparent that it was an all in one sleeper set, but it had wolf ears and a tail. Arlie chuckled and handed it back to Lyce. "This looks like it’ll suit you Lyce" he said, no hint of mockery in his voice. Lyce nodded enthusiastically feeling elated at such wonderful gifts.

"Can I wear it now, please, please!" He had never wanted something so much in his whole life. Arlie ruffled Lyce’s neat hair.

"Once the ceremony is over officially and the party begins, I see no reason why not."

All around the room there were gasps and giggles as each student got a present that was suited to them, no one went disappointed, Becky got a new colouring book and set of crayons, and a small pink rucksack to put everything in, Andrea got a beautifully illustrated book of Alice in Wonderland, even poor Alice who had to have Mark open her present due to her mittened incapability received a new dress, matching shoes and hair clips that even though she was protesting at having been turned from male to female, secretly she thought the dress was gorgeous and couldn’t wait to try it on. It confused her mood somewhat and as a result the anger in her seemed to dissipate.

After a while the man at the lectern cleared his throat again.

"With the ceremony and present giving over I would like to officially announce the commencement of the party. Enjoy yourselves everyone and I look forward to seeing your progress through the scheme"

The glowing robed man, with his aide and the two scientists left the stage then. Blake looked back longingly at Anya and Sandy as Anya chatted excitedly with Arlie and the other adults at the table. He felt heavy hearted seeing her so happy. He missed her but knew of the choice he had made. Seeing her today had hammered home just how much he had messed up. She looked positively radiant.

Sandy giggled into her new blankee and sucked on the corner a little, she watched as the people left the stage, she felt lighter once Blake was out of eyesight. Then the ceiling above them exploded into a shower of fireworks. And the whole room ooh’ed and ahh’ed at the spectacle of the fireworks among the stars. Sandy snuggled into her mummy, noticing Lyce do the same with Arlie.

This was going to be a good party.