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“Meaning I lacked any attributes to be a color. So how come I was worthy to be marked?”
“Because something about you changed.”
Truth. I’d become aware. Was that all it took?
“This is all very strange,” I said.
“And it will get even stranger once you begin learning our history and customs. Your lessons will begin shortly. But first, the terrorists.”
He’d not forgotten. “What about them?”
“I’m going to show you some pictures. I want you to tell me if you recognize anyone.”
It sounded innocuous enough. He held up a flat panel. It started out dark, then showed the image of a face.
I didn’t recognize it. Or the next.
The third… “They live in my habitat.” I recognized the woman who’d sat beside me at meals.
The next two I didn’t know. Then I saw the image of the first terrorist to board the transport.
I clamped my lips before nodding. “He was one of them.” He’d died. I remembered his wide, unseeing eyes.
More images followed, and I picked out the others. The one of Silas was last.
The blue eyes stared at me from the screen. My lips were numb as I said, “No.”
“Are you sure?” He began scrolling and giving me more images of Silas, wearing gray, yellow, even the red of an Enforcer. In some of them, his features were blurry, others sharp, especially those distinctive eyes.
“Sorry. The last man on the train was bald with green eyes.” I repeated the description given to me by Silas.
“I thought you said before they all had hair.”
I’d forgotten. “Well, he did. Around the sides. But bald on top.” A weak attempt to cover.
He might have pushed me on it were there not a chime, the first since I’d arrived. I stood and waited for orders.
He went to the door and returned with a box.
“Your learning system has arrived.”
The commander ensured I knew how to operate it before leaving me again. The device consisted of a helmet that fit over my head, covering my eyes and ears. Once activated, it fed me information. Such a strange way of teaching, but effective.
Once I began learning, I quickly discovered how little I knew. What the commander had told me only barely touched the subject of why the color system existed. My head filled with knowledge, and it seemed the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.
I stopped only to eat, because the food on the surface brought me happiness like I’d never known. I resumed my lessons after the meal. I would have studied all night if the commander hadn’t returned and ordered me to bed.
“But I’m not done,” I protested, reaching for the device.
“You can study more in the morning. After breakfast.”
My lower lip jutted.
“Don’t pout. You can still be taught while you sleep. Put this on.” He handed me ear pieces. “They’re not visual. However, they will provide subliminal teaching.”
Mollified, I fell asleep to a history lesson and woke refreshed and my head full of new knowledge.
The next day, after eating something he called eggs and toast, I resumed my lessons with the videos. I didn’t slow down until I reached the parts in my education that dealt with adult interactions. Sex came up, and I received a graphic view of what that meant.
But the true shock?
I pounced on the commander when he returned to the apartment.
“Why do Grays have their arousal suppressed?”
