Robert was a little uncertain on the whole process now as they travelled to the police. It was even stranger to travel among humans in the late evening. A few of them noticed her, but she kept her head ducked down in her robes, allowing the locks of red hair to flow downwards. Travelling in a police car though, she knew what those humans must have thought...
During the ride, the devil-baby kept on staring at Robert, unable or unwilling to tear her eyes from the devil woman. The priestess liked to believe she was good with children, many commented that she had a natural aura of kindness about them when she first joined the clergy, though it was more that she was good at teaching them- she certainly was not good with babies. It was the first time she had encountered a devil changed that was a baby, and it certainly made her feel.. odd.
A child was completely innocent... there was no escaping that logic. Therefore, it could not be possible that this child was being punished by being given such a devilish form, similar to the one Robert now had. She gave a little smile to the baby, even as it smiled back to her. She felt so moved at the innocence displayed. It was like a great weight had been lifted, that she need not think herself a sinner just because of her own body.
"We're here," Said the human police man, who opened the back door for her.
Robert got out. "Thanks... I can't really drive myself around any more," she said glancing down at her hooves. When she last tried she nearly broke the pedal.
"That's okay ma'am. How's the little kid?"
Robert took her out of the cot delicately. "She's fine..." Slowly she got to see more details of the child. She had the small nubs of tiny horns on her forehead, similar to the devil-changed Rachel. Her legs appeared to be human, and she had a very tiny spaded tail. Of course the main difference in the little baby was the rarest change of all... a pair of tiny wings. Robert touched a wing, and the baby responded with another giggle. She picked up the cot.
The pair went to the police station, and placed the cot carefully on a desk. "What happens now?" Asked Robert.
The police officer took out a few forms filling in some details. "Social services will be called, and will take care of the baby... you've no idea who left it with you?"
Robert shook her head. "No idea at all." She guessed it could be one of her own parishers... but she didn't know of any that had a devil changed baby.
"Poor thing," sighed the police officer. "I wonder why they abandoned her."
Robert tilted her head. "Isn't it obvious?" She was almost angry. Was this police officer that blind?
The police looked impassively yet professionally. "Miss, I have been at this job for a few years... one must never make any assumptions. The note could easily be describing a teenager or anything... shame can come in many forms, not necessarily because the child is a devil now." He looked at the cot with concern. "I just hope the mother is okay... this must be hard on her."
Robert sighed a bit. She knew the police officer was telling the truth. They really didn't know. There was no way to know what the child used to be either... did she age or grow younger? No way to know... "Well she was given to me at night... that must indicate the person was human?"
The police officer nodded. "It's Plausible... we'll review cameras and see if we can find someone carrying this cot. We'll also take a DNA test for the fat lot of use that will do," he said shaking his head. Still it was procedure.
"DNA tests no longer work?"
"Sometimes people don't have DNA but they have some kind of equivalent... it doesn't always work for tests- though curiously it does for...intended use Scientists are trying to adapt but.. its going to take time."
Robert gasped a bit at that. "That is terrible..." She then sniffed an odious scent. "Urgh.. the baby needs changing."
"Oh- we got a room over there." the police officer indicated a baby changing room near the toilets.
Robert looked unsure. "I- I don't really know how." She was in mid panic.
"Well we could wait for social services but- urgh.. oh hells..." The police officer winced at the odour. "please miss change her. I'm just a cop I really don't know how to do it either. I know there's some fresh sheets in there."
Robert sighed. Well... it couldn't be that hard...
Sabrina Violet, quickly drove to her sister's house. She knocked on the door. She hoped they were all okay. There was no reason they wouldn't be though, so the elven mindset she seemed to have inherited cushioned any concern. Harriet was alive and well, any little details could wait. The pointed ears she had twitched slightly in the wind. It was a good thing she didn't need to sleep either... well... not as much. She was still trying to work out how she rested, but it wasn't like normal sleep.
"Greetings sister," she said with a smile.
"Come in Shawn," said Mrs Violet almost pulling her in.
The elven woman sighed delicately, allowing her to call her that if she wanted. It didn't matter quite so much to her. The serenity she had and peace was certainly welcomed. "What troubles you?"
"Oh quit the elfyness!" She said exasperated. She really couldn't handle any more weirdness from her family.
"Where is Harriet?" Asked the elven woman glancing around the house.
"I- I don't know. She should be sleeping, but I'm guessing shes just staring out the window, or some other.. weird thing." Honestly she was worried if she turned she would suddenly be right there, like some kind of ghost. However with her brother/sister here, at least she felt a little better. Even if she was acting just as kooky these days.
Sabrina took off her jacket and hanged, as they walked into the sitting room. The elven woman gave a little sigh. Her sister always had a very close relationship with Harriet, she didn't want them to lose that. In the past, Shawn would treat them to everything. He never could find anyone to have a family with, and having a niece filled the void she felt. But to see this situation, was heart breaking. "First of all, lets make a cup of tea... then you can tell me what's wrong," said Sabrina delicately as ever. She walked over to the kitchen, to boil the kettle.
Mrs Violet followed her sister."I'm scared... I don't know if she's my daughter any more or someone else. She just doesn't feel..." She blew her nose on a tissue. "I feel like her change has taken her away from me. It's like... she's no longer my child." She shivered a bit as she said that. "She says she's also Artemis, some kind of 'goddess'. She shook her head at that. "I just want Harriet back..."
"We spent a month searching for her... we are fortunate to have her back," said Sabrina with a little smile as she gave the cup of tea to her sister. "Do you really want her to stay with me for a time?"
"Yes," she said with a sigh. "I just.. cant cope with these transformed people- no offence."
"None taken," sighed Sabrina in return. Though maybe she was just a little offended. Showing it now wouldn't help though. "I think she's still your daughter though... maybe a little different but..."
"A 'little' different? She's going on about thinking she's a planet. She doesn't sleep, she doesn't make any sound. I don't even hear Artemis in her any more. Don't you get it? This Selena, whoever she is 'killed' my Harriet, and put her child in her place. It isn't fair."
"That's not true at all," Sabrina said with some aghast at the thought of it. As far as she knows, no transformation had ever completely removed what was there originally. Everyone had something of their previous life.. some more then others... maybe. Though perhaps it was especially difficult on children and teenagers, who were still trying to define who they were.. and if one ended up in a body that had near infinite potential, re-defining oneself was a healthy thing to do. "I'll take her in, then.."
"If you can find her," said Mrs Violet glancing around.
"I'm sure she'll be in the car now," said Sabrina.
Mrs Violet's eyes twitched. It was like the the dam broke, and suddenly there was just rage. "Get the hell out of here then! Just GO!" Was everyone a step ahead of her? Did they all think they were 'better' then her? It was bad enough that Harriet now had a 'better' mother, now her 'sister' was just making fun of her.
Sabrina with an air of grace about her, got up and took her jacket, and with a flick of her wrist undid the latch of the front door. She strode to her car, entered it, and adjusting the mirror to see Harriet's face there. She tried to give the child an encouraging smile. "Don't worry honey... she just needs time to adjust..."
Hiro was about ready to go to bed... when he suddenly realised that he wasn't exactly 'alone' any more. He looked to the strange cat-taur that was his digital companion. "Um... where exactly do you sleep?" He asked.
"Well, your processing becomes rather.. specified when you're resting." Said cat-taur. "I guess I could go back on the internet. Last I heard we were trying to build something of a coded settlement for us- though its complicated."
Hiro looked intrigued at that. A digital settlement? Could he see it someday? Admittedly being cybernetic gave him huge disadvantages in a purely digital environment... but the thought still was kind of nice. "What's it like?"
"Digital fairies now do all kinds of jobs. Sweeping the streets of the internet, delivery, sometimes data-management, security- some of them have become virus-busters. We do it all now," She said with a faint smile. "Though the younger ones go to school of course, and the adults think they should remember the 'real' world- so an uplink is maintained in most schools to do that..."
Hiro thought about that. It must be so amazing to live like that. "But doesn't it scare you? I mean one power outage... and your settlement..." he didn't really want to think about it.
"Multiple backups are in place... and your right. Digital life forms can't be... copied. We've tried, it doesn't work. So instead if the worst did happen, we have escape methods. We've learned to compress ourselves into life-boats, essentially... if we were in a situation where we had no power at all."
"I think you're great," said Hiro with a smile. "I just wish I hadn't been such a jerk to your kind before." Though in truth, Hiro did feel a certain attraction to his fairy, despite her insistence that was inappropriate. If only he could convince her to stay in her humanoid form...
"It's forgiven, Hiro. We've had to deal with a lot of scums on the internet, and your not the worse." (close maybe though.. but Hiro was growing on her)
"Oh? Who is?" asked the cyborg intrigued.
"Well when all this first started, we had to deal with a major virus coded by a.. shadow666," she said rolling her eyes. "Fortunately the clean code was uploaded recently... but some people still think that guy needs to pay. He ended up as a digital fairy ... but nobody knows who or where he is now."
Hiro thought a bit about that. "I'm sure he didn't intend for actual lives to be put at risk... some people just... do these things." Hiro thought about it sadly. How many times had he done stupid things.
"Okay, I'm going to go to the internet... we'll still be linked though. That's one of the things that happens when you host me. Just give me a ping if you need me. I'm going to distribute this protein code to a few other trusted fairies. Maybe in cyberspace, it will have a form we can more easily manipulate."
"Seems like a good idea. Just be careful with it," said Hiro carefully. "We don't want to unleash a virus on the internet."
"I know a server that is hard wired segregated... it wont get out of it."
Hiro nodded, and activated his shut down sequence. The world flickered into static briefly, as his biological systems and imagination sections of his brain went into overdrive. For some reason all he could imagine was his new digital fairy, crawling around the internet in her humanoid form, like a predatory animal, looking all the more beautiful to him.
