Chapter 1: An unexpected visitor

It was a wet spring morning and Meddy dreamt herself pulling on her Wellington boots and playing in the garden her feet going 'squish, squash!' with every step she took. The morning was filled with the smell of herbs and the early morning dew. As she took in the beautiful day she set about crushing some herbs from the nearby patches - rosemary, thyme and some fresh flowers to make tea for her dolls. There under a tree, Meddy and her three dolls basked under the warm glow of the sun while sipping tea like proper English women. "We have all come here today to celebrate the springing of life from the soil, the blooming of little buds. Let's all celebrate this wonderful day of spring!" She brought her teacup to one of her dolls; "Sarah," 'clink!' "Grace," 'clink!' "and Wendy!" 'Clink!'

Meddy woke up early that morning with a huge yawn creeping up her mouth. Happily she grabbed her notebook and hid under the covers, drawing the bright yellow Wellington boots from her dreams. 'In the past people would wear these boots when it rained. And rain, my little tiger, is the precipitation of water falling onto the earth, just like taking a shower!' Daddy had told her, wiggling his fingers as he let his hand fall like rain.

She sighed contentedly. After admiring her drawing for a while Meddy turned her notebook over and tenderly ran the tip of her fingers over the worn leather cover. It was one of Daddy's keepsake and her most precious possession. All the other notebooks in the house were being watched, and this one was the only one on which she could draw the wondrous artefacts of the past. Ever since she could remember Daddy would show her snippets of the past world, the world before the 'Organic Revolution, that he had hidden before the purges, and Meddy loved to close her eyes and string together the little fragments of the past world her Daddy had told her about, imagining what it must be like before people phased out electricity and started relying heavily on GMOs. Sure enough, the world she was born into was teeming with life at every corner, but there was something she couldn't place, something so mechanical and magical about the past world that entranced her.

"Meddy, your pancakes are out!"Mother called out from the dining table. The sweet aroma of pancakes had already wafted into Meddy's room as she carefully hid her notebook under the bed and readied herself for school. As she got to the dining table she saw Freddy the pancake maker spit out a stack of fresh pancakes covered in a glob of syrup. Mother and her had bought Freddy at a virtual amusement park - he was a jolly frog but somehow vomiting freshly-synthesised pancakes wasn't a very appetising sight. Meddy stuck out her tongue in disgust and tried to push the awful thought out of her head as she gobbled down the pancakes. Freddy aside, man were those pancakes good. "Have a great day at school love, kick those children's butts!"Mum said as she leaned down to kiss her.

"I will," Meddy replied with a wink.

"I'll be waiting for you after school so don't come home a minute late."

"Of course I will. What's with that smile mum?"

"Oh it's nothing, you'll find out after school Meddy." Mother replied giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Meddy! Where have you been?" Katy stormed up to me the moment I stepped into the study hall.

" Our service is not getting a response from the customer's base. Please try again later." Josie chimed in playfully.

"What?"

"Why haven't you turned in your part of the report? I've been calling you all yesterday and you never answered once!" Kate steamed angrily

"Oh! I'm sorry I must have left my base muted yesterday, please forgive me, I promise I'll finish it later today," Meddy pleaded guiltily.

"Hmph you better. Sometimes I swear your mind's not in this world Meddy."

Meddy smiled apologetically at both of them. "Hey did you guys hear about the announcement?" she said, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah some lunatic got his leg sawed off by his lock down Companion for trying to break into one of the Ministry's office. Pretty 'light' a punishment for trespassing if you ask me." Josie filled in.

"Hey that's enough Josie, anyway in case your hearing was 'muted' along with you base, there's gonna be an announcement in ten minutes. We should start heading over to the assembly hall." Kate said impatiently.

"Well someone's in a bad mood," Josie said with a smile.


"Good morning students today I will be reading a letter send by the Ministry regarding some changes in policies  that will be implemented in the later half of this semester. ..."

Meddy's mind shifted to her dream. It'd seemed so real after she woke up, but the memory was quickly slipping from her grasp now. She let out a silent moan. Dreams of the past world were precious. It was like a message her Daddy had left for her, but now she couldn't remember the half of it. All that lingered was the smell of the fresh, dew-laden herbs in the garden. Like trying to catch a wisp of smoke with your bare hands, her dream once again eluded her and had completely faded away by the time the announcement was over and students started filing away into the study halls.

"Saw a ghost?" Josie waved a hand over Meddy's blank expression, bringing her back into reality.

"It's nothing," Meddy mumbled, a little dejectedly. Back in the study hall we were, bodies still, minds silent as information was poured into our memories. Meddy always quizzed why people still bothered with knowledge when they were living in an 'innovation-based' economy. People may as well implant an extra brain (or part thereof) into us with whatever we had to know pre-installed in it. Check that.

'Ring!' the school bell rang... Ahh, except there wasn't any to ring. The ending of school should be celebrated, but it was a quiet event. After Meddy had properly installed all the day's lesson she ordered an iced tea and headed to the cafeteria to collect it. Within a couple of minutes Kate and Josie would be done, and she wanted to leave before they got a chance to press her to finish her part of the report. She messaged Kate and Josie she would send over the report at 1600h and headed home.

Meddy had reached the front porch of her home by the time she sucked out the last traces of her iced tea and slumped on the swinging chair under the veranda. Slowly the constant back and forth lull of the chair caused her to doze off.

After a quick shower Meddy finished her report and scheduled to send her part to Kate and Josie at 1600h.  "Hi dear nice to see you catching up on your work. I'll fix dinner in a bit. What can I tempt you with?" Mother was peering over me.

"Hmm, I'm kinda thinking pizza, with chicken and chilli," Meddy grinned

"Got it."

Mother was making her way to the ordering counter when the doorbell rang. "Daddy? He never told us he was coming home this soon," I looked at Mother.

"No I don't think it's daddy Meddy. It's my surprise, remember this morning?" Mother smiled.

Wondering what was on the other side of the door Meddy walked over to answer it.

"Hey Meddy."

Meddy found herself looking up at a guy a whopping head taller than her (yes she was tall by most standards). He had skin as fair as snow, with piercing and unnatural grey eyes. She figured he was about her age.

A gust of wind blew past, his tie swaying in its midst.


For a moment she just stood there.


The corner of his lips lifted into a smile and he was staring straight into Meddy's eyes. Uneasily she quickly dropped her gaze. That was when she saw the black tattoo snaked around his right wrist.

"Meddy, Daddy won't be coming home for a while. I know there are times you really miss him. After talking with him we made a decision to get you a Companion." Mother appeared from behind Meddy. "Now I know no one can come close to replacing your Daddy. Just think of him as a new member of our family - your brother." she said quietly.

"I'm Gabriel, I was working under your father until I was sent here yesterday. It's great to meet you, Mrs Watson, Meddy," he nodded to both of us. "Dr Watson has told me so much about you," he said politely, still smiling.

A Companion? He's an organic product my father had been researching on. Companions were used to run services and maintaining law and order, so why was a Companion sent to our home? Meddy found it hard to believe Daddy had willingly sent a Companion here. So why..? Meddy got more nervous as questions shot through her mind. Her breathing got shallow and she felt her legs trembling, threatening to cave in. She swallowed hard.