Chapter Six Joyful Tears

“Mother, this is more serious than we thought.”

Joyful Tears reclined on the soft, swaying grass at the back of the mansion. Her long hair had been tugged neatly into thick braid that fell over her bare shoulder. She closed her eyes, leaning her back against the chest of the Drone she had mated with the previous night. The Drone, who was called Sun, and Joyful Tears had come out during the quiet hours of the morning after their lovely night of mating; Joyful Tears had hoped to get some alone time with Sun, whom she had grown quite fond of as of late.

Sun draped his coppery arms around her waist and leaned his chin against the top of Joyful Tears’ head. She glanced up at the Worker standing in front of them. “I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed, Summer.”

“This is important, Mother.” Summer pressed, keeping her brown eyes focused on her own bare feet. “Its about Little One, your daughter.”

“What about her?” Joyful Tears arched a delicate brow; Sun sat up straighter, lifting his chin from Joyful Tears’ head. Summer shifted uncomfortably and inhaled slowly before quietly continuing.

“Her disease, we were wrong. It isn’t what the City dwellers called chicken pox. Its something we’ve never seen before… something that isn’t recorded in any of the City journals or histories.”

“What do you mean? Has she become worse?”

“Yes.” After the barely audible word was spoken, the Worker continued in hushed tones, explaining the situation as best as she could.

Joyful Tears fell quiet when the girl had finished, and the Great Mother lapsed into thought. Little One had been nothing but trouble since day one. It had been a difficult birth, and the child Joyful Tears had to show for all of her struggles had been a scrawny little weakling. She would have had her exterminated right away if it hadn’t been for Precious, who had checked in daily with the Workers in the nursery then reported everything back to Cockroach.

Joyful Tears closed her eyes and forced a low sigh through her lips; her fists clenching in her lap.

Cockroach.

He was his mother’s son. She could see Laughter in every part of him and it sickened her. She had wanted to be the one to first mate with him simply because she wanted to be rough with him, wanted to give him everything then destroy him by filling him with doubt and fear that he would be terminated. She had felt sickened after their mating; and her feigned kindness had left her wearied. She had also hoped that after the night she had given him, after striking him and sending him away that he would have done the deed himself, but it had not come to pass. She had Precious to thank for that.

It was Cockroach’s fault that this child would probably destroy them all.

After she had first gotten ill, Joyful Tears had allowed the baby to be kept in the nursery with the rest of the children as Joyful Tears had been under the impression that the child’s illness was nothing terribly serious.
Now, now after several months without word, now they were telling her that they had been wrong?
She had grown suspicious when one of the Workers had come requesting that they move the child to the building where the lower Drones and the Workers lived to keep from contaminating the other children, but she had not expected anything this severe.

Summer’s words echoed ominously in Joyful Tears’ mind.

…just getting worse and worse… spreading to the Drones… causing them to become sterile…

“Why wasn’t I informed sooner that it had become this serious?”

“We thought,” The Worker stammered, taking a nervous step backwards. “We thought we could stop it. We didn’t know…”

Joyful Tears opened her eyes and looked up at the Worker, narrowing her eyes. “How many of the Drones are contaminated?”

“About half of our stock…”

Joyful Tears cursed. “Take those contaminated and that child to the Morgue… this calls for drastic action. If they question you, tell them that they are simply being quarantined until we can come up with some kind of cure.”

“Yes, Mother.”

When the girl had disappeared from their sight, Joyful Tears rose to her feet, casually brushing the clinging blades of grass from her robes before turning toward Sun, who had stood to his feet behind her. “Sun, gather the Drones within the mansion and take them to the Armory. There are not enough of the drugs to kill all of those contaminated; we will have to use the guns. Arm them then meet me at the Morgue as soon as the sun goes down.”