Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ played in her ear, her eyes trembled.
‘Five more minutes, just five more.’ she frustratedly thought to herself.
The alarm on her comms continued, the song was classical, and she hated the sound of it more than she hated the smell of fetid water.
“Caity, get up!” Henry shouted from the other room.
Loud media mixed with the sounds of her alarm, a commercial about a sale.
“C’mon!”
Her eyes fluttered open in a confused, feverish haze.
The ‘pop’ had come while she was asleep.
She grimaced as she rolled to the side lazily.
The sheets were disgusting.
Thankfully she was smart enough to bring her waterproof mattress when they moved.
A must in Breakwater.
It also could float and you could also use it as a source of air.
The door slide open faster than it the mechanics could send it into the wall.
“Wake up!” he yelled again.
Cait shrank under the sheets from him.
Henry sighed loudly, raking a hand across his face.
“Get up, Cait.”
“Hen, I just need a few more minutes.” Cait said as she forced her eyes open.
The colours licked at the corner of her eyes, a side effect of the meds.
“You know that you cannot pull this shit.” Henry said, irritated.
“Okay, okay, I’m up.” Cait said with a whimper.
She felt the cover blanket being yanked off of her, as the bright room came into frame.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
Her hands slid underneath her as she picked herself up.
Cait scrambled and grabbed her comms, shutting off the alarm.
She checked the tracking on the package.
Still nothing.
Stuck in the limbo of sector 100’s Customs Screening, since it was coming from the other side of the continent.
She had a day’s worth left and 3 more to go, maybe more?
She was nervous.
“Five minutes would have turned into fifteen. You will be late.The train won’t wait for you.” Henry chided her.
“And you can’t afford it.” He came into the room and looked down at her.
Cait wanted to throw something at him.
“I know, I know…ugh.” Cait whimpered as she sat.
She heard him snort in derision and leave.
Cait sighed and pulled the blanket off.
She scrambled off the bed like a new born foal.
She groaned.
Henry sighed and adjusted his posture leaning on the door frame.
“Good. Shower up and pack up.” he said as he turned to leave.
He was right, she ‘had’ to get ready for work; she had a monster shift in front of her that she felt impossible.
She might end up sweating in a pod near work afterwards.
So she should bring provisions.
She pulled the sheets off the bed and tossed them into the sanitizer along with the clothes on the floor.
Once the space was clear, she leaned against the wall as she heard the holo in the living room.
“Hen,” she called out loudly, she pounded on the wall.
“What?” Henry shouted.
She pounded on the wall again.
He sighed loudly.
Cait tried to control herself, “The sheets and clothes are in the sanitizer. You will need to take them out before you leave.” She said and waited for him to confirm he heard her.
“En.” He grunted.
She heard clanging in the kitchen.
She took that as affirmation, and pressed the button and the mattress slid into the roller in the wall decompressing with a hiss as the closet and vanity rolled out from the wall automatically.
She packed a dress and heels for the next shift.
She heard a can being opened in the kitchen area and sighed.
One of the shakes she got from the program.
Henry walked into the bedroom with a steaming mug of bitter, sugar-free, synth-coffee.
“Shit, you really conked the hell out after drinking that shake when you got back. Try it in coffee. It is much better.”
“Hen, I need those. The doctor prescribed them. They aren’t coffee cream.” Cait said as she wiped the sleep and utter confusion off of her face.
“It’s just a can, we can always buy more.” Henry retorted.
It was not like they did not manufacture them en masse.
Cait sighed.
“Not the point, and you know you will make me buy it for myself.” Cait said with a distractive grunt as she caught a painful knot in her hair with the brush.
“Fine, I will pick up a case when I get paid.” Henry said with a sigh.
He looked at the coffee and sat it down on the vanity when she failed to take it.
Cait’s brow arched as she tied up her long, silver blonde hair and cranked the cold water in her shower.
“Great. You seem to like them.” Cait said.
She did not dare to believe him.
Henry wasn’t generous anymore.
He was at first.
Cait opened a can.
There were now two remaining of the six she brought home.
She forced half of the thick shake down and added the rest to the cup.She gulped down the coffee, he wasn’t wrong, it was actually quite good in coffee.
But, that was not the point..
She rinsed the cup and tossed the can in the Recyclator.
The heat from the shaft was intense, but at least it did not smell like it would if they lived in the middle or upper floor.She slipped out of her clothes.
Sweat streamed down her body; the heat was still there, burning.
She moaned when the ice cold water hit her skin.
Luckily, the cold water was not billable, and it was her favorite type of shower and bath.
When she had the time to submerge herself.
It had all started in her late teens.
Because she was a dominant.
A freak.
She’d get groggy eventually if she stayed in for too long.
She checked her comms, the package was still delayed with a red exclamation mark beside it in the app.
She hated to think how it would feel in her thirties, if she lived that long.
That was always the caveat to her future: would she make it or struggle in vain?
That is why she opted to exploit her access to education.
While other girls were out on dates, making mistakes, and having fun, she was taking on extra.
She would not do hard labour like her parents.
Like her Dad.
It paid off, but the easy life that she had studied so hard for had become progressively worse since her graduation a year ago from the specialist accounting program.
They had moved out of Breakwater when she got her job two months ago, and that is when it got worse.
When she came here with her fantastic new job, in which she would not come home sore every night, her body decided it was time to amp up her condition.
Her hands shook hard.
She set down the coffee.
“F-fuck.” she said to herself as she balled them up, trying to steady the shakes.
The tremor affected her legs and thighs.
She took deep, purposeful breaths as she waited for it to pass counting in her mind.
She picked her coffee back up and chugged it.
Her shower would have to be shorter.
Tonight was going to be hell.
Luckily this job was just deadline driven, but she had to agree to her shifts a week in advance with the software.
She hated that she overbooked herself this week.
But she thought her meds would come in.
She stepped into the shower.
The water took a while to get as cold as it was in the Traverse they last lived in.
The Burrows were infinitely better; they had space for a couch, multiple rooms, the floor was heated, and they were able to cook.
Being poor was not exactly cheap, but cooking for oneself was cheaper.
You could boil a kettle, but you could only eat so much noodle soup or paste without going crazy.
She sighed in relief as her skin tightened and the goosebumps started to rise as she was pelted by the cold spray.
A hand reached into the shower, and then there was a hiss.
“What the hell, that is teeth-chattering cold. I would come in and keep you company, but my man parts would crawl back up inside me.” Henry said.
“Yeah, it would be nice to spend some actual time with you. But I do not have time. I am pulling two shifts after being in the clinic this morning.” Cait said.
She washed herself with the deodorizing soap that her dad had sent to her.
It came in a huge bucket that she just bottled up into smaller bottles and used as a footstool or a table.
It had a weird shimmer to it th at was pretty, but very unnecessary.
Rich people were weird.
She smirked as she imagined those shimmery Omie walking around.
Now she’d sparkle too.
Somehow, the big bucket of soap made it through the Calais line, but a small canister did not.
Did they not question an industrial bucket being sent to an apartment in a residential area?
Being a logistics brat sometimes paid off, especially when a crate accidentally fell and smashed open.
She knew how things worked.
She had covered loader shifts before.
The robotic gear sometimes broke down, and when it did, it dropped its load when it rebooted, and when the crate smashed, the contents were up for grabs.
Soap for two for two years, yes, please.
“You look so hot, covered in bubbles,” Henry said as he stuck his hand into the shower and rubbed her body.
‘She was like fruit, slow-growing but delicious.
Her body was hard and toned from her part-time job offloading bolts of fabric off the loom in the textiles factory.
He snatched her up before anyone realized that no-rack Agneau had suddenly developed curves.
He grabbed one of her breasts; they were small enough to fit in his palms, and rolled her nipples.
Her skin was flaming hot.
“Not now, Hen, I feel like shit, and that won’t help,” Cait said.
She felt guilty that the thought of sex at this time of the month turned her off.
It was uncomfortable.
He kept kneading her breast.
“Henry.” Her knees weakened.
She braced herself as her knees weakened.
“You feeling it now, Cait?” Henry said huskily.
He felt the heat pool in his abdomen.
It had been a week since they had had this much time together.
Between their schedules and the doctors’ appointments, they basically passed each other on the way in and out the door.
“Not in the way you want me to,” Cait said and paused.
His hand was still moving.
“I feel like shit, especially now.”
Cait’s eyes felt like they were boiling; the weird, persistent fever came around once a month when she was ovulating.
The hormone imbalances that puzzled the doctors at the Civilian Clinic were akin to those seen in women ten, fifteen years older than her who harvested their eggs for money.
“What about if we just do it on the outside?” Henry said as he trailed his hand down her breast to the damp silver hair between her legs.
She was boiling to the touch as his fingers quickly tickled between the nook of her legs.
Even in this cold water.
His fingers probed as her legs shook.
“Nope.” She grabbed his hand and pulled his hand away, and grimaced.
He saw the musculature of her abdominal muscles move as she recoiled.
Her body was rejecting him; he briefly wondered if it was because of the dominant genes.
The rejection made his arousal shameful.
Cait noticed the look on his face.
“Henry, I can’t do it. Besides, I have to go to work. I am not sure I am going to make it through the shifts today. We will roll around once it is over. I will make it worthwhile then,” she winced as the pain came in waves.
They took twelve vials of blood for samples and advised her that they would escalate her case to the Administration Hospital.
It was only the rarest of cases that got sent there.
Including her mothers in the end.
But it was too late at that point.
Henry reluctantly pulled his hand like a dejected hand puppet.
Cait turned away and rinsed her body off.
He wiped his arm off with a sigh.
“Well, you’ve got to, it will be over soon. Hasn’t it been a week yet?”
“No, we are on day two.” Cait sighed sadly as she towelled off.
Henry watched.
“Stop, seriously.”
Her mother died before she had a period.
There was nobody left to explain the birds and the bees to her.
Her father was constantly working and away.
She learned enough of the basics to know something was wrong.
Sex left her cramping and unfulfilled.
Her and Henry’s relationship had taken a nosedive because of it.
It was not good for her, but she relented to him as much as possible.
“Well, have you seen you, Cait Agneau?” Henry said.
“The diamond of the Traverse.”
“That is a name you coined for me.” Cait blushed as she towelled off her body.
Henry’s palm slapped her butt roughly as she bent over to pull on her underwear.
It stung.
Again, his hands were on her.
“Stop, I already feel like staying home. I will be late.” she complained.
She packed sanitary napkins just incase she had another ‘pop’.
I was sort of like peeing herself, but it was not pee.
“Maybe, take one of your pills? If you feel uncomfortable we can always do other things.” Henry said as he watched her pull on her underwear.
‘Gods, if that does not make it all worthwhile.’ Henry looked at her rail thin but still padded in the right places body.
She did not need to gain more weight at all, just maintain it.
He slid and snaked his fingers along the lace.
“Stop. I have to save them for my shifts. Fuck off.” Cait hissed frustrated.
She slapped his hand.
“I’m so tired of you pawing me when I feel like shit. I already want to stay home.”
“Sorry,” Henry shot back.
Cait sighed, she let him away with too much.
He was at least somewhat cute.
If it was only easy.
She was not like other girls.
She was born a dominant, which Henry accepted, but made her body weird.
Her period only started three years ago, when she turned seventeen.
The whole process leading up to it and during was soul sucking pain.
It was not worth the breasts and feminine form.
She would rather go back to those old days.
“You can do this, Cait. You are still on probation, remember. You won’t get the employment contract if you don’t show up.” Henry said shifting to positive motivation.
He hated to have to push her like this, but they had bills to pay and the shifts at the factory in the city had downturned as production slowed.
Cait looked up at him, “If I don’t ration them now will faint before I get to the office on day five. Thats why I am going to push another shift tomorrow morning. Has my medicine come in yet?” She checked the tracking number, but it was still held up in transit.
“No, it hasn’t. Did you send a message to your Father?” Henry asked as he watched her dress dejectedly.
“Yeah, I did. He said he did not know what the holdup was and that it was probably a logistics error. Then he went on to another job.” Cait answered.
“I won’t get through another shift without it.”
“Cait, you cannot book any more time off, you have to show up or they will just fire you. The doctors appointment today was an exception.” Henry’s voice sounded cruel, but it was the truth.
Cait felt her heart drop at the sound of her boyfriend’s voice.
She understood that they needed the two incomes to float the tin can that they rented; it was a step up from the bachelor apartment in the brewing district.
During the time she felt better, she would pull double shifts, but she needed her pills and to lie down and get through this.
“Henry, I have been at the clinic all day. You know my mother died of cancer, and now I am going through similar symptoms as her. I feel sick all the time. What if you have to step in like my father had to? I cannot work if I have it.” Cait said she almost burst into tears.
“Are you really going to be there for me?” Cait asked.
She looked through all the deliveries.
It must be a mistake; she had never had a problem receiving her medication.
Henry tossed her bag to her.
“It smells like your medicine is in here,” he said.
His nose wrinkled.
He hated being the bad guy in this.
It was an old Agneau family secret; she just needed to take an herbal supplement for the week.
She noticed he avoided answering her question.
‘Would he be there for her?
Or would he bail?’ Cait’s brows furrowed.
She had only been home for four hours today.
She was tempted to buy a sleeping pod for a few hours after work.
Really tempted.
“I’m not trying to be mean, but if you book off any more time, they will fire you,” Henry said, his voice sounding so caustic to even himself.
He looked down at Cait and cleared his throat guiltily, “You know your job brings in the money. You can get through this; you need to have a great record if you want to get into the civil services. Just think of the goals you have.”
“We have thirteen days to earn the 2500CR this place costs. I have 2100CR, you have 300CR, then we have bills, food, clothing, entertainment, insurance, and pension payments.”
“Okay, okay, chill,” Cait said.
She wiped her face clean of sweat.
He sighed and finally relented.
“Okay, I will try,” Cait said, her voice shaking.
“No trying, ‘only’ do.” Henry retorted.
Cait stood from the little vanity she made out of crates, she wanted to punch him in the face.
She leafed through the closet.
She picked out a pair of black ponte pants and a crispy navy blue shirt.
Underneath, she wore a lace camisole.
She worked the late shift so she could remove the dress shirt in the office.
She put on her mother’s pendant.
The only token her great-grandfather had left for his father.
A delicate golden disk with a butterfly imprinted on it.
Henry walked up behind her in the mirror and placed an icepack on her shoulders.
Cait sighed in relief.
She smiled.
He held a second bag of supplies.
“Place these in the freezer at work and alternate them. It should help, okay?” Henry said.
He placed a reluctant kiss on her neck.
Cait smiled.
Henry was the only boy at Wave Break High who noticed her.
He was her first friend in Deep Water.
She was a tomboy, and not a lot of people realized it was forced on her.
Her dad worried since he was gone for long periods of time that someone would take advantage of her.
It was traumatic for her to go through that for a year.
Mom died, they moved communities again, and there was no one there to watch her.
Her father cut her hair short and dressed her like a boy, until he ended up working international jobs until she was fourteen years old.
They did not know until they split up to learn about basic biology that she was a girl.
When her father started working out of town, she grew her hair out of humiliation at school and started dressing like a girl again.
When her dad came into town and found her with longer hair, they fought.
Luckily, her neighbour stepped in to defend her and said she would look after her for free; all he would have to do was split their accounts and deposit her money for food, instead of leaving a pittance on a prepaid credit chip.
“So you know how to be grateful? Cute.” Henry said.
“Thanks,” Cait managed to say.
The words hurt.
In the last fight, he yelled at her until she was a crumpled ball in the corner.
She had never thought about marrying or settling down and having kids with Henry until she started getting sick and questioning whether he would be as devoted as her own father, or if her kid would end up in some state-run orphanage like her mother.
The appointments started five weeks ago with the routine health check that all Beta females went through.
Once a year, it did not matter whether you had any health concerns or not.
It is when you have all of your pressing needs taken care of and tests done.
She had complaints about her intensifying cycle, and they surprisingly addressed it.
Fertility was the one thing that they took seriously.
She was even able to get teeth work done because of it.
Today, she had gone because they had given her a requisition and a slip to get her blood tested and a scan.
She was told her case was sent to the Administrative Hospital, or ABO depending on the results.
It was odd for a Beta to go through something like them, she informed her mother was a Beta Dominant, and so was her father.
Betas did not lead the most extraordinary lives because they were unable to farm the traverse effectively to provide for themselves.
They needed outside help from the Alpha class, who could survive in the wilderness.
She had done the math for a school project, when she lived with Maria.
Her father would have never let her do the project, in fact as a purifier’s daughter she was quite the outlier in her school of thought.
She knew the Alphas and Omegas were more evolved, it was a fact that her father despised, but it was true.
In return for assistance with food, the Alphas and even the Omegas brought in food, so that their females could be partners for Omegas to breed with in order to produce more female Omegas for the Alphas.
There was a weird gender balance.
Very few females.
Betas could only reproduce with other Betas and Beta-Dominants.
She was a Beta Dominant, which granted her an education, yet it offered little beyond that—until today.
She was a failed descendant of both an Omega and a Beta woman, positioned halfway between both species.
Male Omegas could breed with female Betas, Beta Dominants, and female Alphas.
However, a female Omega could only breed with males, and male Alphas could only breed with female Omegas.
It was difficult to keep track of all this, but her dad was a purifier, a hateful person who ranted about such matters.
Her mother, when she was alive, was the same way—until her mind began to deteriorate at the end.
“Alright, I’ve got to go. I will see you in a couple of days,” Cait said.
She was going to cram four shifts into the next couple of days.
Two sixteen-hour shifts, with a couple of mid-shift naps in a pod, so she would not wake him.
“Bye,” Henry said.
He rubbed his neck as it dawned on him how much was set to work over the next couple of days.
His browline wrinkled.
‘Would she really be able to make it through the next forty-eight hours?
What about next month and then after that?’ He sighed.
“Bye, Sweetie. We will make up for it.” Cait said.
She placed a kiss on his lips and exited their apartment.
The trip to the train was a little far, but the distance meant that they didn’t need to hear or feel the rumbling or the vibration.
Although it did get her close once when they were still living in Deep Water.
Henry was a Beta, too, and their relationship, just like their children, would not make it past a Beta’s level.
They would both need to work hard to get to a two-bedroom unit, which would allow them to start thinking about expanding their family.
Maybe her health and their relationship would get easier if she had a kid.
She would need to work hard.
It was that or have a kid with an Omega and deal with the psychological fallout and lose her sanity, but that would catapult them to a higher status as a couple.
Even if you were able to score a gig to give birth to Omegas for the upper class, you would not want to.
It was a relationship killer to go to an Omega to reproduce; there was a lot of physical intimacy required from what she learned in classes.
Maybe that was a recruitment story?
Perhaps they were very skilled at it?
All she knew was that the non-omegas born from this program were always abandoned.
She knew that well, because both her parents were victims of the program.