The Urimine Effect

by Matthew Fortuna

hurry if she wanted to get to the address in time. She tied her skirt around her knees to keep it from getting underfoot and continued on all fours until she made it back to the zip line. She sighed as she put another coin in the machine, sitting down on the harness before buckling herself in. Working down in the city would be a problem, especially if there were any anti assimilation members combing the streets. She felt like a fool for acting like a giddy idiot earlier today, no one deserved to be laughed at, especially for being themselves. She sighed when she recalled the attitudes she'd taken toward the humans, it was a culmination of both sides that defined the racial divide between the Meregals and the humans. Her father was a revolutionary in some respects for ever having considered adopting one of us, albeit it was more like purchasing a pet than an adoption to all the other humans who had anything to say about it. She tried to put her father out of her mind and focus on the task at hand, the house she was heading toward was well within the city limits, deep within the rich human neighbourhoods. Silently, she cursed herself, she should have called ahead before to make sure anyone was home. She stepped from the zip line once she'd reached the bottom and ran along the streets, keeping mental tabs on her location.

  The house was easy to spot as she neared the destination on the scrap of paper she'd held gripped in her paw, it was huge, bigger than many of the other houses around it, with high, white granite walls and a big black, wrought iron gate keeping her on the curb outside. An intercom sat on a pole next to the gate and she pushed the call button, straightening her blouse and clearing her throat. She hadn't broken a sweat in almost five years and her father had always encouraged her to join the track team at her school, but she'd explained that the school had always been intolerant of Meregal children entering into any of their sports, it was unfair to allow her to race alongside the others, especially considering the differences in muscle type and stamina.

  The intercom spoke, "Hello?"

  Yin drew a deep breath, "Hello, I saw an ad online for Meregal employment as a maid."

  "Are you here to apply?"

  "Yes, my human father has left me and I need a place to work full-time."

  "No need to explain young lady, I'll be waiting for you at the door." The gate buzzed and opened. revealing a long walk to the front of the house clothed in rich green grass, the real kind, not the plastic stuff you buy to make your yard look pretty. Yin was almost afraid to look at it as she tread across the gravel driveway. She sighed and tried to ignore the pins and needles biting into the pads on her paws.

  The door was ornate, with vines inlaid with gold running along the outer edge. Yin looked up hesitantly, unsure if she was suited to working in such a well kept house. She drew her gaze back to the door when a handsome Meregal opened the door.

  "Would you like to come in?" His voice was smooth like butter and Meregal felt her heart pound desperately against her chest.

  "Yes." She said, her eyes locked on the ground. This is not the time to fall in love with a pretty face, she told herself, I need this job and I don't want to mess it up with some stupid emotional breakdown. She forced herself not to get excited and followed the Meregal into the entry hall.

  "Do you know how to clean expensive furniture or dust around wall hangings and shelves?" He backed into the sitting room, just off to the left of the entry hall.

  "No, I've only learned how to keep after my father, but he was a drunkard and lazy and I've learned how to clean consistently." Calling her father out made her feel bad, like she was telling on him, revealing a secret he'd asked her to keep.

  The Meregal paused and looked her over, taking in the silver band she wore around her wrist and her human mannerisms. He looked as if he were about to say something, but shook his head instead.

  "Denice can teach you. Do you wish to live here or at your own residence?"

  Yin paused before responding, she'd never thought she would be asked to stay, but now that she was being given the choice, she was starting to realize that this might be the one place she'd been looking for the whole time. She smiled to herself.

  "I live alone with a cleaning bot I've just purchased. Would it be alright if I thought about it for a little while?" Yin felt stupid for telling him everything she'd said, it no doubt didn't make any sense to him and she doubted he actually had half a mind to take on a talkative maid.

  "What happened to your father?" He asked. Yin grimaced.

  "He left me a note saying he'd gone on to another life."

  "Was he not your real father?"

  "No," She said, "He was a human."

  The Meregal nodded his head, "I'm sorry for your loss." Yin only waved away his concern, hiding her grief behind a vague gesture of dismissal. She still longed to know why he'd left, it was so unlike him to just take off like that. Even if his intentions were pure, he would have to have turned around and realized he was making the wrong choice by the time he'd been gone a few hours. Yin shrugged to herself, who knows, she thought, maybe he was going to be back when she got home, sitting at the table, reminiscing on all the reasons why he had to stay.

  The rest of the evening was spent going over the various duties she was charged with while working in the house, all in the presence of the Meregal whom had later introduced himself as Denen, once he'd remembered to do so. When she left later that night, it was much colder, a small layer of frost having formed on the grass in the front yard. Yin had been excited by her time spent learning all of the necessary routines. The paper work had been difficult to fill out toward the end, her father had never told her many of the things they'd needed her to write, and she had to look up several things on the connection, but when all was said and done, Denen said she had the job, starting next week. Yin wasn't sure what to do until then, but she decided to start by quitting her other job at the factory, where she spent her hours working over the assembly line, assessing the production of hoverbikes, the nicer kind that only the rich customers could buy.

  She tied up her skirt and drew he coat tighter around her shoulders, she needed to hurry if she wanted to make it home before curfew. She'd been tagged once by one of the city watchers and had to spend the night in confinement until morning and the memory still made her sick and she'd spent the week after afraid and cooped up in her room, ignoring school and letting the dishes pile up while the smell of alcohol grew stronger as the days went on. She ran as before, on all fours like the cats the humans love. It occurred to her then that she should buy a hat, such a silly thing to think about, but she wanted to look her best, and the words spring flower seemed synonymous. She growled into the wind, her fur whipping back, and bounded up the steep, rocky incline that separated her from the more comfortable humans down below. This must be how the ancient mountain cats used to feel, she thought, if only I had more room to move about, maybe I could feel like this more often. she pounced on a large boulder sitting above a steep drop off. Perhaps I could live off in the wilderness? There is plenty of room there to do as I want, instead of being confined to the strict standards of the human cities. I could find some hope at the Meregal city maybe? They might like me enough to let me in. The ticket father gave me is still there, it would be a shame to leave Marcus though, he seems nice.

  She leapt over the edge of the decline and raced down the paved street toward her home at the end. She lived in a cookie cutter neighbourhood where everyone owned the same house, priced depending on the proximity of the house to the view of the city. Yin shook herself down and wiped her hair back and readjusted her jacket, untying her skirt to let it hang back down to her ankles paws. She flashed her synth card and stepped in, pulling her jacket from her shoulders and placing it on the rack next to the door.

  "Marcus?" She called, stepping into the kitchen, "I might be moving into another home as their maid, do you want to come along with me? I'm sure they would appreciate a cleaning robot like yourself, especially since you'll be working for free." She paused, "Then again, They seem more inclined to Meregal service, they might not actually
take kindly to a robot in their home." Yin warmed a plate of pasta in the box oven above the kitchen counter and went back to her father's room, looking for Marcus.

  He stood where he was when she'd left for the job interview, staring into the picture of Yin and her father on the bedside table. She turned back when she heard the ding, signifying her food was ready. It was strange to see the robot staring into the picture, was he analyzing their relationship? Had he never seen happiness before? She mulled it over while she twirled her pasta with a fork, He'd seemed very shy and uncertain when she'd purchased him, maybe she had paid for a depressed robot, abused by his former owner and scarred down to his very core. She would have to look into rebooting his personality.

  "Marcus, I want you to come here." She said, taking a bite, "I need to talk to you about your former owner." She heard the telltale sign of movement in the other room, watching as he came around the corner, holding the picture at the zoo in one of his arms.

  "What is this?" He said, offering the picture. Yin wasn't sure how to respond, momentarily setting aside her own question.

  "Are you feeling okay? Do you need some time to power down?"

  Marcus shook his head, his eyes closed. "What is this?" He