The Urimine Effect

by Matthew Fortuna

milk, sugar, and the native plant, mint. It's quite extraordinary. I think the humans are quite a capable lot when it comes to quisine of you ask me."

  Yin nodded her head and picked up the spoon supplied in the bowl. "I've always thought it's strange that humans drink milk from a cow." She said, scooping some of the ice-cream into her mouth.

  "What do you think?" King Pen asked.

  Yin mulled it around in her mouth, trying to get a sense of the flavor, "It tastes sweet, but there's something refreshing about it."

  "Yes, I think so too." He said, sounding slightly disappointed.

  "I do like it though," She scooped another bite for herself.

  "That's good." King Pen smiled. "Now when we're done, I want you to go upstairs and look at your room."

  Yin felt startled when a thought occurred to her, "Have you been preparing for when I'd come home?"

  King Pen sat back in his chair, spinning his spoon carelessly through his bowl. "I'd hoped you wouldn't ask that question, but yes. I've been preparing for your return."

  "If you were so obsessed , why didn't you keep tabs on me?"

  King Pen looked at the dark red walls of the chamber, his mouth pursed, "I knew it was wrong to watch you when you didn't know who I was. I wanted a fresh start with you when we first met. I thought it would be nice to start on an even footing."

  "You could have come and visited me some time."

  "I know. I didn't want to give you false hope."

  "Like what?"

  "You were supposed to get used to the life you lived. If I'd interfered, you would have lost your sense of reality. It would have crushed you, made you weak inside."

  "I'm stronger than I look." Yin frowned, but she knew he was right.

  "Well, you've seen a bit more life than I give you credit for, I'll admit that." Yin took another bite and the quiet sound of metal on glass filled the room until she was finished. She was excited about her new room upstairs, but she waited with a restless seat until King Pen finished and put down his spoon.

  "Are you ready?" He asked.

  Yin nodded and stood up alongside her father.

  "I spent along time putting your room together. I hope you like it."

  "You put my room together?" Yin asked.

  "Not by myself of course, I only over saw the execution and the planning."

  "But you just moved into this part of the building, how did you move it down here?"

  "I had everything transferred when I was moved out of office." He coughed into his paw, "Anyway, if you will follow me."

  He led Yin back to the elevator, and up to the next floor. When the doors opened, Yin noticed that the halls were the same as the ones below, the walls painted a creamy white with columns and lamps coming from the walls every few feet.

  "Was this building once a hotel?" Yin asked.

  King Pen shrugged, "It might have been. I've never been curious about it myself, but if you'd like to look into it, I'm sure something can be arranged." He continued down the hall, which turned out to be much shorter than the one below, and turned left into a second hallway that ended at a door at the very end.

  "Now if you'll give me a moment to make sure everything is in order." King Pen said. He moved ahead and opened the door. Yin watched with barely contained fascination as she spotted a streak of bright blue from the room beyond as King Pen closed the door behind him.

  Yin stood alone in the welcoming hallway and waited, watching the flicker of electric fire from the lamps on the wall. It had surprised her how human the Meregals seemed to be. Maybe the humans were wrong to despise them like dumb animals the way they did? She wasn't sure. The change could have been gradual, a slight alteration of customs over time as the majority of the Meregal race came to terms with their new companions. She didn't know. Nothing really made sense to her. The humans seemed so intent on disliking the Meregals, but the Meregals simply chose not to care. Well to be honest, she thought, the Meregals did seem to like the idea of separation when they began the construction of their own cities outside of human control.

  King Pen returned, breaking Yin from her thoughts.

  "You can come in now." He smiled excitedly, and Yin caught a glimpse of his polished, pointed teeth beneath.

  Yin smiled as well and approached the door, "Well, I guess this is where I make my final decision." She said out loud.

  "It was always your choice to make." He responded, slightly confused by her turn in temperament.

  Yin gripped the door handle and pushed down, unlatching the door. She pushed, bracing herself against disappointment.

  The room was painted blue, with a white marble floor and a four poster bed hidden behind hanging curtains in the center of the room. She gasped in surprise as she took it all in, the dresser with the mirror in the corner, the computer terminal sitting besides a beautiful view of the city, the comfortable looking lounge furniture spread across a quarter of her room by the door.

  "It's perfect." She said, taking it in with an over whelming sense of awe. She turned to King Pen, "Is it really all mine?"

  His smile returned, "Every last piece." He gestured toward the computer terminal. "If you ever need anything, anything at all, use the computer, and someone will be right with you to assist."

  Yin put her arms around King Pen and squeezed. King Pen held his arms aloft in surprise, but his expression softened and he returned the hug.

  "Welcome home." He said.

  "Thank you so much... Father..." She said, trying out his new name.

  He held her at arms length, a smile spread across his lips, "I need to leave now to attend to some urgent business. It was something I'd been working on when I heard you were here, but I must return to it at once." He dropped his arms to his sides, and left the room.

  Yin turned and stood, taking in the feeling of her new home. It was nice here, nicer than her home back in Mentas. But something was wrong. She'd never been left to her own devices in an unfamiliar place before. Most of the time, she would have instructions to follow at work or from her father, but now that she was all alone in this unfamiliar, although quite enjoyable, room, she felt the weight of the past few hours begin to work on her.

  A great heaviness descended on her, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep the rest of the day away. It was dark outside, and the light from the buildings across the street cast shadows onto her floor. The tiles were cold beneath her paws, and she padded over to the bed before slipping under the covers. She settled down in the expanding warmth until she realized she had yet to change out of her travel clothes, and into something more suitable for bed. Unwillingly, she pulled herself from under the covers and set about pulling a night gown from her suitcase, which had been thoughtfully placed underneath her bed.

  She glanced self-consciously at the wall length windows on the side of her room, and changed behind the curtains of her bed. She placed her travel clothes back in the suitcase, when she was done, and sectioned it off from the other clean clothes.

  It had been kind of them to move her suitcase into the room, but something was wrong. She'd packed a small camera in one of the inner pockets along wall of the suitcase, but it was gone. She rifled through the mess in her suitcase until she was certain that nothing else was missing.

  She shut the lid with a frustrated sigh, and set her head on top.

  Things weren't looking up the way she'd hoped, she wanted to go back home, her real home back in Mentas, where everything made sense, and she didn't have to worry about missing items or sleep. She tucked the suitcase back under the bed and went to look at her computer.

  It was large, considering, and it seemed to be more like an ancient ATM machine rather than a sleek piece of modern technology. She pressed the power button and was instantly welcomed by a home screen displaying a menu tutorial. Yin exited out of the tutorial and started surfing the various commands on the main menu.

  Room service... bathroom activation... kitchen services...

  Yin stopped reading and
clicked on the kitchen services.

  A door opened in the wall next to the dresser, and a comfortable kitchen space pushed its way in. The floor in front began to rise in columns that represented a table and chairs. Yin crossed the room and ran her hand across the table. It was cold like the floor, and there were flecks of dirt and hair on it. She wiped it off with her arm, and sat down on a tiled stool.

  If this is just the beginning, what other kinds of machines are hiding in these walls? Yin wondered silently to herself.

  She went back to the computer terminal and pressed the bathroom option. A large section of the floor rose up like the table and chairs, but underneath was a small chamber, made separate from the rest of the room by a large plastic curtain, like those found in bath tubs or dorm showers. Inside she found a large tub with a shower head, a toilet, and a sink. Yin went back and reset the options on the computer, watching as the kitchen and bathroom returned to their respective locations in the wall and the floor.

  She smiled to herself and jumped back in her bed, cuddling up underneath the covers again. She felt her excitement fade, as she fell back into the warm embrace of sleep.

  A dream racked her thoughts of a time when Flynn had yelled at her. He'd been angry with her when she'd spilled chicken soup all over the table during dinner and he'd yelled at her for a long time. Yin slept fitfully after that, trying to keep the memory away.

  The next morning she awoke to the sound of a knock on the door.

  "Come in!" She called.

  A dark brown Meregal, female,