The Deep Beneath by Natalie Wright Page B

crap out of me referring to you as an acronym and a number. What do you want to be called?” asked Erika.
    “I am H.A.L.F. 9, property of the United States government and a lethal weapon. People do not generally name weapons, do they?”
    “You escaped. You’re free now and not the property of anyone. You need a name.”
    “If you insist that I have a name, then you name me.”
    Erika considered it. She hadn’t even seen him in full light. As she looked at him from behind, the too-large-for-his-head cowboy hat that he wore overwhelmed his image. He’s wearing a dead man’s clothes. It seemed like the kind of thing that was probably bad luck. As Erika pondered 9, he looked more like a little boy wearing his dad’s clothes, playing at being a cowboy, than like a ‘lethal weapon’. “Tex,” she said at last. “How about we call you Tex?”
    For the first time during their car ride, 9 turned his head and looked at Erika. She thought she saw a small smile on his thin lips.
    “Tex?” asked Ian. “Come on, we can do better than that. How about Devon or Ethan. Tex? What the heck?”
    “I don’t know. With his cowboy hat on and everything. It may work,” said Jack.
    “It’s up to him,” said Erika. “What do you think, 9?”
    “I think you may call me Tex.”

6
CODE NAME ALECTO
    H.A.L.F. 10 sat motionless in the dim room. She was typically unaware of the beating of her own heart. But as she waited for the commander, she was unnerved by the sound of blood pumping through her body. The awareness distracted her from the intense concentration required to hear beyond the walls of the room in which she waited. A thin film of moisture formed on her skin. Most unusual. Sidetracked by the sensation of water leaking from her body, she was unable to focus on the vibrations she normally felt from the world around her.
    H.A.L.F. 10 did not know why she perceived these new experiences, but she assumed it must have something to do with the fact that she had been summoned to meet with Commander Sturgis. She had spent very little time alone with the commander. Dr. Dolan, various attendants, and lab assistants carried out tests and experiments on her and provided her with the education they had deemed necessary for her to have. Commander Sturgis sometimes observed her during testing or examinations but rarely spoke to her. The commander had never had a private meeting with her. H.A.L.F. 10 deduced that since the sensations she now experienced were unpleasant to her, she must be in danger.
    Despite the thumping in her heart, H.A.L.F. 10 heard Commander Sturgis’ heels click as they approached. 10 tuned out the unfamiliar feeling of her wet skin and concentrated. Commander Sturgis was no more than twenty feet away and moving quickly. H.A.L.F. 10 perceived a significant energy force bound within the commander’s body. Not of the power scale of her own energy, of course. But still, it was on a higher order than the energies of most humans she dealt with.
    The door banged open and Commander Sturgis marched in. Her ever-present assistant, Sewell, was only inches from her backside. Commander Sturgis waved Sewell off.
    “Make yourself useful and help with containment,” she said. “This is between us girls.” Sewell hesitated for a brief moment, but when Commander Sturgis turned and glared at him, he quickly backed out of the room and closed the door.
    H.A.L.F. 10’s stomach lurched. She swallowed and it helped ease the bile that had risen in her throat back down. Strange. Despite the unfamiliar state her body was in, H.A.L.F. 10 did not allow any emotion to surface on her face. She kept her body rigid and her demeanor calm.
    Commander Sturgis gently pulled out the stainless steel chair across from H.A.L.F. 10 and sat down. She smoothed her navy blue skirt and put one hand on each side of the hem of her jacket and pulled down. She sat silently and stared directly into H.A.L.F. 10’s eyes.
    H.A.L.F. 10 had been trained not to