Prisoner 8472 - Zarandar

The woman started off violent, uncontrollable. No-one could get anywhere near her, and they in the end just had to put her in solitary confinement, with her screaming and raging all the time.

The Director, however, took a special interest in her, examining her closely and finding out all she could about her.

“It was being captured that caused this behaviour”, one of the other researchers said. “Before that, she was methodical, ruthless and a very strong character, respected by all the criminal community. It’s like someone flipped a switch.”

The Director looked her up and down, examining her intently. “It’s almost like someone has done this to her, to stop her talking…”

One day, whilst 8472 was being ‘cleaned’, she suddenly grabbed her out of the guards hands, held her by the shoulders and, before she could do anything, kissed her full on the lips.

8472 shudders violently, then goes limp.

The Director gently held her, like cuddling a loved one.

Zarandar regained consciousness and just as gently wrapped her arms around The Director.

The guards moved forward, but The Director beckons them back…

"At last!" Zarandar says. "Thank you! Someone that cares has actually noticed!"

The Director had seen that Zarandar was under some kind of control. Showing compassion had broken her from that control. A side-effect, however, was Zarandar was now fiercely loyal to her...

The Director took Zarandar back to her quarters, ignoring any concerns from her staff. She just looked down her nose at them and said, “Who is in charge here? Me, or you…?”

Everyone backed off after that and left her alone.

The next morning, Zarandar walks back into the room, two steps in front of the director, her eyes alert, missing nothing, acting like a guard.

She is a vision. Gold latex dress, looking like it had been poured on, with a side split, golden boots, long golden gloves and a beautiful ornate golden collar...

One of the others is up in an instant, gesturing and shouting.

"Are you crazy! Her, wearing that! What were you thinking! Of all the irresponsible things..."

"Zarandar is now my personal bodyguard", the director replied. "I don’t remember needing your permission...?" The last was said with an angry undertone.

The assistant backed down quickly.

“No ma’am! Of course. Whatever you think fit…!”

Zarandar just smiled at him, making him go pale.

The Director then sat in her chair. To everyone’s amazement, Zarandar just circled round and knelt beside her. The Director stroked her head. They could swear that Zarandar was purring…!

The rest of the meeting went fairly uneventfully, apart from nervous glances at Zarandar.

However, the man who had spoken before objected again about her presence…

The Director just clicked her fingers. Zarandar moved like lightning; indeed, nobody saw her move…

The man found himself ejected from the meeting room, literally flung into the corridor. “And don’t come back…!”, came The Director’s voice…

Nobody complained about Zarandar after that. Indeed, people were already realising how much of an asset she was…

Back in her quarters, The Director talked with Zarandar about what had happened to her. It turned out that she had been an undercover agent with Intelligence, tasked to break up a drug ring. She had, however, been betrayed by one of her superiors and captured, then brainwashed into believing she was the leader of the ring.

When she had been captured, the ‘failsafe’ had kicked in…

Zarandar was too well known to go back to the ring, but she still had a great deal of information that she was able to pass on to The Director, who passed it on to Intelligence.

A week later, one of the real leaders of the ring was brought to the prison and sentenced to be executed. He screamed once, as Zarandar carried it out…

“Thank you again”, she said to The Director, hugging her…

People quickly got used to seeing Zarandar with the director, in her golden uniform. The lithe woman was always alert, always ready; people were apprehensive about her, to start with, but when Zarandar saved a guard that was being attacked by a prisoner they realised that she was there to protect them too, and they soon made her welcome anywhere in the prison. Being on her good side was a great advantage; being on her bad side meant you didn’t stay for long…

The whole prison changed for the better because of her. Zarandar also stayed because she wanted to; The Director had completely released her from her control when she got pardoned, as it was categorically proven that she was not responsible for her actions whilst with the ring. However, she refused to leave, saying she was happy there.

“They’d go to pieces without me”, she said, with a smile.

She was right…