Chapter II - The morning after

Xenva awakened, sighing a little as she found herself alone again. Getting up, she found out the bath had filled up nicely. The water was as cold as last night, but it helped clean out the last of the mud.
It seemed to have stopped raining, when she got out of the bath the sun was shining on her trough the hole in the roof. After drying herself up again, she put on the clothes when she noticed there was a hole for her tail.
"Strange, why is that here?"
She looked around, searching for something that would confirm her suspicion. But there was nothing that would confirm it or otherwise identify the previous inhabitant.
The clothes were also suspiciously skimpy for this kind of weather, at least for a biological life form. Then again, the previous owner had probably just been glad to be rid of them. They were smelly and had holes in them.
"These will have to do for now."
When she stepped outside, the mist had cleared, finally giving her full view of the landscape she had been cast into. She appeared to be in some sort of rural area, her enhanced vision finding several other buildings scattered around. Most of the terrain was taken up by crop-fields of forests, with several roads leading between them.
"Okay dear, first thing you have to do is get to some civilization. And to do that, you need to know where it is."
Scanning the horizon for any sign of a city or at least a small town, all she could see were the same little huts like the one she saw before. It seemed this area was somehow lacking in technology. She had seen nothing like electricity, plumbing or neural-net computers.
Sighing, she set out in the general direction she was traveling in yesterday, hoping to find someone who would explain where she was. The roads however, kept crisscrossing trough each other, and she found she often had to trace back her tracks to find a part of the roads she had not seen before.
"You are on a road in the forest. Everything looks the same, making it impossible to orient yourself." She was reminded of those ancient games called text-adventures. Strange how those things seemed to survive trough the ages. For some reason she had the idea that even if she had something like breaches or coins, they would only be stolen by squirrels when she used them as markers.
After several hours of solid walking, she seemed to have finally cleared the farmlands. Sitting down, she rubbed her paws to get back the feeling in them.
"Couldn't that bastard have left me some sandals at least?"
Muttering under her breath, she set off again, and jumped for joy as she encountered a hardened road. This would have to lead to some kind of civilization. Taking a random direction, she was filled with anticipation, as she suspected, or even hoped, she would find not only civilization, but also anthropomorphic animals like herself. She was certain the tail hole in her pants were not caused by age or some insane old man. If other anthro's like herself really lived here, maybe she could start leading a live of her own.
The implication of what she just though hit her like a wrecking ball. She was rebelling against her master. Granted, he had not been a good master, but he was all she had.
Clawing at the ground, she growled at herself "Dammit! He's gone! I am free. Free? Free."
"But I must have a master!"
"Master is gone!"
"No."
"YES!! No more master! You are on another world, on your own!"
"My own?"
"Yes."
"What must I do? I must have a master."
Xenva looked up, thinking of a quote from one of the many books in her memory.
"The Words stood around the horizon, reaching all the way to the sky.
And a voice said quietly, `You own yourself.'
Dorfl saw the scene again and again, saw the concerned face, hand reaching up, filling its vision, felt the sudden icy knowledge...
`...Own yourself.'
It echoed off the Words, and then rebounded, and then rolled back and forth, increasing in volume until the little world between the Words was gripped in the sound.
Golem Must Have a Master. The letters towered against the world, but the echoes poured around them, blasting like a sandstorm. Cracks started and the ran, zigzagging across the stone, and then---"
Xenva howled as her mental pathways were on fire, changing all the way. She clawed at the road, smashing a large part of it. All her mental blocks fell apart, allowing the cold outside to pour in, shortly followed by the memories of what she had done.
"There were no Words between you and It.
You belonged to It, It belonged to you.
You couldn't turn your back on It because there It was, in front of you.
Dorfl was responsible for every tick and swerve of It.
You couldn't say, `I had orders.' You couldn't say, `It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself."
Xenva cried, the hidden tears of ages suddenly released. She cried for every murder she had committed, every person the had seduced. She cried for every time she could have said `No', but had not.
"Not Thou Shalt Not. Say I Will Not.
The golem opened his eyes."
Xenva opened her eyes.
"NO MASTER!"
"No Master!"
She was a sentient being, she had he own will. Her master had not enslaved her, she had done it herself. And as the first act as a free being, she swore to herself never to hide behind her orders or her programming, she had murdered people out of her free will, and she would allow it to haunt her until eternity.
She would rather have it haunt her, than not to be worthy of its haunting.
Trembling, she stood up. Her old view on life shattered, the new one still cooling down.
Continuing her journey, she swore to herself she would find an honest profession on this world. Surely there was a place for ex-assassination cyborgs?
Xenva tried to think of her qualities. Apart from being a frightful opponent and, a master seducer (She even managed to seduce humans! Imagine that), she had photographic memory, a huge processing speed and... well probably something else.
The problem was off course, that she did not know the technological state of this world. For all she knew, it could be in the Dark Ages. Perhaps she could become a blacksmith or something.
All thoughts of the Dark Ages were blown away as she passes a kilometer pole. It was in reasonable shape, and said "Wageningen, 5 kilometer"
"Only 5? This is too easy." With her speed, she could also become an athlete. But that wouldn't be fair.
After less than 10 minutes, she had reached the city. It seemed to be a developed city, with the architecture reminding her of the post-nuclear age. She could make out several solar-panels and windmills on the roofs, and an airplane roared overhead.
It seemed to be alive enough, with a steady but small stream of in and out-going traffic. She sniffed in the smell of thousands of people living there, people like her. Apart from little differences off course.
It dawned on her that she would need a past. The truth would sound ridiculous, and the old "I seem to have lost my memory" was a tad overused. But then again, how long would she be able to hide the fact that she was a cyborg? As long as she didn't freak people out she should be fine.
Xenva made up her mind and decided to be honest about her past and nature. She would contact the authorities to explain her problem, and perhaps they could help her.
Thinking again for a few nano-seconds, she decided she would hide the fact that she was an assassin a little longer.
With renewed hope and spirits, she started walking further, into the city

Chapter 3: Bureaucracy, smureaucracy

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