I found a little lead plant ID label the other day while walking the dog. It must have been for some variety of primula, as I could see the letters PRIM stamped onto it. I put it in my pocket and took it home. I found a tiny glass jar for it and sat it on the table. Then today I was racking my brains about what the "stolen treasure" could be in the writing prompt that Stephen gave me for our challenge. I decided the lead tag had to be something to do with it, and then I decided that young Niss from the first prompt was in the same story as Asha.
Asha is looking for the Primogenitor sample because she's been hired to find it. Niss is interested in the sample because it's what she and her kind were originally created from. They are hypersensitive to sunlight, it ages them prematurely, and the older you are, the more it affects you. So the young children of their kind are the ones that interact with the human world, until they can't. Humans regard them as monsters that live in the shadows and forgotten places, and hope that they will eventually die out.
Asha's reluctant alliance with Niss is purely to retrieve the sample.
Asha put her shoulder to the door and shoved. It gave a little. She wedged the end of the crowbar into the gap and glanced around for her companion.
Niss crawled out from underneath an abandoned truck and hung back in the shadows.
"Hey, you, get over here."
Asha grunted as she yanked the crowbar outwards. The door gave a creaking groan, and then something cracked.
Asha kicked at the base of the door and it finally swung open. She nodded her head towards the opening and Niss scuttled forward into the darkness. Pausing a moment to turn on her torch, Asha followed cautiously.
The centre of the lab was trashed, broken glass beakers and sensors strewn across the floor. A table lay on its side at the end of the room, blocking off another doorway.
Flicking the torch from one side to the other, Asha picked her way through the mess. The glass crunched underfoot. She dragged the table to the side and shone the torch into the space beyond.
"Hey, small thing, where are you?"
Niss ran forward.
"You go check it out."
Niss disappeared into the darkness, returning almost seconds later to tug at Asha's coat.
She followed the young girl into the room, holding the torch above her head to cast a wider spread of light.
The case was empty. In the dim light, Asha could see a metal tag lying on the table, twisted out of shape. The letters PRIM were just visible.
The Primogenitor sample was gone.
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