Trisha had her own hovercar and had followed Frank's car to the police station, in which they were now. Frank had excused himself and left, but Trisha seemed furious, "You can't keep her in a cell all the time just because that man suddenly decided to vanish and leave her alone!"

  "Madam, she needs supervision and we can't let her sleep alone in Mr. Morgan's apartment. And even if we did so, we'd need to fetch her in the morning anyways. She can't even buy food by herself", the officer explained.

  "If she needs supervision then let me do it!" Trisha seemed furious.

  The officer sighed, "If you insist. Let me show you a few things though". He turned a screen so that Trisha could see it. "This here is her criminal record. And this here are the results of her psychological evaluation."

  Trisha seemed to read it.

  The officer continued, "Now take that, her lack of instinct and impulse control, and the fact that she can kill you with one bite."

  "You still can't just cage her like an animal", Trisha had found her energy back.

  The officer turned the screen back, "So even after that, you want to become temporary guardian for Vivian, while Mr. Morgan is missing?"

  "Yes. I've talked to her. I saw her exercises with Frank. She's not that violent, actually quite reasonable", Trisha confirmed.

  "Not violent on purpose, still very dangerous. Just making sure you know what you do", the officer remained calm.

  He turned the screen again, "Now read this and confirm each point. Nutrition needs. You have to make sure she is fed adequately, which in her case means raw meat. Shelter. You must supply enough living space for her and adequate furniture, which means at least a bed to sleep in. General. You must bring her to medical checkups every three months. Further. You need a method to overwhelm her if she loses control. I recommend a stun gun ..."

  There had been some more points to the list. Trisha confirmed them all.

  After that, Trisha had only needed one day to set up a sleeping place for her and buy anything they needed, particularly some food. Trisha had refused to buy a stun gun first, but got a stern reminder from the officer and they were now driving to the weapons shop where Tom had taken her at her first day out of the medtec facility.

  "Vivian, this is crazy", Trisha still refused to accept the idea.

  "With some luck the salesman is the same and remembers me. If we are lucky it takes only a few minutes", she tried to calm Trisha.

  "Even the idea hurts that I am supposed to shoot you. Doesn't matter if it is a stun gun", Trisha was enraged.

  "I don't want to be shot either. But see, if you accidentally cut yourself, you might have to take me down before I can bite you. I bite hard and blood is a bad trigger for my instincts. I just lost a guardian. I don't want to go through it already again", she tried speak calmly.

  Trisha looked at her, "You'll bite me if I accidentally cut myself?"

  "Might happen. Happened in the test. Better if you have the gun", she wanted to be honest.

  They stopped and made it into the shop. It was the same salesman and he seemed to recognize her, "The murderfloof! Oh, sorry, Madam ... Vivian was it?"

  She grimaced. Murderfloof. She would never forget that word anymore.

  "Vivian, yes. My former guardian vanished. Trisha here is my new guardian. She needs a stun gun like the one you sold to Tom", she exlained.

  He nodded and went to the shelf to pick that model of ray pistol again.

  Trisha seemed to be lost for words for once, then repeated, "Murderfloof." Then louder, "You can't just call her murderfloof! She hasn't killed anyone ever!"

  "Sorry for that, Madam. To sell the gun I need to scan your ID so I can register you as gun owner. Since the police requires you to carry the gun, it is important", he was all professional now.

  Soon they were back in the car. Trisha had thrown the gun onto the back seat and was steering, probably driving towards their home.

  Trisha's home smelled differently. A surprising amount of perfume and scented whatever mixed with a lot of Trisha. And something ... plants! Trisha had plants!

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  She sprinted to the corner with the almost ceiling high growing potted plant and dove her snout in between the fat, probably green but pale yellow to her, leaves. She inhaled deeply.

  "Vivian, what you doing?" Trisha approached her.

  "You have plants!" She exclaimed.

  "And you must stick your nose right into them?" Trisha sounded skeptical.

  "They smell great!"

  There was a little pause and she inhaled a few more times. She felt tempted to taste the plant and took a step back before some accident happened, "I want to nibble a leaf and taste it too."

  Trisha led her to the couch, further away from the plant. She barely had noticed anything else about the room but the plant and only after sitting down with Trisha she for the first time really recognized what was there. More plants! On small cabinets, a total of five plants. In the middle of the room a table with six chairs, simpler, cheaper ones than the chairs that Tom had had. And across of them at the other wall an infotainment system. No picture displays on the walls in this room.

  "Is there something I can do to help you?" Trisha asked her.

  She shook he head, "Not really. Well, slap me hard if I do something stupid? That works. I think? At least the police had some success with that."

  Trisha looked at her, dismayed, "You can't be serious about that!"

  She grinned and showed her fangs, "Better than doing something stupid. I'm not exactly brittle."

  They sat on the couch for a while and she kept looking over the plants. She knew they were green, but green was a color of the past. Now they were a strange pale yellow.

  "How about I show you the other rooms?" Trisha's voice woke her from her thoughts.

  "Sure. I'm curious that sort of sleeping place you've got me", she smiled at Trisha.

  "A bed of course", Trisha's voice had more energy again.

  The next room was an office, just with a different setup compared to Tom's. Two big plants in the corners of the room again, quite attractive to her nose and a smaller plant on the desk besides the screen and keyboard, "You work from home?"

  Trisha nodded, "Usually. Just managing orders and supplies to keep the factory running. Most is automatic, but sometimes manual intervention is needed."

  She smiled, "That's fine. I don't like to be alone for hours. Might also be safer for your plants if I'm less tempted to try if they taste as interesting as they smell."

  That earned her a finger on her nose which she stared at cross eyed once more, "You will not eat my plants!"

  "As long as you keep them safe from me", she agreed.

  "No, all the time."

  "Maybe."

  A stern look from Trisha and she tried puppy eyes as defense.

  The bedroom was set up differently from Tom's bedroom. There were two separate beds on the walls, each with a bedside cabinet, in a sort of L shape arrangement because the other two walls had doors. Tom had had a double bed in the center of the room.

  One wall had a picture display, this one showing the surface of some alien planet right now and it wasn't animated, just switched to another view after a while. A carpet in the center of the room and another big plant in the corner opposite the beds completed the room.

  There was stronger smell of Trisha in this room and something else that tickled her nose. She sniffed a few times to get a better impression which gave her a curious look from Trisha.

  "Don't say I'm stinky", Trisha warned her.

  "No, there is something different in the air. Not sweaty. But ..", she paused to think about it.

  "Not your everyday scent. But I'm sure it's related to you somehow."

  Trisha looked at her, "My everyday scent?"

  "Yes. How you smell every day. It's on you, in your clothes, in your car and all over the apartment. It's just how you smell. This one is different though, but also has a note of you", she explained.

  Trisha nodded a little and she was trying to make up her mind about this scent which, if scents had a tag, would be labeled important. Something clicked in her mind. Tom and her. Her own scent.

  "Oh", it escaped her.

  "What, oh?" Trisha inquired.

  "I think I know that scent. It's also you but in more private moments", she smiled a bit.

  Trisha blushed, "You can smell that?"

  She nodded, "Took me a bit to figure it out, though."

  "Shit", Trisha cursed.

  She looked at Trisha, "What's the problem?"

  "You're not supposed to notice something like that", Trisha appeared a bit defeated.

  "Will be kinda difficult to hide it though", she picked Trisha up which resulted in a startled scream and carried her to her bed to set her down again.

  "Vivian! You can't just lug me around like that!" Trisha scolded her.

  "Why not? I thought you'll be more comfortable on your bed", she sat at Trisha's side and smiled at her.

  Trisha stared at her.

  "Trisha, I'm just happy that you give me a new home. How about I cook for you? Clean, tidy up? Anything else that might need doing? Water the plants? At least until Tom is back."

  "All of that will be fine Vivian. I'm just quite confused right now." Trisha shook her head lightly.

  "So what were your plans for the day?" She asked.

  "I thought we just talk a bit and then I'll take you to the sports club since you like it. If you want we can play fetch. Or just go running together", Trisha seemed to recover some.

  "Sprinting is better than running. I overheat quickly. But we can try both. Run some distance, and play fetch. Do you have a squeaky toy to catch?"

  Trisha looked at her, "A squeaky toy?"

  She smiled and nodded, "Yes, it is important that it squeaks if I bite it. It's quite satisfying."

  "Vivian you are confusing. Sometimes you are almost human, sometimes your mind is like a ..."

  "An animal? I know it sounds bad. But I don't mind. I'll try to be a good pet. That's what I can do best now. Well, be a pet who cooks, cleans and waters the plants so you don't need to do that." She grasped Trisha's hand.

  Trisha was quiet for a while, then leaned against her, "I thought ... thought, someone forced you to be like that. And that I can free you."

  "You did free me from the cell at the police station. But I am like that. You have a big pet now who can talk and do some more things. But I also like to sniff your plants, I like to play fetch and I'll be sad if you leave me alone for a longer while." She held an arm around Trisha.

  "And I think you were lonely. You don't need to be lonely anymore", she added.

  Trisha nodded, "I was lonely often."

  There was a long pause, "How do you know I was lonely?"

  "There is only your scent in this apartment and on you", she kept holding Trisha.

  "There isn't much one can hide from you, is there?" Trisha didn't look at her this time.

  "Tom knew how to hide food", she grinned.