The year is 2495, half past midnight on November the Fourteenth. The place - Vermis, capital of the Martian Alliance - the planet wide martian government. A teenage Neko girl slips out of the servant entrance into the teeming metropolis, a broken chain cuff around her ankle.

She quickly shifts into a black cat, carrying a half-Drachma coin in her jaws. The broken piece of chain shrinks as she changes.

She pads through the streets. Nekos are slaves and would attract attention alone, but none of the robots or humans awake at this hour pay any attention to another stray cat. When she reaches her destination, the town's red light district, she shifts back, pulling on a cloak that covers her tail and a hood to hide her ears.

She passes humans and robots, here to do things that aren't exactly legal - or safe.

No Nekos like her, of course. Nekos are Radical Pacifists - they don't believe in causing harm to sentient beings. As a result, they are nearly extinct, and the few that remain are slaves. This was due to the age-old enmity with the robots. No one knew why the robots and AIs hated Nekos.

What the Neko girl we are concerned with sought to do was illegal, due to her status as property. It was legal for humans, though widely frowned upon.

She saw there was a quiet line, standing and waiting to enter the room. The boy in front of her turned to face her as she joined the line.

"What are you here for?" She murmured.

"I fell in love with a Neko, but my father found out and killed him. I have no reason to live." She nodded.

The boy looked at her questioningly. She replied "I want to be free." She shifted her hood briefly, and he caught a glimpse of her black ears before she replaced it.

He nodded, and the light over the door of the suicide room turned green. He saluted her, inserted a half-Drachma coin in the slot, and stepped into the room. The door closed behind him.

After five minutes, the light turned green again. As she stepped forward, a man's voice behind her said, "Don't."

She ignored him, reaching forward to put the money in. "Really. They're a waste of money." She flinched as the man, hooded like her, slipped past and then did something to the panel. She tried to put her coin in, but he had bent it out of shape. She swore loudly. He stood there, gazing at her. "Well? Aren't you going to knife me for destroying your suicide attempt?"

She shook her head. "If I had anything I could attack you with, would I be wasting my hard - stolen money on a suicide room, or would I just kill myself with it? And secondly-" She flicked the hood down. The strange man swore. "Godsdammit." She didn't wait for an explanation.

She pulled the hood up and walked away, determined to find a working suicide room.

Several hours later, she had had no luck. She shifted into cat form, falling asleep under some dustbins.

Unknown P.O.V.

"Godsdammit" I muttered. I needed to help her, but she'd never trust me. My people had all but destroyed hers.

The Neko girl pulled her hood up and left, leaving me lost in thought. I followed her silently, and eventually she fell asleep. I gave her a shift inhibition potion, and picked up her unconscious form. She wouldn't wake up for several hours, and she couldn't become human until I gave her the antidote.

I stroked her tiny, undernourished frame and headed rapidly back to my group. As I entered the small, well concealed entrance, my friend stared at me.

"You found one?" I nodded silent, and there was an audible clink as his metal hand grasped the wall for support.

"Call the others together. I want to speak with them."

3rd Person

The group of four robots gathered in a rough circle in the dimly lit underground room. Aran was the leader and finder of the Neko girl. Keira, the protege of the group, gazed curiously at what he held. Bane, the door guard when Aran returned, tapped his foot impatiently. Kari dashed in, slightly late from running an errand.

Together they were the Vigiles, named after the roman Volunteer Fire Service. They helped people in need, especially Nekos, through a guilt of what their people had done and why.

Recently, a breakthrough had come through for them and many other units across Terra, Mars and Venus. The Galactic Council was criminalizing all forms of slavery and discrimination against Nekos starting tomorrow. But the one they had found would still need help to get on her feet, especially since most Nekos were absolutely terrified of our kind, and we owned most companies and had higher jobs than humans.

TBC?
- Dragon xx