"I said fetch the pair with the red soles! Bring them at once or I'll take your legs away. Again."

The horrid little creature went scuttling out of the room flailing his arms in the air as high as his misaligned shoulders would allow. The elegant mechanical wristwatch was tilted to read the dial. Kane had exactly ninety seconds to return with the correct shoes in hand. If he did not, well, it would not be the first time the gremlin had his legs paralyzed, broken, removed, or otherwise made useless. He knew the cost of failure, and yet he continued to perform poorly. Perhaps it was time to take him back to the drawing board and rebuild him completely from the ground up. No. He did not reserve to be improved. That would have to be earned. The better option would be to kill this iteration and clone a new one. Perhaps that one would be more competent.

"Continue, Yvette."

The cold blade of the razor touched his throat again, and scraped upwards against the grain of his facial hair, taking the shaving cream with it. It was such an archaic method of shaving by modern standards, what with advances in technology and bio-engineering. He could give himself a specific growth pattern if he so chose, but there was something relaxing and human about the process of shaving one's face. And by that he meant having someone else shave his face. Goodness knows he was not going to do it himself. The very idea. Beneath him in every way. Besides, the process reminded him of some distant, locked memory that he could not conjure up the specifics of. Something from his youth. A time so long ago that he could not quite remember when it took place. No matter.

Closing his eyes he let the soft music playing overhead mingle with the whirl of oily motor servos and the scrape of the blade against his face.

"How is the security detail coming together?"

There was no pause in the blade. It accurately predicted the movements of his face and continued to move. A level of precision not possible by human hands. Peaking open one eye he looked up into the ashen face framed by raven hair; and the empty, red and puffy eyes almost hidden behind the messy locks.

"All tunnels have been remapped and secured. Bulkhead passwords randomized and scrambled. Cameras and auto-blasters installed. Droids are charged and armed. The Strighoul are caged and starving."

"Excellent."

This entire business was so much easier to maintain with only two sapient creatures to manage. For everything else there were machines, droids, and monsters. Keep it simple. Less room for failure. That was a lesson hard learned over the course of many centuries and lives. There was certainly a thrill that came with executing a grossly incompetent underling or a traitor, but it was hardly worth all the work that came with packing up and having to move, or starting an experiment over from the beginning again. He had nothing but time, in the grand scheme of things. Try as they might, nobody had managed to shut him down for good and he imagined they never would. Zanon lived beyond the constraints of biology and time. He is eternal, after all.

The familiar sensation of cloth on his face marked the end of his shave as the remaining cream was wiped free. He felt no need to even check himself in a mirror. She gave a perfect shave every time. Uniform and precise. Yvette was a good slave. A real testimony to his ability to take the dredges of society and turn them into something useful. Everyone had potential if you cut deep enough.

"You will be on the floor for the Gala in case anything should happen. Have Kane put together something nice to wear and do something with your face. I can't have your hideous face driving away my guests, now can I? Polish and sharpen your arms while you're at it. I want you battle ready and magnificent. You are as much a part of the exhibit as the other pieces. Oh, and make sure Kane fed the little creature. He'll be the big prize and everyone is going to want a piece of him."

Yes, Doctor."