LUNA HELEN

  I was extremely nervous.

  It took me longer than I expected to finally be allowed to see Erick.

  I had no idea what state he would be in. My mind spun in an endless loop of worry. With everything that was happening, when they came to my room to inform me that I could go, I felt a suffocating mix of happiness and fear.

  More than anything, I feared Erick’s condition.

  What would my brother be like after almost a week?

  —

  I had avoided leaving the room. Not knowing how things were outside only made everything worse, feeding my anxiety even more.

  When I finally headed toward Sector 4, I was escorted by Carlos and two other soldiers. Even so, it didn’t stop the stares. Most of them were staff, so they tried to avoid eye contact, but the civilians… those looks tore through my chest. It was as if I were a criminal, a horrible person hiding a monster.

  And maybe I was.

  The paranoia was still in the air, and I didn’t know how long it would last.

  When we reached the elevator, I had to go alone.

  Just before the doors closed, I heard Carlos’s voice behind me.

  “Luna… I’m sorry.”

  I only nodded.

  There was nothing I could do.

  I couldn’t forgive anyone at that moment… not even myself.

  As the elevator descended, the fear only grew. My mind was consumed by the worst possible scenarios.

  There were things far worse than death…

  and all of them crossed my mind.

  Sector 4.

  When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, I saw that door again — the one I knew so well.

  But now it was completely sealed.

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  A droid stood guard.

  As I approached, it turned, entered a code into the panel, and the door opened with a metallic hiss.

  I took a deep breath and stepped inside.

  I walked through the room. The walls were now mirrored glass. Everything looked different.

  My eyes immediately went to the preservation tank — empty.

  My heart raced as I remembered Saklas inside it… and everything that had happened afterward.

  I still didn’t know how to feel about any of it.

  It was confusing.

  Too confusing.

  I walked a little further and spotted another room.

  When I entered, I came face to face with Erick.

  He was alive.

  The relief was immediate.

  I kept approaching, and then I could see his body more clearly…

  The crimson veins had intensified, covering almost his entire skin. Around his chest, they were thicker… pulsating.

  They looked more alive with every second.

  My entire body trembled at the sight.

  A tear slipped out before I even noticed.

  I don’t know how long I stood there, just staring, unable to say anything.

  Then Erick suddenly turned.

  “You idiot… what are you doing here?”

  His voice echoed through the room, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  It took me longer than I wanted to answer.

  “Erick, I—”

  “You shouldn’t be here, Luna.”

  His words cut me off mid-sentence.

  He went on, telling me I needed to leave. I ignored him and kept approaching until I placed my hands on the cell.

  The cold steel seeped into my skin.

  Erick was in the far corner, his back to me. He had covered himself, but still didn’t turn around.

  “Erick… I’m your sister.”

  “I’m sorry for all of this. I wanted to come sooner, but they wouldn’t allow it.”

  I took a deep breath.

  “I needed to know how you are… and what they’re doing to you down here.”

  “Damn it, Luna… you shouldn’t have come.”

  “Get out of here before that lunatic decides to use you as a test subject too.”

  “Lunatic is a bit offensive.”

  That voice.

  It was different… but I knew it well.

  Dr. Helena.

  I circled Erick’s cell toward the source of the voice. She was sitting with her back to me. I kept moving closer…

  until Erick’s desperate shout echoed behind me.

  “LUNA, DON’T!”

  “She’s not the same person you used to know!”

  Helena turned around in her chair, crossing her legs in a provocative pose, and I could see her body… she was naked, wearing only a lab coat.

  My mind was so overwhelmed that it took me a moment to realize the metallic cracking sound was coming from her. Her eyes, abdomen, ears — among other parts — were completely robotic.

  I didn’t know it was possible for someone to survive so many modifications, so much neural load…

  Now I understood what Mr. Crox had told me.

  It all made sense.

  “Well… I guess staring runs in the family.”

  Helena’s voice snapped me out of it.

  “What… what happened to you?”

  “You know exactly what happened to me.”

  “That bastard blew up most of my internal organs.”

  “They saved what they could. What they couldn’t… well, you can see it for yourself.”

  She said it while looking at her own body.

  “…I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  She smiled.

  A strange, empty smile.

  “In the end, this was good.”

  “It gave me a new vision of the world. A new purpose.”

  She said that, but her face was a mixture of rage and insanity.

  She shrugged, turning back to the digital table.

  “If the little chat is over, I’m going back to work.”

  Her fingers began typing blocks of data across the glowing surface.

  I stood there, staring at her.

  Somehow, the hatred I had been feeling…

  well, part of it had now turned into pity.