Zoë kept her eyes closed because she knew what awaited her. The damned drone of the machines in the brightly lit room was enough of a hint.

“Three… Two… One…” She counted in a low voice the seconds before the pain rocked her body.

Every time she woke up it was the same. First, the white lamps would blind her, then the bloody pain would start and keep hold of her for a good minute or two and the third phase was… Well up for debate. The problem was it lasted longer each time she opened her eyes, which made it unpredictable. There could be pain, a moment to contemplate how horrible her life choices were or just a series of hallucinations. And to make matters worse, it was her only source of entertainment, while her body healed or changed or whatever the hell it was happening to her.

At some level, Zoë wanted to see Helix and question him at lengths about what he said; and on another one, she was afraid. To learn the truth would put an end to any other option she liked to think she had. Since the pain had stopped, she was left with some time to contemplate. Zoë did not like that. Her mind was a mess and the thoughts she had always took her to the same dark place – her imminent end. Just as usual it was happening again and there was little, she could do to reign in her racing thoughts.

“I know you are awake, Miss Kurtz.” Helix’s soft voice startled her.

Zoë was so used to the routine that she had completely missed his presences almost looming over her. Slowly she opened her eyes expecting to see his insufferably smug smile. Instead, she saw a wary face with two hairlines of blood decorating the corner of his amber eyes. The young man looked both exhausted and worried. Something she had not seen and it made her chuckle. This was a proper look for the current situation.

“Wait!” Zoë exclaimed once what she was seeing registered properly in her mind. “That’s blood!”

“What?” He looked at her with confusion written on his face.

“Your eyes are bleeding!” She moved her arm, stopping just shy of touching him, worried that doing so would violate some unwritten rule between them.

Helix rubbed his eyes with his gloved hand and stared at the fingertips for a moment, before a tired smile formed on his lips.

“I guess the psionic blast was stronger than I thought.” He gave her a tired smile.

Zoë wanted to stand up, and provide any form of normal human contact, alas she could not. It was all because of the way he looked at her. She was certain Helix was troubled by what was going in his mind, but at the same time, she could only look in awe at his fortitude. This young man was the embodiment of everything she aspired to be. If you ignore all the evil and twisted things, he did to you and the others in the last few days, the voice of reason reminded her.

“Would you…” Zoë began, unsure what she wanted to ask. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” She finally settled on the safest question roaming through her head.

“This is very unusual of you, Miss Kurtz.” She did not need the medical monitor to tell her heart rate increased as he flashed that cursed smile of his in her direction.

“It will keep me distracted from the pain.” Zoë stumbled on the words, content of the half-truth she just told.

“Odd. The pain should have subsided by now to a slight irritation. The rapid mutation stage is over and you have entered a cycle of slow internal adjustment.” Helix continued to speak for a short while, but it could have been in a different language for all she understood.

“Please stop.” The security guard couldn’t stand the long speech any more. “You mentioned this before – I was no longer human.” This ought to have been her first question, but she had allowed herself to be distracted by his presence.

“This is hard to explain to someone like you…”

“What do you mean someone like me!” Zoë snapped feeling all the anger from the past few days consume her in an instant. “Someone who is not like you! Have I not proven myself enough!”

“Zeti, place a note for Miss Kurtz next surgery: Adjust cerebral implant’s enhancement of the amygdala.”

“Yes, Helix.” The mechanical voice of the AI sounded in the room from some speakers she could not see. “The blood samples analysis is done. Presence of TeNTBTX-C As7+ neuro-relaxant detected at a level of 0,07%.”

“This is unexpected. It should have dissolved completely.” The anger she felt vanished as she saw the worry on Helix’s face.

“What is going on?!” Zoë didn’t care her voice had become high pitched from the fear which had taken a hold of her.

“Nothing to worry about Miss Kurtz. Simple complication from the surgery you had to undergo.” That was a lie, however, she chose to accept is as true, for the time being.

“But to answer your question. I meant it is hard to give you a proper explanation because you do not have the necessary techno-medical knowledge.” Helix continued without giving her a chance to interrupt him again.

“I was forced to introduce a rapid mutagen into you, to save your life. The origin of the process is the same as the one used to make me.”

“I am like you now!” Zoë was amazed that such a thing was possible.

“Please, Miss Kurtz, that’s a foolish conclusion, unbefitting your intellect.” The yang man next to her produced a slight chuckle, but the emotion did not reach his eyes.

“At best, you can be considered as a potential candidate for the Demon programme at this stage.” Zoë did not need to examine his words to know he was skirting the truth.

There were subtle hints in how he squinted his eyes, how he avoided to look at her and was focusing on the readings of the screens next to her bed. But most of all, she was learning to recognise his moods by the tone of his voice and hardness of his jaw muscles. She understood why Helix smiled the way he did because she was doing it as well at this moment. This knowledge was too good to ignore and she couldn’t grin like an idiot, this way, Zoë could always deny it.

Once again, Helix managed to dampen her mood. “Miss Kurtz, what colour were your eyes?”

“What?” The question had come out of nowhere and she could not begin to fathom why he was asking her this.

“The colour of your eyes, what was it?” He repeated the question slowly as if she was an idiot.

“Green.” It was her turn to answer him in the same voice he had used.

“I mean before the alteration you have had done when your ocular implant was inserted.” Zoë did not need to be able to recognise his moods, to understand he was growing frustrated with her.

“I’m actually not sure… They might have been aquamarine or dark cyan. Honestly, it was so long ago I am just not sure.” Zoë looked at Helix’s brooding expression, trying to figure out why was the original colour of her eyes so important to him. “Have they changer?”

“Not exactly.” The young man walked to one of the monitors and started to go through the different display settings. A variety of numbers, letters and symbols changed one after the other, there meaning without a doubt very important to her wellbeing. But she’d be damned if she could understand any of them.

“Zeti, I cannot find the original record of the analysis of Miss Kurtz’s genome.” Finally, he said, after a moment of heavy silence.

“Helix, that is the original data.” The artificial voice answered without delay.

“No. This is the current state…” Helix rubbed his chin and began inputting a string of commands on a number of the equipment around her. “Push current reading to the main screen and overlay comparison of archived file ZK01-Alpha. Double the screen and place an overlay of the data recorded for Officer Kurtz, Zoë within the new mainframe databanks over the current state.”

Zoë was sure the screen was about to explode from all the information which was displayed on it. The entire thing looked chaotic to the point where she was sure that Dr Saiko would struggle to comprehend it. However, what had her heart gripped in fear was the fact that Helix and the AI had switched to their native language. And by the sound of it, the young man was not very happy. Just like that, the screen split into four, then eight and then without any warning Helix slammed his fist through it.

Before she knew it, he was upon her and her naked body was sailing through the air. Her back impacted with the metal wall with a loud thud and Zoë could swear she felt at least a couple of her vertebras crack. There was no time for her to feel fear, as the girl watched Helix shove the medical bed aside with one arm and barrel his way towards her.

He held her firm in his titanic grip before her legs could crumble beneath her body. Zoë felt the back of her head hit the metal wall, but her body was going numb and her vision was becoming clouded. Her thoughts raced to find a reason for what was happing and how she could get out of this mess.

“No more lies!” Helix roared in her face and his grip around her throat tightened. “Who are you?”

What was he talking about? She had told him everything he had asked her. If anything, she had been most obedient. Hell, she had helped him kill those she called friends. And now, because of something he had read, something she did not know, Helix was trying to kill her. This just wasn’t fair.

Zoë wrapped her hands around his arm and tried to pry open his fingers. But Helix hadn’t lied. He was overwhelmingly stronger than her. It was like trying to shift a mechanical grappler, an effort in futility. And with her combat implants currently offline, she could not produce the boost of strength needed to continue this struggle. But if she could not defend against him, she might as well attack. Through sheer will, the girl curled her fist and punched the monster holding her, on the side of the jaw. At the very least, the action brought her a modicum of satisfaction.

Helix’s left had flashed and an auto-injector jutted from the side of her neck. Like that, Zoë was flying through the air once more. In her current state, she gave up on trying to determine which direction that monster in human form had thrown her into. She was more interested in sucking air through her aching throat.

A heavy boot pushed her on her back and the girl could see the monster looming over her.

“You will find clothing in the locker to your left.” Helix spoke softly, any vestige of anger gone from him. “Get dressed and follow me, Zoë. There are a few more tests that need to be conducted.”

Test! He had nearly killed her because of some twisted test! She wanted to scream in rage, demand an explanation. But a part of her was happy because for the first time he had spoken her name as if she mattered to him. To compare what had happened as an equal to that single word was utterly absurd. Zoë understood that, however, she realised, the pain which had tormented her was gone.

Whatever Helix had done with that attack, had actually helped her. She was no doctor and it was not up to her to question medical officials, but in this case, harsh words needed to be shared. She was about to say what was on her mind to the man looming over her when a new revelation entered Zoë’s mind. She was completely naked. He could… No! He was seeing all of her. Zoë felt the blood rush to her face and out of all possible actions decided to hide her face with her hands. As if that would shield her from his gaze.

“Please do hurry, Miss Kurtz. There is a limit to how much time I can waste.” And with those words, Helix left the room. The sound of the door sliding into its closed position, giving her to courage to stir into action and rush for the locker.

“Who the fuck is that guy!” Monic came screaming into the room, madness glowing in her eyes.

“What are you on about?” Although he had a very good idea of what she was talking about, Donovan could not believe the woman had done something so very stupid. And after he had warned to stay her hand, the anger in his voice was more than justifiable.

“I am talking about that thorn in your side!” The woman yelled at him, spit covering her mouth like a wild beast. “I had him! The perfect ambush, Don! Not even the Inari shock troopers could have survived something my trap…” Her voice trailed off to a whisper.

“But he did!” Monic exploded once more. “Not only that, he killed all of my guys in a handful of seconds with his bare hands…”

Donovan’s stomach tightened and he felt a pit form in his heart as he listened to this madness. “You…” For the first time in ages, the Chief’s voice failed him. He had to put a conscious effort to prevent his body from shaking with the despair born rage he felt.

“Monic, for the love of everything you hold dear, tell me you weren’t connected when that happened! Tell me he doesn’t know it was you!” He sat on the edge of the chair, forgetting that the vid-screen of the console displayed files, Monic was not supposed to see.

“Are you stupid, Don? Of course, I was connected. If I don’t assume control of their cerebral implants, no one here will have the balls to do what I need them to.” The woman hesitated for a second, perhaps seeing that this time he was not going to squirm under her threats and curses. Or perhaps she realised what he was asking her.

“I think he knew before I even sprung the ambush.” She looked pale, fear entering her eyes. “That’s why I am asking you. Who is that monster!” Some of the fire had returned to her voice, but it was a pale shadow from what it was a moment ago. “Only you could have guessed what I would do because for sure I didn’t tell him and there is no way any of my guys did…”

“You stupid bitch!” Donovan couldn’t recall when or how he was atop her, choking the life out of her.

Honestly, he did not care. The Chief was laze and the concept of motivation to actually do his job was anathema. True, money could make him do a lot of things, but when it came to saving his skin, he would kill his mother. This woman, he had loved her in his indifferent way, only to have her ruin any chance of escaping this cursed hellhole. How did Helix know? That bastard had Felix monitor the bloody feed, he had a bloody lost-tech AI monitor every bloody piece of tech on this forsaken piece of floating garbage… That was it! He looked at the console, the AI always watched. Donovan would have Monic become the sacrifice which would buy him a few more days.

It had taken him some time, but the Chief had taken advantage of Alexei’s attempts to breach the comms blockade and sneaked a message to the smugglers. The fact he had their coded response on the vid-screen, was proof enough that the AI had not caught him. Reluctantly, Donovan loosened his grip on the woman’s throat. The adrenaline was still coursing through his system as he stood up and looked at her with disgust.

“Listen very carefully Monic…” Donovan paused long enough to choose his next words very carefully. Once sure of what he was about to say, he spoke clearly, so that the integrated mic in the console would have no problem picking his voice.

“You and I, we are done. You made this mess, even though I waned you to do nothing. This time, I will not be saving you, nor help you in any way. Deal with the consequences on your own…”

“Try… to protect him… all you want…” Monic managed to say between coughs. “But if I can’t hurt him, I will hurt the once who stand by his side. Even you.”

There was hatred in the woman’s eyes and just a few days ago, Donovan would have tried anything to placate her. But now, he could only smile despite the dread building in his heart. Smile at hearing her dig her grave.

“We do what we have to do.” The Chief was surprised at how calm his voice sounded.

Quickly he locked the file with his secret code, the one Monic did not know, grabbed his gun from the side of the desk and stormed out of the hab-unit he called home. Right now, Donavan had to be as far as humanly possible from this woman and the death coming her way. The last thing he wanted was to get caught in the hellish vengeance Helix was planning to exact.

Virginia had accumulated a long list of regrets throughout the years. Some were trivial, while others disturbed her sleep on the rare occasions, she bothered to think about them. However, getting drunk on what passed as liquor on Last Hope, was firmly occupying the top spot. The hangover she was feeling was no joke. The archaeologist doubted that any of the meds Hiroshi could offer would be of any help.

Her head was pounding and her implants screamed in pain. Warnings danced beneath closed eyelids, giving a very good idea of how bad things were. Virginia did not need to know how dehydrated she was, nor did she need to know the percentage of toxins chocking her kidneys. She could feel the pain in that general area and her mouth had never been this dry before. Damn, but her tongue was nearly glued to the bottom of her mouth. Even prone as she was, she could feel a wave after wave of vertigo assault her, as her cerebral implant struggled to filter the leftovers of last night’s drinks from her brain. On top of that, she could feel her body being crushed under the weight of the cover.

Very carefully, Virginia took the risk of slightly lifting her heavy eyelids. Ignoring the spinning ceiling, the doctor was surprised to recognise it as the one belonging to her former quarters. Without thinking she opened her eyes wide, just to feel bile rush up to her throat. With an effort she rolled to her side and allowed for the disgusting mixture of stomach acids and whatever was stored in her gut to flow onto the floor.

“Are you ok?” A deep voice stuck between sleep and awakening sounded behind her. The problem was that there was only the rest of the bed and the wall back there.

Like a startled animal, Virginia jumped from the bed and pulled the cover with her. A quick glance down, as she wrapped the thing around herself, confirmed her worst fears. The thin cloth was the only thing protecting her modesty form… Bloody hell! She wanted to scream as she saw Felix lifting his hulking form from the bed. Unlike her, there was nothing to cover his… impressive anatomy. There was little Virginia could do to stop her eyes from confirming that impressive was indeed the correct description of the man.

“What… What have you done? You… You beast!” The doctor couldn’t hold back the raw emotion she felt.

It was born out of self-loathing, disappointment and a hint of satisfaction and she would be chastising herself for quite some time, but with Felix so close, she might as well direct all that at him. For all she knew, there was only a blank spot in her memory after the conversation at the bar. Her implants offered a solution as they had recorded everything since her brain had shut down due to the alcohol, but she could not dismiss the command faster.

“A…” Felix started to answer her question. “I mean… nothing… I mean nothing you didn’t allow…”

“Enough!” Virginia stopped him, trying to figure out if there was a limit to how much her life could spiral out of control. “You took advantage of…”

“Wow, wow! Hold up doc!” The large man practically jumped from the bed. “Before you start accusing, you might want to check the back-up in those fancy implants of yours. You were the one who…”

Luckily, the tech was not able to finish the statement, which would shatter any self-respect she had left, as the door to her quarters slid open. On the other hand, company, or rather witnesses, was the last thing Virginia wanted. A trio of men stood at the frame, and though they had forge filtration masks to hide their faces, there was no mistaking that one of them belong to the Security force, while the other two were from the staff managing one of the smelting plants. Their heads shifted from side to side, looking at her and Felix in turn. Clearly, they had not expected the tech to be in here.

That brief moment of hesitation saved her life and cost the intruders dearly. Faster than his hulking frame would suggest, the communications operator picked one of the artefacts sprawled around her room and shot it the guard. The impact left a dent on the filtration mask and man hit the floor, his body spasming for a brief moment before going still. At this moment Virginia realised that the intruders were armed with crude bladed weapons.

She had no time to ponder why they had come to kill her. Felix’s massive hand shoved her behind him and with a bestial roar, he charged the tow shocked men. The tech struck the one the right in the throat and used his other arm as a shield against the blade swung by the one on the left. Virginia was not sure how exactly Felix managed it, but he had the man pinned on the ground and with a twist broke his neck. All she could see was the blood coating the tech’s arm. A second later and there was more blood, as the hulking man used the blade to decapitate the last assailant.

“I think it’s best we continue our conversation at a later time, Dr Werner.” Felix said and pulled the cover from her to use it as an improvised bandage. “Right now, it’s best we get the hell out of here.”

Virginia nodded and scrambled for whatever piece of clothing she could find, recognising that pretty soon she would be gripped by panic and shock.

“The lab. Helix…” She managed to utter with what was left of her clarity.

“Good idea doc.” Without waiting any longer, Felix grabbed her hand pulled her out into the dim-lit corridor.