Claudia was proud of herself. All the equations on the blackboard were all proven correct and the sketch of her prototype, which Dr. Villiers was studying with interest, was exactly as it had to be. “This is incredible. I have no words.” David said, covering his mouth with the hand.

Two long years had passed since she escaped from Alexander’s grip, and that once cursed machine embedded in her brain was now a blessing. Her headaches were now gone for good, and Claudia’s intelligence had reached a point where she far surpassed her mentor and any of the other scientists at the university.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, a quirk that she had picked up by continuously hide the cable that connected the Enhancer to the battery. Now, the cord was no bigger than a string of wool, and her long, wavy hair covered it perfectly. Even so, the battery was still a nuisance that had to be hidden in a bag at all times. But that was going to change.

“It’s all thanks to you and your teachings, David.”

“Nonsense! This is way beyond my knowledge! You are a genius!”

Without a knock, Dr. Wells stormed inside, infused with his usual morning energy. “Genius? Are you talking about me?” Without wasting a moment, he grabbed David by his wrist and kissed him passionately.

“Mark!” Shouted David, pushing him away. “Someone can see!”

“Don’t be silly David, there’s only Claudia here. You won’t say a thing, right, darling?”

Claudia left the pencil on the desk and dusted the skirt of her uniform. “Only if you pay me well, dear.” She sighed tenderly at the couple, even knowing that a fight was imminent.

“See? She only needs to be bribed!”

“You are both so funny!” replied David, unsettled. “We get sloppy, Mark. My sister almost saw us the other day.”

‘Your lil’sys adore you. She’d never say a thing.”

“Adore me? Are you drunk? She can’t stand me! Oh, if my family finds out! What a scandal. This would destroy your reputation.”

“You and your family's reputation. We are not in the dark ages anymore.”

David let himself fall into a chair. “Still, do you think anyone would agree on… on this?”

Mark’s morning joy gloomed. “This, this… What is ‘this’ David?”

“My dear friends, please. Let’s not fight, today is a great day. David will start his trials and we have also finished the design.”

“Is that so?” Mark said, checking at the drawings with amazement. “Will this power your prosthesis?”

David huffed. “If Claudia’s calculations are correct, which they always are, this could power a building. Goddess, even an entire city.”

Mark blinked in amazement. “A great day it is. This reminds me of why I came! You were right, darling! We found it! A door to the mysteries of creation itself, not only in the core of the brain cells. In every single one of them!”

“A genius, indeed.” David said, reclining comfortably in his chair and glancing at his assistant. Mark grabbed Claudia by the shoulders, glowing with excitement.

“We should celebrate. Tonight!”

“I’m afraid we will have to postpone,” Claudia said, reaching for her coat. “A large group of patients has arrived from the north. David has to start his trials right away.”

Mark followed them downstairs with murmurs of protest. Claudia’s apartment, or rather her room, was at nurses’ quarters, a small but cozy building near to the campus and from the Villiers’ family mansion.

In the middle of the narrow street, in front of the entrance, Marie was waiting for them with her arms around the waist and ready for a fight. She was purposely dressed as a boy, instead of the required dress for a lady of her position, something she well knew infuriated her brother.

“I have no time for you now.” David said. “Go back home.”

“I have read Mother’s letter. You should go back to Mestra.”

David gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “First of all. My mail is private. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Second, I have no intention of spending my life making watches. Third, you said ‘you’ instead of ‘we’. The Goddess, if anyone has to go back to that stinkin city, it’s you. I don’t even know why you’re here!”

Marie made a mischievous face. “That can’t be it, Watchmaker. I have a ‘fancy’ here. When I’m of age, I’ll marry him.”

“You’ll marry however Mother tells you to marry. That’s how the family has always done it.”

Claudia noticed in Mark a subtle reaction of sorrow. “We should go,“ she whispered.

With a reddened face, David mumbled. “I’ll follow you shortly. Go ahead.”

Linee University was actually a day’s ride from the big city. The adjoining town was just a few streets where some local merchants and campus workers lived. Still, since the war had worsened, there had been a lot of new people, all working in one way or another on jobs related to the war. The hospital was in the new wing. A building that was accessed through the cloister. Claudia crossed the gardens quickly, hoping that the headmaster, who was sitting on one bench, did not see her.

“Miss Claudia!” called Doctor Shelley from afar. “A moment, if you please.”

Without being able to avoid it, she veered off course and curtsy in front of him. The headmaster, like the rest of the university board, were men of old traditions of decor and rectitude.

“Have a seat, sweetheart. How long has it been? Two, three years?”

The image of Victor bloodily kneeling crossed her mind for an instant. “Sir. I’m sure your son is safe but busy.” she repeated like every other time the headmaster had asked her.

“Oh, I know, I know. I’m sure he’s helping the Northislay resistance in a way I’ll be proud to hear when he returns to me.”

“I’m sure of it as well, Sir.”

“I’d actually like to discuss an issue involving Dr. Wells and Dr. Villiers.” The names of her dear friends in that man’s mouth spooked her. “See, those two young men are the most brilliant scientists this university has ever seen. Villiers’ research makes all of us proud.”

“I’d like to think my help has contributed to that project, Sir,” Claudia said with discontent.

“Of course, sweetheart, of course. Geniuses in science are always useless in everyday life, am I correct? Without the talented hands of a woman like you, Villiers couldn’t even find the hole in his sleeve.” Professor Shelley chuckled at his own joke and continued. “That brings me sadly to my concern: See, the board has noticed your friendship, and although we have nothing against it, we would like to recommend a little more properness on your part.

“You are a beautiful young lady, and those two, being so young, have been carried away by the charms of femininity. Villiers, as your mentor, is still well down the line, but I’m afraid Wells has lost his way. Spurred on to impress you, he has put aside his excellent results in medicine and started a research about nonsense.”

“I don’t think either of them have any interest in me.”

“Don’t be so modest, sweetheart.” The headmaster patted her hand in a friendly way that still made her uncomfortable. “We see them arguing constantly in corners. Those are fights of passion. We are old, but not blind.”

Professor Shelley giggled, and she followed with a slight smile, which was the result of knowing how wrong they were.

“These are tough times and there’s no time for courtship. Use your woman's ways to make that clear to them. Yes?”

After committing herself to do everything possible to stop impulses of love that did not exist, Claudia hurried to get to the hospital meeting room on time. With the delay, she arrived after David, who was leaning at the door carrying a large pile of files.

“Sorry for making you wait,” she said, agitated.

“Is fine. I just wanted to ask you before we went in. What did the old geezer want? I saw you both in the garden talking.”

“Don’t worry David. They all think Mark and you are in love with me. But I recommend you stop fighting everywhere, since they have seen you.”

“I knew it. I knew it would happen.” David squeezed the pile of files and took a deep breath before entering a meeting room, full to bursting with nurses who gave longing looks at him and hateful stares at her.

David and Mark were by far the two most attractive men on campus, but being the personal assistant of one of them wasn’t the only reason she was unpopular. Many of the nurses were brilliant minds who were denied the chance to work on personal projects, and knowing that David not only let her work on her own ideas, but even helped to finance them was very difficult to digest for most.

“Ladies. Let me go straight to the point.” David took his time to give each attendant a file personally, leaving one over the desk. “We have put our boys in areas A and B. As you can see, I have assigned some of you with over one patient. Less critical cases will have to wait. Remember that it is not only about how serious the injuries but also how difficult the upgrade.

“I want all of you prepared to give care not only physically, but also emotionally. In some cases, the transitions are going to be long, tedious and painful. I will start with the easiest, so keep them well until it’s their turn.”

Each of the assistants examined their papers. The air was filled with nervousness and excitement. “Last thing. Two craftsmen from Linee will join us to help with the engineering. If they give you trouble of any kind, let me know. That’s all.”

While the others disbanded, David handed her the last file. “This is yours. He’s going to be my masterpiece, so take good care of him. Follow me, I’ll show you.”

Claudia stumbled across the corridor, concentrating on the details of the file and ignoring as best she could the growing hubbub from injured men around her.

Her patient was a burned sailor. The severity of the burns varied by degree and location in a very unusual way. “The patterns of the burns are strange.”

“I’m told he was wearing some kind of armor. Not a very smart way to dress on a ship if you ask me, but it saved his life nonetheless.”

Claudia returned to the notes with interest. The sailor’s arms, the part that had received the worst damage, had been amputated at the level of the triceps brachii right after the battle of Bratsberg, and that meant he had sailed south for at least a week in those appalling conditions.

“This poor soul must have suffered a lot,” she whispered.

“Nothing compared to what awaits him.” David said, standing before the curtain. “Are you ready?”

Claudia took a last look at the files, searching for the name of the man she was going to care for a long, challenging time. At the gap, David had only written ‘patient two’.

She crossed the wall of clothes silently. ‘Patient two’ was covered in bandages except for a face contorted with bruises. He was awake and with a reddened gaze he followed her movements across the cubicle until she sat on the chair siding the bed.

“Sir, my name is Claudia. I will take care of you until this is all over.” She was not nervous but her voice trembled. Her words were cold. Words addressed to a number not to a human being. ‘Patient two’ writhed in pain, coughing through blackened teeth. She cleaned the spouts of dark mucus with cold methodical precision.

His lungs had been damaged by smoke and although he was now stable, there was little hope he’d survive the complicated implant surgeries. She simpered of pettiness. “The experimental surgery you agreed to be a part of is state-of-the-art. It will be a long and arduous process, but I’m sure the results will be satisfactory. Blink once if you understand me. Do it twice if you want me to repeat it.”

‘Patient two’ blinked affirmatively with teary eyes.

‘What are you doing?’ she said to herself. ‘What would Anna think if she saw you behaving like him?’ She was talking to a dying man as if he was nothing. A number. A strong feeling of shame churned her insides.

She grabbed a clean napkin and wiped his eyes with caring strokes. While doing so, she looked at him better. A broken nose surrounded by bruises, burns and cuts still could not hide his youth. He was a man, yes. But a man no older than her. A human with dreams and nightmares, just like her. She needed to find empathy. Hope. She needed a name.

“Everything will be alright, Sir.” she said, taking her poetry book from the battery pouch. “I have full confidence in my colleague, and although I cannot foresee how all this will end, I can promise you something. I swear that no matter what happens, no matter how hard, no matter how long, I will be here to help you and to take care of you. With all my heart. Yes?”

She answered to his one blink with a forced smile. That man survived a war and a terrible journey to Linee. He was a survivor and deserved from her as much hope as she could gather. “Great. Now, I need a name. I cannot be calling you Sir all day. You look younger than me!” The name of her brother, a man that left her life long ago, but she still cherished, came to her mind. “How about Robert? Just until you can speak.”

The patient made a loud growl that triggered an honest, joyful giggle. “All right, not Robert! Let’s go back to that later. Would you like me to read some poetry?”

He complained with a rattled blow, but Claudia noticed a spark of change in his eyes. The empty and soulless gaze he had when she arrived was gradually filling with the will to fight. A will to survive.

“Tough crowd, uh? All right, then. Tomorrow I’ll bring some tales of ‘The Tiger of Ujan’. You strike me as a man of such tastes.” Claudia put her book on the side table, next to a blackened pendant.

“Is this beauty yours?”

He took a deep breath that came out as an exhausted mumble. she had already tightened too much, and it was time to let him rest.

With the pin broken, the pendant opened easily. Inside there was the blurred portrait of a woman and an engraving. “I guess the fine lady that gifted her picture may be ‘C’,” she breathed, letting him fall asleep slowly. “And I assume the ‘beloved ‘M’ may be the lucky man that got it. So, how about I call you Em? Sounds cute, isn’t it?”

With eyes already closed, he made a trembling effort to raise his lips up.

“That’s it. Mr. Em.” She said with a beam. A beam made of genuine hope and not pity. “We will get through this. Together. With a smile on our faces.”