The hallways of the Institute all look the same. Or at least they do to me. Barren walls and dark glass. Unmarked doors. They seem to go on forever, like some kind of maze, every turn down a new hallway looking very much like the one we just came from. Somewhere in the center of the complex, there’s a courtyard. An array of shrubs and trees pack themselves tightly around a small pond, benches tucked into the foliage, as wide green leaves spread out overhead. Outside of this small oasis, everywhere looks the same. At least everywhere I’ve been.

Anya glances over her shoulder before making another right and leading me through a set of glass doors. She’s nervous, I can tell, her shoulders rising and falling with her shallow breath. We continue down the hall, when suddenly a voice calls out behind us.

“Anya!”

I see a look of alarm cross Anya’s face as she spins around.

“I’m glad I caught you.” A smile spreads across Halil’s lips as he walks down the hallway toward us.

“Oh?” says Anya. She forces herself to smile, but I can hear the tremble in her voice.

“What we talked about earlier—” he says, casting a glance in my direction, “—you know,” he says meaningfully. Anya purses her lips but nods her understanding. “Before you do that,” he continues, “I was thinking, we should perform an advanced system diagnostic, see if we can figure out where we went right and where we went wrong.”

“But I already—"

“I know, you’ve already spent a lot of time trying to figure it out,” Halil cuts in. Anya looks off to the side, unable to disguise her annoyance as he continues. “We can bring a couple people in, maybe do an RNA sampling for the future…”

“Of course,” Anya says, filling in where Halil trailed off. “Whatever it takes to get to the next step.

“Great,” Halil grins. “I already spoke to Rin and Stavo, and they agreed to give you a hand.”

“What?” Anya asks in surprise, her voice tense, almost panicked. “Why would you do that?”

“What’s the problem?” Halil asks with a laugh. “They know what they’re doing.”

“There’s no problem,” Anya answers quickly.

“Look, Anya, I know you have a lot of pride in your work,” Halil says, “but it never hurts to have an extra set of eyes on a problem. And something about many hands making light work or however the saying goes.” Halil chuckles, but Anya seems to still be recovering from the shock. “Who knows, they might be able to find something you missed.”

Anya lets out a deep breath and gives a little shake of her head.

“I just wish you would’ve said something to me first,” she says. “Rin and Stavo are great at what they do, but…”

“But what?” Halil prompts.

“But to be honest,” Anya sighs, “they can be difficult to work with.” She looks down at the floor. “We have different ways of doing things, and especially with this sort of thing, it’s important to have a good rapport.” She has trouble looking people in the eye when she’s being dishonest, I notice.

“Don’t worry,” Halil says, waving Anya’s concerns aside. “I’ll make sure they know you’re in charge.”

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Anya looks back at me. I can see the strain in her face. She’s trying to find a way out of this without making it too obvious that she has other plans, but Halil isn’t making it easy for her.

“Anyway,” he continues, “they’re waiting for you in the D wing whenever you’re ready.”

Anya’s head snaps back around.

“Now?” she asks in alarm.

“Why, you busy?” Halil asks with a crooked smile.

“No, but—” Anya starts. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Come on,” Halil says, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently turning her back toward the direction we came from. “I’ll walk you there.”

“You can relax,” Anya says, giving me a pat on the arm as I sit back in the chair. Despite her words, I feel uneasy. Something isn’t right. I can sense Anya’s anxiety. I know she’s putting on an act to show everyone that she isn’t bothered by what’s being asked of her, but she is.

This wasn’t part of the plan. The plan was to continue down the hallway. And then the next. And the next. Until we were out of here. I can’t stay here, Anya said. I have to go live a life of my own, find my own purpose.

I watch Anya walk stiffly to the far side of the room, staring down at her clipboard. Even from over here, I can tell that her thoughts are elsewhere. Rin and Stavo cast furtive glances in her direction, quietly readying their equipment. Without a word, Rin drags a stool up next to me, and before I know what’s happening, I feel the sting of a blade being drawn along the skin behind my right ear. I raise my hand instinctively to stop her, but she grabs my wrist with a surprising amount of force and shoves my arm down. I feel my heart begin to pound in panic.

“What are you doing?” Anya’s voice cuts through the air. It’s enough to startle even me.

“I was just—” Rin starts.

“Don’t touch him!” Anya crosses the room swiftly, and for a moment, I think she’s about to hit Rin.

“I’m sorry,” Rin says, setting the tool in her hand onto the table next to her and putting her hands up in defense, “but Halil wanted me to—"

“Get out!” Anya barks. Her voice is loud, cold, authoritative.

“Are you serious?” Rin asks, looking between Anya and Stavo in bewilderment. Stavo mirrors her confusion, looking apprehensively at Anya, who stand glowering in front of Rin. She doesn’t speak, instead raising one arm and pointing to the door. Her entire demeanor has changed, her unease replaced by indignation.

Rin looks at her for another moment.

“You are serious,” she scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief. “Fine, I’ll go,” she mutters as she gets up and heads to the door.

The room is quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and the air is thick with tension. Both Anya and Stavo watch as Rin walks out the door without a second look.

Anya takes a seat on the stool Rin formerly occupied and give me a look over.

“Sorry,” she says, raising her eyes to look at Stavo. “It’s just—” she sighs. “This is hard. You know how it is when you spend so much time on something and—” She shakes her head and wipes an invisible tear from the corner of her eye.

“It’s okay,” Stavo fills in awkwardly. He’s clearly uncomfortable with the situation he’s found himself in and not eager to say or do anything that might set Anya off.

After a moment, Anya lets out a deep exhale, dropping her shoulders as if letting go of whatever was upsetting her.

“Let’s try this again,” she says, shooting Stavo a small smile. “Can you do me a favor and get a baseline reading on the CAM?” she says. “We need to be extra thorough, and the smallest discrepancy in the readings will be enough to throw us off.”

Stavo nods, heading to part of the room where the CAM and other instruments are housed.

“If Halil thinks we’re suddenly gonna come up with something now,” Anya grumbles loudly “he may be in for a rude awakening.” She watches Stavo closely. “But we’ve still gotta try.”

Once she’s satisfied that he’s out of earshot, she lowers her voice.

“You remember everything we talked about?” she asks quietly.

I nod.

“You remember where to go?”

I nod again.

“Good. You think you could get there on your own if you had to?”

I hesitate. Everywhere looks the same to me, every hallway, every set of glass doors. Would I really be able to find my way around on my own? I’ve never even been outside the complex.

Anya notices my reluctance.

“I know this wasn’t the plan,” she says, “but one way or another, we have to get you on that ship.” She grabs my hand in hers. “You understand?”

I nod.

“Promise me that you’ll do whatever it takes, that whatever happens, you won’t let anything stop you,” she says, squeezing my hand tightly.

I give her hand a squeeze back to show her that I understand, that I won’t let anything stop me.

She smiles at me, her eyes darting up to make sure Stavo is still distracted.

“Okay,” she says in almost a whisper. “We’re gonna have to hurry. Lotus will be waiting.”