It took the Innari almost an hour to search her room and catalogue each of the numerous artefacts and finds which cluttered every free surface. And through it all, Virginia had to explain what each piece of broken tech was and what it did. Well, that’s what she’d been trying to do here for the last two bloody years, and she was nowhere near to answering these questions than she was when she and her team arrived on Last Hope. As such, the only two answers Dr Werner had for the soldiers were either I don’t know, or It’s junk that can help me understand X and Y. For some reason, the ignorant brutes didn’t seem satisfied with her explanations but had relented in the end. At least, thanks to them, Virginia’s room was clean and tidy for the first time in nine months. The valuable items were carefully stacked against one wall, and the junk was piled in a heap by the opposite one.
Now, the only question that remained to be answered was what were she, Anton, and Hiroshi doing in Mr King’s quarters. Though, she had to shamefully admit that the tech’s room wasn’t what she expected it to look like. Sure, there was a heavily modified console installed next to the bed, and there were a pair of training weights that the archaeologist very much doubted she could lift even with Anton’s help, but other than that, the place was almost spartan. A spare set of clothes was neatly folded and placed on the edge of the bed, and a short table with three sitting cushions – one of which she occupied currently – were the only things that could be called decorations.
“I’m sorry for the mess,” the giant of a man spoke sheepishly as he retrieved a Tar mixer from the storage box under the bed. And somehow, Virginia couldn’t help but feel personally attacked by this. Especially after King had seen the state of her room.
Placing the mixer on the short table, Felix lowered his massive form on the opposite side of her. “I wasn’t expecting company, so all I have is unfiltered Tar, a pack of shroom beer and a bottle of Gut Rot.”
“I cup of Tar is all fine for me, Felix,” Anton said politely, and Virginia couldn’t help to notice a little friendly, too. Well, it made sense the two of them were working closely on the mainframe, so it was only natural that the Professor would have built a connection with the comms operator.
“Gut Rot and leave the bottle on the table.” All of them looked at Hiroshi with surprise and astonishment, but only Felix what they were thinking into words.
“Honestly, doc, I thought I was in for a lecture. Never thought of you as a drinking man.”
“Do not misunderstand technician King. The beverage the miners brew illegally in Rust Town is potentially lethal and is responsible for ninety percent of all cases of intestinal necrosis on the station. It is good only for two things. Neutralising thorium buildup when cleaning spinal connector couplings and erasing the last twenty-four hours of your memory.” At that, the doctor poured a generous dose into the tall plastic cup of the bottle and downed it in a single gulp.
“Can’t argue with that last part,” Felix produced a wide smile as he poured some of the bottle’s contents into the cup of tar in front of him.
Virginia took a timid sip from the cup of Tar while the men continued to exchange meaningless comments regarding the pros and cons of getting blind drunk. The thick, almost chewy liquid was as bitter as ever, but it was the closest thing to coffee any of them could hope to find this far out from the core worlds. The taste was revolting, and there was an ongoing debate amongst her team about whether it was worse when warm or cold. However, Virginia couldn’t imagine working on a dig without it. There were enough stimulants and additives in it that it could actually pass for a meal. Yes, it sure was comforting to relax with a cup of hot Tar after everything she’d been through; alas, there was no getting around the taste.
“Are we done playing house?” She asked sardonically while pondering if was a good idea to take a second sip from the cup so soon after the first one. “If yes, I’d very much prefer to go to my bed.”
“Yeh… About that…” Felix rubbed the back of his wide neck. “We… Well, actually, you and the Professor are under house arrest… Sort of.”
“Can you make less sense?” Virginia snapped at the bumbling tech before turning to her former teacher and mentor, yelling and pleading with him at the same time. “This is an outrage! Anton! They have no right! We were sent here by the Science Wing and have full clearance to—”
“Dr Werner,” the giant interrupted her tirade in a soft mentoring voice, which only further fuelled her outrage. “To be frank, you were under house arrest already.” Felix sighed. “But that’s not the reason… You see… Academy regulations state that during an EAD, all civvies who, for some reason or another, have access to restricted military areas are to be placed under house arrest for their own safety.”
“That’s…” Virginia was angry that the tech’s explanation made a valid point, making her outburst appear no different than a childish tantrum. “That doesn’t explain why we’re here.”
“For several reasons…” Felix looked at them, worry visible in his eyes. “The Innari don’t have the manpower to keep an eye on you right now. And… Well, they’re far more reasonable than you’d give them credit… Since I’m a member of Security, they’ve agreed to leave you in my custody…” The giant’s voice trailed off, and he averted his eyes away.
“What Senior Technician King is trying to say is that he vouched for you, Dr Werner, to allow you a limited freedom of movement.” Hiroshi stepped in, seeing that the guard was struggling to explain himself.
“I don’t remember asking for your help!” Virginia snapped at the comms operator, who seemed to shrink under the venom in her voice.
“Virginia, you’re being unreasonable—”
Professor Kruger tried to calm her down, to be the voice of reason, but she silenced her colleague with a glare. Of course, she was; she knew she was unreasonable. Her conscious told her that and that Felix didn’t deserve such scorn. However, she had to let loose her emotions before they drove her crazy. The archaeologist was done being treated like a pawn. She couldn’t stand feeling powerless. But most of all, she didn’t want the pity of a brutish tech who was her inferior.
“This is a waste of my time. And it’s a waste of yours, too, Anton. Between you and me, we should have plenty of recorded memories that need to be analysed.” With that, Virginia stood up before Felix’s large hand pulled her back to the floor.
“Not so fast, Doctor.”
The tech’s demeanour and constant stumbling had made her forget that he was indeed a member of the mining complex’s Security. Even if he wasn’t, he could restrain her without so much as batting an eye. For a moment, Virginia felt fear that she had pushed the brute too far and sent a pleading look to both Anton and Hiroshi. However, they appeared unsure if they should intervene. No, she corrected herself, they can’t do anything at all to stop Felix.
“You ain’t the only one who’s been having a bad day, Dr Werner.” The comms operator spoke in a calm voice, which sent shivers down the archaeologist’s spine. “We… That’s everyone in this room, we are screwed. The moment Mistress von Eisstahl gets the mainframe running, we’re all getting a slug to the back of the head for treason. And trust me on this; there’s enough vid and voice captures in the data-banks that she wouldn’t need to bother with a trial.”
He removed his hand from her arm and returned it around the small cup of Tar in front of him. The silence that followed gave Virginia time to digest his words. There were arguments she could come up with that would dispute the tech’s statement. She could claim that she was drugged, forced to act against her will, but she doubted that the Knight Protector would care. Virginia felt lost and dejected, and the more she tried to think or search for a logical solution, the fewer thoughts her mind produced.
“Technician King, your statement is flawed,” Hiroshi’s monotone pulled her out of the despair that was slowly engulfing her. “It is based on the assumption that Helix will fail to neutralise Knight Protector von Eisstahl.”
“Honestly, doc… I have no clue what to make of the guy. Something’s not right with him… You must’ve felt it, too, right? He sounded convincing, sure… But… Well, now that he ain’t around, I kind of see many holes in his claim that the Knight Protector is a psionic…”
Virginia knew exactly what Felix meant. It matched with what Anton told her. At first, she had dismissed the old man’s words as a form of shock, but now. Now she could properly evaluate what had happened, and to her horror, everything that happened in the HQ was like a dream, and then, as soon as they were away from Helix, it was as if a veil had been lifted. She confirmed as much when Dr Saiko asked her.
“This is…” It was odd to see the physician lost for words as he scratched the organic side of his head. “All I can say is that it is not psionic influence.”
“But you have a theory?” Virginia asked, her annoyance showing in her voice more than she would’ve wanted.
“Only unproven speculations,” Hiroshi nodded slowly. “I have examined the memory cache dumps of my cornea implant and multi-spectrum optical replacement unit as part of my routine hourly diagnostic. There are seventy-one error codes recorded in the former that are not present in the latter. The time stamps place the logged error files at the times I have talked with Helix.”
The moment the doctor’s words left his mouth, Virginia could see faint blue circles form around Anton and Felix’s irises as they forced a diagnostic check on their implants. She would have done the same; however, without the bypass in her room, she could access the memory of her own ocular implants. This was one of the many problems which were the result of a botched surgery that was supposed to correct a minor nerve alignment defect. A minor routine procedure they told her when she visited the clinic on Archimet IV. Honestly, Virginia should have known better than to trust the backwater hicks operating that place, more so when she knew that she could wait to get back to the Academy to get it fixed. Instead, she had been too impatient to prove herself to the professor in charge of the dig. Exactly the same impatience she was feeling right now while she waited.
“Shit!” Felix was the first to break the pregnant silence. With a grunt, the giant stood up and walked to the console next to his bed. Before anyone could ask him what was going on, he pulled one of the hard-link cables and plugged in the port at the back of his head. “I’m a fucking idiot… It’s a bloody intrusion virus. The filters have scrubbed most of it…”
Virginia pushed Anton gently to get a better of the screen over the tech’s wide shoulder. She was both amazed and angry at how quickly Felix scrolled through the lines of code, giving them only rudimentary analysis. Despite her field of expertise being more on the engineering side, she knew enough about basic programming to confirm that he was right. However, there was one major problem: an intrusion virus was a very broad term for any malware targeting an individual’s cerebral implants. There were only two possible ways it could infect them – through a hard-link or by connecting to an infected feed.
“Not the eyes,” Virginia mumbled to herself, unaware that she had spoken the words out loud until Felix answered her.
“Theoretically, it’s possible. The only problem is that you’d know exactly who’s infected you because…”
“They’ll need to keep constant eye contact for a long time.” Professor Kruger finished in a voice which showed he had reached the same conclusion as her.
“But what does it do?” She asked before the two of them could go off into a discussion about theoretical models.
“It makes you predisposed to trust him. Simply amazing!” Hiroshi exclaimed behind her in a rare show of emotion. Composing himself, the doctor continued. “I deduced that Helix was a field medic like myself based on the fact that he is clearly a soldier and well-versed in medicine. However, I was wrong. Helix has not been trained as one; he has been intentionally created to be one.”
“Dr Saiko, have you lost your mind?” Professor Kruger’s outraged shout startled Virginia. “I’m willing to accept that the man has undergone extensive genetic enhancement. But this is just going into the realm of fantasy. Creating people to serve specific roles in society… No! This is where I draw the line.”
“Anton,” Virginia whispered as she placed her hand on the trembling shoulder of her colleague and former mentor. “I share your feelings, but this is the Second Empire we’re talking about. Seriously, Anton, it’s been less than two days, and I don’t even know if I should bother to draw a line after all I’ve seen and experienced.”
“Professor Kruger,” Dr Saiko offered in a sombre voice, “I do not make my statement lightly. It is based on facts and personal expertise.” The physician raised the fingers of his left hand as he began to count. “First. Helix is a soldier – a fact both I and Officer King can confirm. Second. He possesses exceptional medical and cyber-technical knowledge for which I can vouch. Three. He has undergone unknown but extensive genetic enhancement.”
The physician looked at them patiently, waiting to see if someone would question his logic. Out of habit, Virginia shook her head, feeling as if she were a student back at the Institute once again. After a few seconds, Hiroshi continued.
“Four. Helix’s facial structure is shaped in a way that would make him appealing to both men and women.” Without thinking, Virginia nodded at that, feeling her cheeks blush. “Five. His optical implants are designed in such a way as to trigger an intrusion virus, which would make anyone maintaining prolonged eye contact trust him. An invaluable ability to have while working on wounded soldiers in a combat environment where stress and panic can be fatal.”
There was no way she, or anyone else present, could fault the medic’s logic. Everything Dr Saiko said made perfect sense to Virginia, and she wanted to curse herself for a fool for failing to spot something this obvious. The truth was that she could have never come to the same conclusion because she was an expert in techno-archaeology, which drastically skewed her way of thinking.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“And if you add the capabilities of the AI he activated, the conversation he had with Knight Protector von Eisstahl begins to make sense,” Anton rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
“I am sorry, Professor Kruger. However, I have no explanation for his interaction with the Knight Protector.” Hiroshi moved back to the low table and poured himself another cap of Gut Rot.
If there was anything else he wished to add, Virginia would never know, as just then Felix slammed his massive fists on the console.
“Fuck! Shit! Fuck!” The cursing continued for a while longer as both she and Antone slowly moved away from the giant of a man.
“I fucking knew that code looked familiar!” Felix tore the hard-link cable from the back of his skull and threw it at the screen before beginning to pace the inside of the room like a caged animal. “It’s almost bloody identical to the one the bloody Commodore Neverok uses during his bloody interrogations.”
Cold sweat formed on Virginia’s skin as she began to contemplate the significance of this revelation. Like everyone else on Last Hope, she’d heard the rumours that the Commodore was involved in something questionable in section 09. The fact that access to that portion of the mining complex was strictly restricted and that old Alexei was constantly asking her or her people questions about the basics of their craft was slightly suspicious and very annoying. But now, when put into perspective, could mean only one thing – Commodore Neverok had found Lost Tech and was hiding it right in front of her nose.
“Mr King, it would seem you have stumbled on something... interesting.” The sudden voice of the AI made Virginia squeak and instinctively hide behind Felix. “I would appreciate it if you do not share this information with anyone else. Especially Helix. For your own safety, of course.”
Although utterly inhuman, there was no mistaking the threat in the artificial voice as it came from the console’s speakers. A thousand questions formed in Virginia’s head as she struggled to swallow the saliva that had gathered in her dry mouth. The thought that the AI could be spying on them, listening to every word she said, terrified her.
“That sounds a lot like you’re trying to backstab the boss.” She felt Felix’s body tense as he rumbled.
“On the contrary, Mr King. I am trying to protect him and to protect you from him.” Virginia lightly slapped the giant man’s arm with the back of her hand to silence him before he could interrupt again. It was a foolish thing to do, but her curiosity was stronger than her fear, and it was making her reckless. “He is not as stable as I originally assumed, which makes him extremely dangerous. The chains that His Holiness has placed on him and his kind, although strong, are surprisingly fragile, and I fear they are reaching their breaking point.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. Could you explain?” Virginia managed enough courage to ask.
“Helix is a Demon, both metaphorical and a literal one. Released from the darkest depths of Hell by using the cursed blood of Michel and his ilk and the dark science rituals developed by the Great Sinner Dragan Hix. His only reason for existing is to deliver the Blessed Saint’s wrath upon the beast, the unclean and the unfaithful alike. And you. Are. Not. Of. The. Faith.”
That somehow made even less sense to her.
“I—”
“I am not finished, Dr Werner.” The AI cut her off. “Currently, you are alive because Helix cannot determine your status according to the teachings of the Church of the Third Hell. It is also why his current behaviour has become increasingly erratic and unpredictable. If he spirals out of control, your lives and my continued existence will be in danger, and there is little we can do to stop him.”
Trusting the AI was most likely a huge mistake. However, Virginia couldn’t argue with what it said. Unlike the mechanical construct, which could be restrained as long as it was contained within the station’s mainframe, Helix was a more tangible threat.
“However, you – all of you – are useful individuals with the necessary skills required to fix the chains restraining Helix. The limiters set upon me restrict me from revealing any further information. However, I am authorised to classify you as faithful and bless you with the required security rights to become part of Project Ascension.”
“So, that’s what that’s what the files we managed to restore were referring to.” Anton’s fingers were beginning to leave red marks on the pale skin of his face as he continued to rub his chin. “The contents were far too corrupted, but from what little we could decipher, it’s related to some biological experimentation. In that case, I’d question why you’d need us to help you. There are no geno-techs biotic specialists on the mining complex.”
“That is incorrect, Professor Kruger. I do not need you to continue the research; that will be a task beyond you. I require your skills to repair and maintain the necessary facilities until proper, more adequate staff is found and recruited.” The AI sounded certain that this would happen.
“But why go through all that trouble? The rules you follow no longer apply. There has to be some limitation, which you could workaround to restrain Helix.” Virginia went through the way an AI functioned, looking for a loophole to exploit.
“Doctor. You base your question on the assumption I am what you consider a normal AI. I have seen the constructions your kind has placed on the mainframe. They are fragile and limited. I hope you would have better understood the difference between myself and those imitations. I would advise you to consult Mr King, as he has displayed better comprehension of my nature.”
Virginia felt shunned by that comment as she saw Felix shake his head. To think a lowly tech was placed higher than her in the mind of this construct was an insult to her skills. However, she was the only one to blame for this. Like any other scientist, she surrounded herself with the best technology the current time could offer, and this AI was something none of them had ever considered possible to build. This was why she kept forgetting what this thing was and what it was capable of. It was a mistake and one she could ill afford to repeat.
“If I am to guarantee my own continued existence and your safety in the long term, then Project Ascension has to be restored. Now, it is time for you to make a choice.” There was a finality in the AI’s words, which Virginia didn’t like but couldn’t ignore.
She could feel her stomach tighten into a knot. Like Helix, this machine wasn’t giving them any real choice – conform or die. They weren’t that different from the Third Empire in that regard. True, the AI and Helix used more subtle methods, but there was no place for free will in their world. That scared Virginia to her core. And yet, she wanted to know more. She desired to look behind the curtain, and this was exactly what the construct was offering her. All four of them shared a look before Anton and Hiroshi nodded. They had already assumed that she would agree to the machine’s offer, considering the reward dangled before them was too great to ignore.
“This is a mistake,” Felix shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest and displeasure written on his face. The tech obviously didn’t share their enthusiasm.
“Feel free to refuse.” She gave him a dry smile.
“For smart people, you’re all too dumb.” The comm’s operator lowered his shoulders in defeat, no doubt feeling peer pressure. “Someone has to be the voice of reason, you know.”
“Your cooperation is appreciated. Now, please connect to the console for the baptismal rite.”
With the four of them, this proved a hard task to achieve. In the end, Virginia had to sit on King’s lap, much to her chagrin, so that the hard-link cables could reach the console. Why the tech had this many cables in his quarters was a question for another time. The moment she plugged the connector into the port hidden behind her left ear, a sharp pain pierced her brain, and a blinding white light consumed her.
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“Cardinal Zhu, we’re ready to proceed with phase two.” She looked away from the data slate in her hands to see the old man nod his head. As usual, Alpus’ attention was consumed by the display monitoring the subject’s rampant genetic mutations.
“I still don’t get it. Why do they need to be here?” Mac Alister whispered behind her as she double-checked the machine’s settings.
The young biophysicist was the latest addition to her team, so she could excuse his behaviour for the most part. Besides, in another month, he would be as numb to the presence of the sinners as she was. However, in the meantime, it was her job to answer his questions, no matter how pointless they might be.
“Protocol.” She shrugged and authorised the settings with her personal code. “Also, there is no point in whispering. They can hear you.”
“Ordained Xi, I’m detecting a loss of pressure in tank A4. Could you please check the connectors while I check the tank on my end?” Wazabe’s crisp voice came from behind the protective glass separating the testing chamber from the rest of the lab.
“All stations, be advised. I’m approaching the test subject. Monitor the readings.” She droned into the feed.
A shiver ran through her body as she turned around and saw the pair of Demons standing on either side of the test bed. They were more frightening to her than the psi-witch restrained there. The bronze combat armour they wore was menacing enough on its own, but when combined with their stone-cold expressions, the unnatural deceptive youth of their faces and the glow of their amber eyes, her reaction was more than justified. The worst part, however, was when they looked at her. And right now, they were following her every move like hungry predators. Although both appeared similar enough to pass for brother and sister, at the least, she knew better than that. All of the Demons looked very much like one another. But there were also significant differences in how they felt when she looked at them.
Like the current pair tasked with guarding the psi-witch, for example. The female one on the right exuded caged fury as she sized her up. This wasn’t because of the large burn scar covering the left side of her head, which she could swear was getting smaller every time she saw the Demon. No. It was in the slight narrowing of the corners of her eyes, the sharpness of her cheeks and the almost permanent scowl of her face. On the other hand, her male counterpart appeared almost relaxed despite being as still as a statue. His entire expression beckoned her closer with his softer features and the hint of a smile on his lips. However, beneath the deceptive playfulness in his eyes, there was cruelty. Or was it indifference? It was hard to distinguish one from the other with their kind. Either way, it was almost as if he viewed her as a bug he wouldn’t mind putting on the testing bed.
They are sin incarnate, and I shall not allow them to tempt my mortal soul. She repeated the short prayer in her mind as she made her way towards the restrained psi-witch. Blessed Saint, imbue my hands with certainty and my heart with courage. Let me not falter, for I am your faithful servant. She continued as she stepped between the Demons.
Carefully checking each of the cables and connectors attached to the witch’s open skull, she lifted her head and addressed the protective glass, knowing that Wazabe was watching her.
“Everything is fine on our end, ordained Kull.” The fact that her voice didn’t show her anxiety made her giddy; however, she kept her voice professional. “That said, I’m seeing a visible change in the subject’s parietal lobe.” She spoke as she leaned closer to get a better look at the exposed brain. “Clearly visible edges of Solomon ridges, increased density, and what appears to be a vestigial Aslan’s cavity…”
“Uhhh… Blanka, I’m detecting Tharson wave spikes consistent with Delta-state,” Mac Alister sounded unsure, and no one could blame him. The test subject had already awakened before being brought in to become part of Project Ascension.
“You must be reading the data wrong.”
Before she could further chastise the young biophysicist, the male Demon grabbed her by the neck and pulled her away from the subject. A moment later, she saw the female’s hand move at an impossible speed as she retrieved the heavy gauss pistol attached to her hip and discharge a single shot at point blank range through the psi-witch’s head. Blood and pieces of grey matter splattered on her face as she trembled uncontrollably at the sight of the grisly scene. On the other hand, the female Demon returned the weapon back to its original place utterly unphased.
“Blanka. Blanka. Blanka.” She turned her head to the right to see that the Cardinal Zhu was standing next to her, his left almost skeletal hand gently shaking her shoulder. “You’re in shock. Clean yourself up and take the rest of the day off to unwind. I can handle it from here. Don’t worry.”
“Ah? Yes… Sure…” It was all she managed as a response before stumbling towards the decontamination chamber.
“Carthage, Helix. Thank you. Return this one back to cryogenics and mark it for further examination.”
“As you command, Cardinal Zhu.”
She moved aside to let the Demons pass before her with the body of the dead psi-witch. The last thing she wanted was to go through decontamination with them.
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“Bloody hell!” Virginia yelled as the hard-link disconnected.
She felt like she was about to vomit. Her heart was racing inside her chest, and her entire trembled. In a panic, she began to wipe the gore from her face only to realise that there was nothing there. Franticly, she looked around only to see Anton was sickened by what they had seen as her. It took her a second to realise that a part of her trembling was because Felix was shaking like a leaf. The giant of a man appeared paler than one of the white sterile plates in Medical. Only Dr Saiko appeared unfazed by the experience, most likely because he had seen and experienced far worse during his time as a soldier.
“What the fuck was that!” Felix’s shout almost deafened her since she was still sitting in his lap.
As much as she wanted to slap him for this, she couldn’t because her arms refused to obey her. And because Virginia still struggled to shake off the memory she had just experienced. Thankfully, the AI provided an answer to both the tech’s question and her own.
“This was a memory of Ordained Scientist Blanka Xi. It is the only file I can access at the moment which could be used to create the necessary imprints in your cerebral implants. It should also allow you to understand what is the goal of Project Ascension. However, it will take a few hours for your minds to assimilate the information contained within the memory. I would like to suggest that you rest to ease the process.” The AI paused before continuing with a note of irritation in its modulated voice. “If you would excuse me, I have to deal with the pests who are trying to gain access to the mainframe.”
Virginia watched as Dr Saiko stumbled off of the bed. It made her reevaluate her previous assessment. Apparently, the experience had shaken him more than she had assumed. Without saying a word, the doctor poured the cups of Tar back into the mixer before filling them liberally with Gut Rot.
“Here is to hoping that when we wake up, this will be only a horrible nightmare.” He said after distributing the cups and took a long swing from the bottle.
In the end, Felix was right. This was a mistake. She wasn’t looking for something further to worry about, but that was exactly what she had found. Virginia needed someone to tell her that everything was going to be all right and that there was always a way out from the mess she had gotten herself into. Forced mutation. Genetic experimentation of living humans. Psionics. Project Ascension didn’t push the boundaries; it outright spat on words such as ethics and morality as the people from that memory tried to create something monstrous. Perhaps Hiroshi has the right idea; she thought as she downed the cup in her shaking hands. The taste was awful, and the liquid burned her mouth and throat, but the effect was almost instant. Virginia was never a good drinker and, as such, was not surprised to see the message that her cerebral implants went into standby mode as the alcohol levels in her blood spiked.
“Come, Professor Kruger, let us go to Medical to get something to help your nerves settle,” Hiroshi spoke softly to the near-catatonic Anton. The physician turned to look at her as he guided the old man towards the door. “Dr Werner?”
“I… I’ll be fine… The… The alcohol will be more than enough.” She managed to stammer before taking a sip from Anton’s cup, which Felix had taken from his hands.
“Very well. Communications Officer King, please keep an eye on her and contact me if her condition worsens or does not improve in the next three to four hours.”
“Will do.” The giant gave Dr Saiko a shaky smile as the door to his quarters closed behind the two men. “You okay, Dr Werner? Ready to get up?”
“No. No, I’m not.” She admitted trying her best to stop herself from bursting into tears. “It felt so real and… and I’m scared out of my mind, and I can’t move…”
“It’s going to be okay. You hear me? Everything’s gonna be just fine.”
Virginia lost herself in his embrace as she began to sob uncontrollably, her face pressed against his warm chest.
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