“What’s going on here?” Tejeda asked. He and Shayla entered, probably after they finished the meal he so much craved for.

The hangar bay, which was usually empty aside from Hanga’s workbench, now contained the drone holding the Transcendents, and the crew. Cato was the only one who didn't flinch at the question.

“I… I can’t get Cato out of her memories.” E00 sounded exhausted as if he didn’t have enough energy to try again. “I’ve tried everything.” He gave up a sigh.

Cato was the last of the Space Spoon's crew still blocked in the past, the gift Memory Bliss had bestowed upon them.

“E00, can you bridge our minds and let me inside hers?” Tejeda drew closer to Cato, tilting his head as he watched over her.

“I can project your consciousness inside hers. How strong you’ll be there is only up to you.”

Tejeda had enough of this situation and the Transcendents. He rolled his eyes and puffed. “I say tomayto, you say tomahto. A simple yes would have sufficed.”

A golden light seeped through the vents and danced around Cato and Tejeda. When he closed his eyes, he felt traveling along a narrow bridge, everything around too bright to see. Images and shadows flickered like a torch of darkness under the bridge, voices burned inside his mind incinerating every other thought.

The light suddenly dimmed, and he found himself in a ballroom. A dozen police officers and a colorful crowd glanced at him or a body lying in a turquoise pool of liquid on the floor.

Tejeda examined the corpse. He paused as he surveyed the wings which rose proudly from slim, lifeless shoulders. They glistened with brightness and seemed as delicate, slender, and green as raw leaves. Their brightness diminished with each passing second.

A mirror on the wall showed Admiral Darren Kyel's face. His fingers clenched around the gun in his grip. Tejeda made his tongue click. He was already annoyed by the time and location. Now he had to wear that despicable man's face.

He walked right past the body on the floor and knelt next to Cato. She hissed and averted her gaze.

"People spoke of shimmering skin full of light and how nice it would look," she said, sobbing. "I have pointy ears with shining hair to match my eyes. This is me. This is Talulah. Everything people desire. Why do they want us dead?"

“No one likes for others to have something they will never possess. Killing everything different comes naturally like breathing.” Tejeda didn’t know if this would work. In this memory, he was Darren Kyel, the man who just killed her best friend by the looks of it.

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Cato finally turned her head to face him. Her gaze fell on his. Nothing. There was no life or light. Those chocolate eyes, which a scientist had worked so hard to produce, were no longer alive. He couldn't give up just yet. Tejeda had no choice but to try. He gave her a stern expression. He gave it a shot even though he wasn't sure if she would remember him.

"It’s me, Tejeda. I’ve come after you. Deep down, you know this is not reality." Tejeda shook his head, unpleased. "How many people have you seen dying?"

"I don't know. Maybe a hundred or so." She wiped away her tears. "Those were not just random people. Those were people with families and friends. People I cared for. People like me."

"I know it's tough for you. All the genetically engineered species have been banned and eradicated. The Interplanetary Police call it ‘a gesture of kindness’. A fancy name for murdering thousands, or maybe even millions, of living beings. I call it genocide." He sighed deeply. "A long time ago, the Nubilae were test subjects for a mad scientist’s experiments. Most died, and those left couldn’t hold their shit together. They can barely put two words together and make sense.

"At first, I considered myself lucky to have my neural pathways intact, a sense of sanity to say at best. However, I later realized that those who died were the fortunate ones. They don’t feel pain anymore, nor do they hear screams every night. Their ordeal is over, while we have to keep going."

"Then I'm not sure I want to live any longer. Why not join them in the afterlife?"

“Oh, here’s the fun part.” Tejeda smirked. The sarcasm in his voice was palpable, like salt on a wound. “We have to live. The dead wouldn’t want us to die. We have to keep their memories alive, a spark of them still igniting in the universe as long as one remembers them.”

“But Talulah and the others…”

“They live through you. Get something of theirs and keep it with you at all times. Talk to them even if people make fun of you or consider you nuts. If they laugh, join their laughter, because you are the only one who truly knows what lies in your heart.”

Tejeda stood and reached out to her, his fingers slightly bent as they waited for her touch. “Come back with me. The burden weighs heavier when carried alone.”

Everything he could do now was to allow her to walk on her own two feet out of this memory. He wanted to scoop her up, throw her over his shoulder, and yank her out. Instead, he gave her this. The opportunity to come out with her chin raised. A conquest no one would ever be able to take from her.

Her chocolate eyes glowed with a glint of vulnerability as she nodded. "I'll follow you wherever you go because I believe in you. You're Tejeda, and you're—"

"Stop right there. We'll talk about this when we're out of here. Now come. Don’t worry."

Cato became more anxious when told not to worry. “How do we get out of here? I don’t know how.”

“The same way everyone came in here. Through the front door.”

Tejeda marched through the crowd that seemed to have frozen in place. He stopped at the threshold and pointed outside. “What do you see?”

“Light,” she whispered.

Even though he was standing on the other side of the room, he heard her clear as day.

“You said you’d follow me anywhere.” He winked. “Then follow me now.” He went outside, and the light guided him back.