“I refuse,” Kell said flatly. He was on a video call with Elder Kaius in the med bay. “You cannot force me to divulge private medical records to another person that isn’t a medical specialist.” As far as he was concerned, Tassie had no need to learn the specifics of Reya’s medical results to do her job. It had no relevance to whatever she did when she was on the ship holed up in the bridge.

  In the week since Reya’s physical, he’d called her back in for several more tests, including a brain scan. To his horror, her brain structure had altered. He’d alerted the Tribunal as to his findings and research as he’d been ordered to do, but Kaius’ current request went beyond what he was comfortable doing.

  “Normal circumstances no longer apply to the current situation,” Kaius responded diplomatically. “We have taken into consideration that Tassie is Reya’s friend. However, given the nature of Tassie’s work, she does have a very real need to know of these modifications. The two of you are to work together to monitor Reya’s changes. The Tribunal wills it so.”

  Inwardly, Kell fumed. “Tassie isn’t a medical expert. What will she do with this information that I can’t? If anything, she should be the one to tell me what she’s found so I can better do my work.” This was the second time now that the Tribunal was attempting to circumvent his authority as a doctor when they had no business doing so. He would stand his ground.

  “Tassie has been given the latitude to share with you what she believes is relevant to Reya’s condition. What you learn from her is strictly classified. Your other teammates are not to learn of the details she tells you.” Kaius’ patience was running thin. He had bigger things to worry about than the defiance of a mere doctor. Already they’d let Kell walk over them once.

  There wouldn’t be a second time.

  “That doesn’t mean she needs to know the specifics of Reya’s medical records. Your orders are unlawful,” Kell refuted, reaffirming his opinion on the matter. He had to be careful with how he went about this. Dealing with the Arbiter had far different stakes than his earlier dealings with the Elders. When Kaius’ expression turned ugly, he knew he was in deep shit. Panic set in despite his best attempt to remain in control of his emotions.

  “Doctor,” Kaius said in a hard, dangerous voice, “I was not asking for your opinion in the matter. I am simply informing you of your new orders. Current circumstances have them entirely lawful, regardless of what you believe. Disobey us once more and you’ll see just how far our ire goes in the face of defiance. The stakes are too high. There will be no leniency.”

  Kell swallowed hard and broke out in a cold sweat. There was no winning this conversation, no matter how much he hated it. If he was replaced by another, there would be no control over Reya’s results. He needed to remain in a position of influence where his words held weight. “Understood,” he said, folding under the pressure. He wisely kept his displeasure to himself, knowing that nothing good would come of expressing it. “I’ll begin my work with Tassie right away.”

  Kaius visibly brightened. “I’m glad we came to an agreement,” he said. “An additional word of warning — Tassie is not at liberty to discuss certain topics with you. If she shuts you down, it is by our will, not hers. Do not press her for answers. We will know if you do.” With nothing left to add to the discussion now that his point had been made clear, he ended the call and left Kell to his own devices.

  Kell was very glad he was already sitting, finding he didn’t have the energy to stand. He let out a long sigh of relief that the call was finally over. He’d narrowly avoided disaster this time. He didn’t know how Tassie and Adrian dealt with the Tribunal so casually. He took a moment to collect himself before summoning Tassie to the med bay.

  Already on the bridge doing research, it didn’t take her long to arrive. With great reluctance, he shared with her his new orders and Reya’s results. It took some time and explanation to get her up to speed. By the time he was done, she sported a very worried expression.

  “This isn’t good,” she fretted. “You’re positive that there are no adverse effects from these changes?” While not a perfect match, she could see similarities between Reya and Adrian’s brain structures. It appeared to her as though Reya’s brain was shifting to be similar to Adrian’s.

  “I’m not,” Kell responded, a sinking feeling in growing in his gut. “I don’t know how Reya’s physiology will be affected by these changes or the nanites. Her eyesight has improved, sure. But the rest is murky at best. Given what’s happening to Stanley, I have no way of knowing whether the same thing will happen to her.”

  Tassie ran her hands over her face. “Gods, this is a nightmare. The gru’ul really did experiment on her during her time in captivity. I thought all they did was refine their neurotoxin on her.” And whatever that final orange chemical was, she thought grimly. Her guess that the food had been part of an experiment was correct. She wondered just what else was done to her friend.

  Kell narrowed his eyes. “I understand that this is alarming, but just what is it exactly that has you this worried?” If he was lucky, he’d be able to worm some classified information from her. He gave one final push. “Elder Kaius told me you’re allowed to share certain parts of your research with me.”

  “We’ve made some discoveries on what exactly was done to Adrian,” Tassie revealed. Kell nodded and motioned for her to continue. “Among our discoveries are research logs detailing certain experiments performed on him. Along with video evidence.” She shuddered. “One of the experiments altered Adrian’s brain extensively. Reya’s current brain structure somewhat resembles it, almost as though the transition isn’t complete yet.”

  Kell’s eyes widened at the revelation. “Is she turning into whatever Adrian is?”

  “It looks like it. And it appears as though the changes are ongoing, if her eyes and the nanites in her blood are any indication,” Tassie replied grimly. “I think we’ll need to take more samples to determine how she’s being affected in real time.”

  “Fuck,” Kell swore. He was making no progress with his research into Stanley’s condition. With Reya’s now added to the mix, he wasn’t sure how much help he would actually be beyond simply logging the changes. He ran a hand through his hair. “Is there anything we can even do?” he asked. “I don’t want her to end up in the situation as Stanley. He’s been deteriorating and I still have no idea what to do.”

  “How much worse has his condition gotten?” Tassie fretted. The entire team had noticed that Stanley needed far more rest than when he first arrived and that he was constantly pale. They’d heard him cough on occasion, and the sound wasn’t pretty.

  Kell hesitated before responding. “Whatever’s happening to him is speeding up. I don’t know how much time he’s got left and nothing I do counteracts the nanites eating him alive from the inside. I can’t even find a way to flush them from his system.” Despite the long hours he’d poured into his research, he still didn’t have anything to show for it. If Reya’s condition deteriorated, there would be nothing he could do.

  “Gods dammit,” Tassie said. “Do we tell her?”

  “We probably should. She’s starting to get suspicious with all the additional tests I’ve been running on her.”

  Decision made, they called Reya aboard the ship using their comms. A short while later, their friend stood before them. One look at their expressions immediately set her on edge, alarm bells ringing in her head as dread filled her. They beckoned her to sit down in the empty chair on the other side of Kell’s desk that was facing both of them.

  “This doesn’t feel like good news,” Reya said nervously once seated. “Does it have to do with the reason you asked me to do extra tests?” She’d found it suspicious when Kell had requested that she alone undergo more in-depth testing while the others were left alone. She hadn’t asked many questions at the time but was regretting the fact now.

  Tassie and Kell shared a look. “It does,” Kell confirmed, bracing himself for the bomb he was about to drop in her lap. “During our tests, we discovered something rather alarming.”

  Reya’s brows furrowed in confusion as she glanced back and forth between the two of them. “And Tassie knows about it? She asked. “This is medical information, why is she here?” As intelligent as her friend was, Reya knew that Tassie was no medical expert. She had no business having access to her results, let alone studying them alongside Kell, the actual expert.

  “It’s directly related to some of the discoveries we made regarding the facility,” Tassie interjected. “The Tribunal deemed that what Kell found warranted my knowledge on the situation. I know I’ve spent long hours away from the rest of the team without talking about what we’ve found during our research, so this might come as a bit of a shock to you.”

  “I thought you were researching what was done to Adrian,” Reya replied. She’d never gotten confirmation from Tassie as to just what it was she was working on when holed up in the ship, but after bearing witness to her discovery on the chemical compound used on Adrian, Reya figured it was related to him. She shuddered at the reminder — both of the video and what was done to her.

  “In a way, we are,” Tassie confirmed. Kell straightened, hoping she would reveal more about the subject. He still didn’t like that so much was being kept from him. “There’s also a little bit more to it than that, but that’s beside the point.”

  “What is the point, then?” Reya asked.

  “What happened to you during your time in captivity must have been horrendous,” Kell broached. Tears welled in Reya’s eyes, and he worried further about how she would take the news. She nodded silently, unwilling to speak about the matter. “You claimed the neurotoxin used on you was refined during your time there,” he continued. “We believe you, but there’s more.”

  “They did something to me, didn’t they?” Reya realized. “That’s why I’m here.” After so long without any side effects after what had happened, she assumed she was in the clear. There had always been a part of her that worried about the constant stream of painful injections she’d received and the horrendous food that both her and Adrian had been fed. She’d dismissed them after all these months, focused mostly on what had happened to Adrian instead.

  “You were experimented on as well,” Kell confirmed. “Beyond simply finding ways to better torture you.” Reya blanched and her heartbeat sped up. “We’ve discovered small, subtle changes made to you.” He watched her rub her ever-paling eyes. “Your eyes are part of it and are itchy as a result of something they did. Beyond that, we’ve found a large amount of nanites in your blood, but we have no idea what they do.”

  Tassie remained silent, not bothering to correct Kell in that they had some knowledge as to their functions. Not fully, but more than he knew about. She debated internally about how much she could safely reveal while remaining within the bounds the Tribunal had directly imposed on her.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What does that mean?” Reya’s voice cracked. Her only reference points were Adrian and Stanley, who was dying as they spoke as a result of the experiments done to him. “Am I going to die?” she asked. Suddenly, the life she’d envisioned sharing with Adrian came rushing to the forefront of her thoughts. The possibility of having that robbed from her and potential death left her light-headed.

  “We don’t know yet,” Kell said.

  “Why tell me then?” Reya said.

  “The changes are noticeable now and, by our estimates, only going to become more prominent,” Kell replied.

  “What do you know then?” Reya cried.

  Tassie braced herself for what was to come, hating that she had to be the bearer of bad news. “We believe you’re turning into what Adrian is,” she finally said.

  Reya paused and frowned. “I’m turning into a human?” she asked, perplexed. How such a thing was possible baffled her. She didn’t understand.

  “No,” Tassie said, shaking her head. “Adrian’s no longer human. We don’t know what he is now. Which means we don’t know what you’re turning into.”

  It took Reya a moment to process the enormity of the revelation. “If Adrian is no longer human and clearly isn’t an a’vaare, am I also no longer an a’vaare?” She feared for the answer.

  “Not fully, no,” Tassie confirmed. “The changes appear to be integrated into your physiology. You’re not what Adrian is yet, and I don’t think you’ll ever fully be. That said, based on what Kell has learned and what I’ve discovered, we can’t consider you to be fully a’vaare either.”

  Reya’s breath hitched and anything she had to say died on her tongue. A moment passed where nobody said anything. It stretched, the silence growing uneasy as she remained frozen. Kell shared an uneasy look with Tassie before speaking up. “We know this is hard for you to process bu—”

  “Those bastards,” Reya uttered savagely, her expression morphing into one of hate. “They robbed Adrian of his humanity and found a way to do the same to me. Fucking pieces of shit.” She barked out a short laugh that sent chills through her friends. “Of course they did, as if their atrocities weren’t enough. Adrian was right, even in death they still find ways to hurt us.”

  Kell took a deep breath. “We don’t know if it’s lethal like whatever’s happening to Stanley. So far the changes seem to be accepted by you and the nanites in your blood aren’t actively harming you.”

  “Silver linings,” Reya spat. Fear warred with hate and anger inside of her, the knot of emotions too much to handle. She needed to get out. Needed some time to herself to come to terms with what was happening to her. “Let me guess, you want to run more tests.”

  “Yes,” Kell nodded. “We want to track the evolution of your condition over time to understand it in the hopes that it might give us a way to reverse it.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Reya lashed out. “You can’t even help Stanley, how are you supposed to help me with something more complex?”

  “We’re working on it. It’s why the tests are so important,” Kell said.

  “Will this information be shared with the Tribunal?” Reya asked. “Am I going to turn into a lab rat for them to satisfy their curiosity with?” Suddenly, Adrian’s fears became her reality, and she finally understood how deep-seated they must be. The thought of being somebody else’s experiment terrified her. Not after what happened the first time.

  “They wouldn’t do that,” Kell said, trying to mollify her. “We want to help you, not turn you into a pin cushion full of injections.” When she flinched, he knew he’d messed up. “They just want to help you,” he said hurriedly.

  “Do I even have the choice if the Tribunal’s ordered you to do so?” Reya said.

  “Of course you have the choice!” Kell said, horrified. “Don’t you want to get help with what’s happening to you?” He might not be able to prevent the Elders from forcing his hand as a doctor to get the information they wanted, but he absolutely refused to turn his friend and former teammate into an unwilling experiment by their will. He sincerely wanted to help her understand what the changes were doing to her. To do that, he needed to understand the mechanisms by which the nanites operated. If he had any hope at reversing the changes before it was too late, he needed to run more tests.

  Reya’s face turned blank as she lost herself in the nightmare of her time in captivity. She blinked, coming back to herself. “So this is how Adrian feels?” she muttered. She turned her attention back to her friends. “Give me some time to think about it. I know I’ll need to if I want to live, but I’m not sure to what extent I want to know about your findings.”

  “Alright,” Kell said softly, knowing that she needed time to process the news she’d been told. “That’s all we needed you for, you can go now if you want. When you’re ready to hear more, come find me and we’ll discuss what comes next.”

  Reya stood up in a daze and made her way out of the med bay, leaving behind a very worried pair of friends. She descended the ship’s ramp and made her way into the house, floating along, her thoughts elsewhere.

  It was empty, thank the gods. Sitting on the couch, she curled up and went through what she’d learned. Each time she rubbed her incessantly itchy eyes served as a reminder that she was changing and didn’t understand how.

  Whether by design or by accident, nobody else entered the house for some time. Eventually, the back door opened, and Adrian came in. He settled in on the couch opposite her and waited in silence before speaking, giving her a long, assessing look.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. Already aware that she was called by Kell to the med bay, he knew that her out of sorts state must be related to test results. A deep-seated worry churned in his gut that something was wrong with her. He didn’t know what to do to make it better.

  Reya’s unsettled gaze met his. The words were on the tip of her tongue but died there before they could be said. He wouldn’t be able to handle knowing the truth. He’d specifically asked not to learn about anything done to him at the facility.

  How could she bear to tell him and watch his whole world shatter when he found out he was no longer human?

  “I don’t think I should,” she said quietly. Tears formed in her eyes as she fought the urge to find comfort in his arms. “You asked me not to.”

  “It has to do with the facility,” Adrian realized. “Something went wrong.” Reya looked away and her silence was enough to confirm his suspicions. “It has to do with me, doesn’t it?” he asked. He’d only ever asked not to learn the truth of what happened to him. For her to refuse to tell him anything only reinforced in his mind that it was somehow his fault.

  “I don’t know how much of it has to do with you, but it’s related to what Tassie found during her research. I need some time alone to process this,” Reya said. “I wasn’t told that much, but enough to put together a few things and I’m not sure yet whether to tell you or not.” She took a deep breath. “Please?” she pleaded.

  Adrian gave her a long, searching look before letting her get up and go without a word. She went out through the back door, leaving him alone in his thoughts. They were now thick with fear as he mulled over her reaction, the feeling in his gut far worse than it was moments ago. He thought of Stanley and the one-way ticket the experiments had gifted him. He knew, deep down, that it was something he had caused.

  He sat there paralyzed as he sought whether ask Tassie about it. For so long, he’d wanted to learn nothing about what had been done to him. Each passing day brought Tassie and Irric closer to that answer and it filled him with dread.

  The thought of losing Reya because of what she’d learned even more so.

  For his suffering to have had a purpose — an actual goal — terrified him. For what reason was he injected and operated on, time and again? Worse yet, were the experiments a success to whatever the gru’ul were trying to accomplish?

  He stared off into space as he vividly recalled some of what had been done to him. If he asked the others, he’d be able to better understand what had shocked Reya so and perhaps be able to help her through it. To not ask was to leave her alone in her moment of vulnerability.

  His fears warred with each other until he was interrupted, sometime later. Tassie and Kell entered the house, deep in discussion with each other.

  “I don’t think we should have told her,” Tassie fretted from the kitchen. Adrian’s hearing allowed him to listen in on the conversation as though he were right there next to them. “There’s nothing she can do about it.”

  “She deserves to know,” Kell replied. “I know it was hard, but we did the right thing. Without telling her, she wouldn’t cooperate with the additional testing. We both know how vital it is that we learn more about her condition. We can’t afford a repeat of what’s happening with Stanley.”

  The brief exchange Adrian listened in on sent alarm bells ringing in his head. His focus tore itself away from his previous thoughts and homed in on the fact that there might be something wrong with Reya. If Tassie was at liberty to discuss the topic with Kell, he knew it must be related to the results of the testing Reya had undergone recently.

  “It’s hard to feel that way after how she reacted,” Tassie said glumly. “All I ever do is bring bad news or find ways to hurt her, I feel.”

  “You’re simply the messenger in this case. Everything that happened is the gru’uls’ fault,” Kell said. “It’s better that we made the discovery now than when it’s too late. We still don’t know what’s going to happen to her.”

  Adrian came to a decision as he listened in on the conversation, unable to bear the thought of something happening to Reya. He stood up and made his way over to the kitchen, where he found the two of them seated at the table. His presence took them by surprise, as he’d been so quiet they’d thought they were alone in the house. He took a seat at the table in front of them and grappled with second thoughts before bringing himself to speak. “Did something happen with Reya?” he asked, his heart thundering in his chest.

  Tassie and Kell exchanged an uneasy glance. She shook her head ever so slightly, a stern look in her eyes. This wasn’t something she believed they should tell Adrian yet. Kell understood the message. “Medical records aren’t something I’m at liberty to disclose to others,” he replied, hoping to deflect Adrian towards another topic.

  “Will she be alright?” Adrian asked, ignoring Kell’s efforts.

  Tassie decided to step in. “You’ve asked us not to disclose our findings if they concern you,” she hedged, preferring to shut down the conversation immediately if she could. She knew just as well though that he could easily learn from Reya what had happened, as her friend wasn’t bound to the orders of the Tribunal.

  “I’m not asking you for your results,” Adrian said. “I just want to know if she’s safe.”

  “Like I said, we can’t discuss anything pertaining to med—” Kell started.

  “How come Tassie clearly knows, then?” Adrian interrupted. “You’ve already showed me stuff you’ve found. What makes this so different?”

  “It just is!” Tassie said. “We’re trying to respect your wishes by not telling you.”

  Adrian fixed her a level stare. “Is she dying? Can you at least tell me that much?”

  Tassie hesitated. “We don’t know,” she said finally.

  “How could you not know?” Adrian fumed. “Your technology is leaps and bounds ahead of my society’s!”

  “Because we’ve never seen it happen before!” Tassie retorted, exasperated. “We have no way of knowing if whatever the gru’ul did to her will kill her or not.”

  “Is it my fault?” Adrian asked, feeling ill. His pallid face was cause for concern for Kell, but he knew there was little he could do to alleviate Adrian’s worries. The uneasy looks on Tassie and Kell’s faces told him everything he needed to know. “I’m the reason she might be dying?” he croaked out hoarsely.

  “You’re special, Adrian,” Tassie said carefully. “We don’t know why, but you are. Everything we’ve found all points back to you.”

  “Including this?” Adrian asked, aghast. “What’s happening to her?”

  Tassie exchanged a resigned look with Kell. “You’ve repeated to us at length that you don’t want to learn anything about the research,” she said. “Why do you suddenly want to know?

  “This is Reya we’re talking about! It’s bigger than just me. Please,” Adrian pleaded, “just this once, tell me what’s going on.”

  Something inside Tassie broke when she saw the sheer desperation on Adrian’s face and the naked fear in his eyes. After everything she knew he’d been through, she couldn’t deny him his worries about one of her best friends. If he was to learn from Reya regardless, she would much prefer knowing exactly what Adrian was told. She took a deep breath. “You’re no longer human. Whatever’s in your blood that caused that is also in Reya’s, changing her as we speak. We don’t know what she’s going to become, but she’s no longer fully a’vaare and we don’t know how to reverse it.”

  Adrian froze. For a moment, nobody spoke as he processed the revelation. “How do you know for sure that I’m no longer human?” he asked. He didn’t want to hear how, nor did he want confirmation. But he’d forced the issue and now he had to listen to the rest of what he didn’t want to know.

  “We compared the sample of your blood to Stanley’s and made the discovery,” Kell admitted. He’d shown Tassie what he’d found, even though they had yet to inform the Tribunal of that particular discovery. “It’s what let us identify what’s happening to Reya.”

  “They really stole my humanity from me,” Adrian choked out. Tears stung his eyes. “I already knew, deep down, but hearing it from you confirms it. What does that make me?”

  “We don’t know yet,” Tassie said. “Which is why we’re still continuing with our research. It’s even more important we understand just what the gru’ul did to you in order to help Reya. I’ve made some headway with my research with Irric, but it’s not enough to undo what they did to her.”

  Adrian looked around in a daze. He ran his hands over his face and let out a long breath. “I need some time to process this,” he said mechanically. “Thank you for telling me, even if I forced the issue.” He excused himself from the table and walked out of the house, disappearing from sight.

  Tassie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why did I tell him anything?”

  “He needed to hear it, even if he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it,” Kell replied.

  Both of them feared Reya’s reaction when she found out they’d gone behind her back and told Adrian, but the damage was already done.