Adrian forced himself to watch his silver-pink blood make its way to the vials Kell had prepared. The faint shimmering as it made its way through the clear tube towards its destination was obvious to his improved eye sight. He chanced a glance at Kell and noted the look of contemplation on the doctor’s face.

  “You see it too, don’t you?” Adrian asked. While he hoped the answer would be no, he already knew that it was visible in plain sight.

  “Yes,” Kell confirmed. “It’s only grown stronger over time. Not by that much, but there’s still a noticeable difference.” Much to his surprise, Adrian had readily agreed to allow him to study him further when he’d asked, several months ago. It was plainly obvious to everyone in the room at the time that Adrian had fought a long internal battle to willingly put himself back under study. After having watched the single video of an experiment performed on him, Kell couldn’t fault the man for his continued reluctance since they’d saved him.

  Unbeknownst to Adrian, Kell had finally received access to Tassie’s research on his new organs. It was fascinating. An intricate puzzle with so many moving parts that Kell was forced to admire the meticulous work the gru’ul had put into modifying Adrian. It baffled him that Adrian was the end result of so many tiny details stemming from the experiments performed on him.

  “We’ve been doing this periodically for several months now,” Adrian said. “Have you been able to uncover anything that might help reverse Reya’s transformation?” Adrian wasn’t a fool. He knew very well that these samples, unlike the clandestine ones Kell had taken, were fully documented and under the Tribunal’s scrutiny. He might not know what had been discovered by Tassie during her many research sessions, but he knew that whatever was discovered could be used against him. Adrian hoped dearly that the bloodwork was where the samples would end and not the beginning of more experimentation.

  “Adrian,” Kell said gently, “there is no reversing what’s happening to Reya. Not anymore.” As much as it pained him, Kell had failed his patients. He hadn’t been able to discover a cure before the changes began severely affecting Reya. The best he could hope for was to find a way to allow Reya to successfully adapt to what had been done to her.

  Adrian’s heart sank and a knot formed in his stomach. “Is there anything more I can do that would help?” he asked.

  “These samples,” Kell said, gesturing towards the vials as he took out the need in Adrian’s arm, “don’t help me cure Reya. They help me understand where the gru’ul wanted to bring her with their experiments on her and what changes still might occur.”

  “You’ve had access to plenty of my blood by now!” Adrian fumed. “Why do you constantly need more if you know it won’t help her?” He was livid. Kell had knowingly taken more than he’d needed and now the Tribunal had continued access to the end results of the experiments performed on him.

  “Because your blood has changed over time, even during the few short months that I’ve been studying you,” Kell explained carefully. “Right now, as we speak, you are still being changed by whatever the gru’ul did to you. I’ve been mapping over time how you’ve been evolving so that I can predict how Reya will change and in what order.”

  Adrian deflated. “You mean whatever was done to me is still modifying me?” he asked quietly, unwilling to believe it. He’d thought that he was done being an experiment. Instead, it had become his lifelong occupation.

  “That’s right,” Kell said. “I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the truth. You’ve seen how your blood has gotten brighter since we started. It’s a mystery and one that’s happening to Reya as we speak. I know the beginning. I know the end. Now I just need to learn what happens in the middle, which is where Reya is landed. She might not be exactly what you are yet, but she grows closer to it every second.”

  “I see,” Adrian responded despondently. “Are we done here for the day?” he asked. When Kell confirmed that there was nothing left for him to do, Adrian got out of the chair he was seated in and left the med bay.

  Kell was left alone to continue his research. Once the doors slid shut behind Adrian, Kell let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “That could’ve gone better,” he muttered. There was still many long hours ahead of him before he would call it a night. He would do anything to help Reya. All he needed was a little time.

  Near midnight, Kell blinked his tired eyes to wake himself back up. In front of him was all the data from studying Adrian’s blood samples, neatly summarized. On another holoscreen at his work station was Tassie’s research. He looked between the two once more and then put Reya’s medical results on display.

  No matter how much he stared at the problem before him, the only glaring difference was that Reya’s organs didn’t perform the same functions as Adrian’s. Far from that, even, was the fact that they weren’t even remotely the same. Adrian’s organs were tailor-made for the delicate functions of the various nanomachines that helped improve his body. There was a fundamental symbiosis between Adrian and the nanites that Reya lacked.

  Reya’s organs were currently deteriorating due to the very same nanites that bolstered Adrian’s physiology. It wouldn’t be long now until they shut down entirely. Kell gave it a week at most before Reya could no longer function without the new organs.

  He froze at the thought.

  His mind kicked into overdrive as he contemplated an answer so simple that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner. In a rush, he read back through Tassie’s research notes and found one small paragraph that detailed what it was he looking for. A footnote, really. Something included that was tangentially related to everything they’d learned about Adrian.

  If the organs were the only difference between Reya and Adrian, all Kell had to do was give Reya an organ transplant. And the notes mentioned that Ava and Irric had found a spare set of organs at the facility. The very ones Reya needed. He didn’t even bother calling Tassie, as he knew she was still in the bridge on the ship doing research. He pinged her to let her know that he was coming to meet her and ran through the ship. It felt like an eternity before Tassie unlocked the bridge doors and let him in.

  “What’s so important that you couldn’t tell me over a quick call?” Tassie asked.

  “I know how to save Reya,” Kell said. “And I need Irric and Ava’s input.”

  Everything burned. Everything hurt. Reya lay in her bed, utterly spent and trying to find some reprieve from the constant pain she now found herself in. While hardly comparable to the orange chemical, she knew her definition of pain was no longer normal. As such, she was unsure how bad her condition had actually gotten if the pain was enough to bother her.

  Kell, bless his heart, did his best to provide her with painkillers to alleviate some of the symptoms. For reasons neither of them understood, none of them worked as intended. Reya was dying. She was sure of it.

  In the past few weeks, she’d gone from bad to worse, now spending more time in bed resting than not. A sick, wet cough had developed during that short span of time. Her lungs itched constantly, and no amount of coughing helped. It was the same as before Stanley had fallen too ill to function.

  The discomfort in her lungs grew once more and she coughed yet again, having no strength left to resist the urge. She hacked away as a metallic taste coated her mouth and something wet splattered on her hands. She inspected them and saw blood.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Fear coursed through her.

  She had devolved into the very state as Stanley before he passed away. Weakly, she reached for her data slate on the bedside table to call Kell, leaving bloody handprints on the device. She paid them no heed.

  She barely had the time to turn it on out of sleep mode when she heard somebody bounding up the steps. The door to her room flew open as Adrian barged in. “I smelled blood,” he said, his gaze boring straight into her. His eyes widened. “Are you alright?” he asked in a panic. “Do we need Kell?”

  Reya entered into another coughing fit, unable to respond. Adrian rushed to her side and took the data slate. He called Kell, hoping that the doctor would be able to help. Kell answered and to Adrian’s surprise, Tassie was also present.

  “Adrian,” Kell said, surprised, “did something happen?”

  Adrian rushed through an explanation and Kell’s surprise quickly shifted into one of worry. “She’s in the same state Stanley was in before he died. Is there truly nothing we can do for her?” Adrian pleaded. “I can’t lose her,” he choked. “I just can’t.”

  He exchanged a glance with Tassie, who spoke up. “As it turns out, we might have found a solution,” she said. “We were discussing it with Irric and Ava when you called.”

  The call with Irric and Ava was informative. With the immense amount of documentation they’d uncovered about Adrian’s organs, Ava was confident she could replicate the operation performed on Adrian. She theorized that the slightly smaller set of organs she and Irric had discovered at the facility had been developed specifically for completing Reya’s transformation. Ava postulated that the gru’ul simply never had the chance to perform the surgery themselves before Reya was rescued.

  The topic quickly devolved as to whether another surgeon should take care of the surgery. Tassie wasn’t sure they could trust Ava fully. She doubted they ever truly would. Leaving Reya’s life in the hands of the android filled her with unease. However, no surgeon apart from her was familiar with the technology that had kept Adrian alive throughout such an intense operation.

  Carefully, Tassie explained their approach to Adrian, whose face drained of colour the longer she spoke. “We haven’t discussed the proposal with High Command yet,” she added, “and Reya hasn’t accepted to undergo the procedure.”

  “You want Ava to be the lead surgeon?” Adrian asked. The thought sickened him. The android had enabled the experiments performed on him on Earth and was responsible for sending him to the gru’ul, where he underwent unspeakable horrors. “Can’t Kell do it?” he asked.

  “I can be the assistant,” Kell said, “but I’m not as familiar with gru’ul technology.”

  “You’re speaking as though Reya needs to have the operation performed at the facility,” Adrian commented. “Can’t you bring the organs to a hospital here?” Terror filled him that his beloved would have to return to the very place that had harmed her so. He would do anything to avoid putting her through that.

  “That’s right,” Kell confirmed. “We need their technology to take the organs out of stasis, and we have no idea how long we’ll be able to preserve them for. They need to be as fresh as possible for Reya’s surgery.”

  “You expect me to entrust Reya to Ava?” Adrian asked, growing angry. “After everything she did to me? With her connection to the facility?” He paused his tirade before his anger spiraled out of control. They needed to save Reya. It wasn’t the time to argue. He took a deep breath to calm down.

  “What choice do we have?” Kell asked. “She has extensive knowledge of human and a’vaare anatomy and is an experienced surgeon. I hate to admit it, but Ava’s our best shot at saving Reya.”

  “And you’re certain, positively certain, that there’s no other way to save her?” Adrian asked. Tears formed in his eyes as he spoke his next thought. “What if it fails and we lose her?”

  “We’re guaranteed to lose her if we do nothing,” Tassie said. “Frankly, we’re not even sure this is the best way to save her. At this point, her transformation is so far gone that turning her into whatever you are is the only real solution we have.”

  “We’ve been monitoring her progression,” Kell said. “Her brain seems to have stabilized. There’s nothing new happening there.”

  “Something was wrong with her brain!?” Adrian exclaimed. “How come I never knew about this?”

  “You’ve explicitly asked us to keep you unaware of our discoveries,” Tassie sighed. “Her brain structure now resembles yours so closely that we can safely say that part of the transformation is complete. Or almost complete, at the very least.”

  “They changed my brain structure?” Adrian asked. “How do you know for certain?”

  “We found detailed research notes about your organs and some of your experiments,” Tassie revealed. “Since you asked us not to tell you, we did just that and continued our work in silence.”

  Adrian’s anger was quickly doused by a cold fear. “That means the Tribunal knows everything about my new organs?” he asked, dearly hoping the answer would be no.

  “That’s correct,” Tassie confirmed. “And they’ve had access to that knowledge for quite some time. I don’t know what they’ve discussed regarding what we learned nor what they’ve decided to do with that knowledge. We think Reya’s changing brain structure was responsible for her breakdown and some of her mental health issues, but that’s just guesswork at this point.”

  “There’s no real choice, is there?” Adrian said glumly. “Reya needs that surgery to survive.”

  “To have a chance at survival,” Tassie corrected. “We’re not sure it’ll work.” She watched as Adrian ran a hand through his hair. “We don’t know how to broach the subject with her, though. It’ll be something we’ll have to do delicately.”

  Adrian barked a short laugh. “There’s no need for that,” he said. “She’s been here the whole time.” He focused on Reya, who was still in bed. “What do you think, Reya?” he asked softly.

  Hearing what needed to be done to her filled Reya with a dread so bad she couldn’t speak a word during the conversation between the others. Her thoughts were frozen, and it took a great effort to bring them back to reality. “Am I going to truly die if we do nothing?” she croaked.

  Adrian moved so that Reya was visible to Kell and Tassie on the data slate. “Most likely,” Kell said dejectedly. “No matter how much I study the changes made to you, I can’t reverse them. The nanites are so thoroughly integrated into you that it’s impossible to remove them.”

  Tears formed in Reya’s eyes. “Those bastards,” she whispered. “This whole time, I’ve been an experiment,” she realized. “Just like Adrian.” Reya took a moment to collect herself. “That explains the different injections I received. The neuro toxins were just a small part of it.” Her cheeks grew wet as she started crying in earnest. “I was nothing more than a toy for them to test their theories on. A disposable object to needlessly torment. They didn’t need answers from me. That was just a bonus. They needed me to be a pincushion.”

  Nobody spoke while Reya wept. They let her have her moment, fully aware that her epiphany was a difficult one to accept. She calmed shortly after, lacking the energy to be upset. Her time was running out, and she knew that if she wanted to live, she had no choice but to accept the risky procedure.

  “I’ll do it,” Reya said with a trembling voice. “I don’t trust Ava, but if she’s the best chance I’ve got then what choice do I have?”

  “Are you sure about this?” Adrian asked, worried. “Maybe there’s another way. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Reya shook her head. “There isn’t. With this, at least there’s a chance I’ll still have you in my life. If I don’t do it, I’ll lose you forever. That’s not something I’ll ever accept.” Even though she would be the one to perish in the event of an unsuccessful surgery, not having Adrian in her life simply wasn’t an option she’d ever entertain. Every day she had with him was precious beyond compare, and she would do anything to have another.

  “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Adrian sniffed as tears welled in his eyes. “Life without you is unimaginable.”

  Reya cupped a hand on Adrian’s face, pushing through her fears for a moment to comfort him. “It’s the same for me. Promise me you’ll be by my side when I wake up from the surgery.”

  “I promise,” Adrian said solemnly. It was one he would keep come hell or high water. Nothing would separate him from Reya if he could help it. He would fight tooth and nail to ensure he was there for her when she needed him most.

  Reya flashed a small smile using what little energy she had left. She turned her attention back on the data slate, where Tassie and Kell had patiently waited for her to speak again. “What exactly will the new organs do?” she asked. “I’d like to know before you shove them into me.”

  Tassie shared a glance with Kell. “Adrian,” she asked, “do you want to be present while we explain things to Reya?” She was convinced he would say no, given his history of categorically denying any opportunity to learn any discoveries they’d made.

  “Want to?” Adrian asked. “No. I’ll remain to understand what will be happening to Reya, even if it’s something I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to know why they changed us. I don’t care about whatever sick, twisted reasons they had to hurt us so. But I refuse to stand by while Reya does this alone. I had no one when it happened to me. History won’t repeat itself with Reya. She’s not alone in this.”

  Adrian’s declaration lingered for several moments before Tassie decided to acquiesce to his wish. She knew not what had changed, but she was certain of the love he had for Reya. Of that, she would never doubt. Tassie spoke anew and revealed to Adrian and Reya exactly how they’d been changed.

  For them, there would be no going back once they learned.