Reya gathered Adrian into a crushing hug. “Stay safe,” she sniffed, her head buried in his shoulder. For a moment, neither one of them spoke, letting the other’s presence soothe their frayed nerves. Reya could feel Adrian’s alien heart hammer in his chest to its bizarre rhythm and knew he was as nervous as she was, despite his calm fa?ade. They released each other, and she stared deep into his eyes, his fear plain as day to her.

  “I’ll try,” Adrian said, unable to keep his voice from quavering slightly. He flashed a ghost of a smile. “That’s what the others are here for.” His words did little to reassure Reya, but it was the most he could offer her. Nobody knew how the day would end once all was said and done.

  The Tribunal had contacted him less than an hour ago to inform him that his presence was required at the main base, where he would then be summarily revealed to the world. He’d had no choice in the matter, as it hadn’t been a request but an order. He’d opted to heed Jyn’s warnings about not getting on the Tribunal’s bad side at the moment and chose to play along while they were still being nice.

  And so he now found himself saying farewell to Reya, ready to board the ship and be escorted to meet his fate the same as a prisoner brought before their executioner. The only thing he could bring with him was the grim acceptance that his life as he knew it was going to end. Gone would be the peace and tranquility afforded to him by his hidden existence. He’d be out in the open for all to see, and there would be no going back.

  He already was, he supposed. Miarre leaking his existence had robbed him of the chance for a peaceful revelation to Verilian society. Now, he would do so under duress with no real say in the matter. He was but one man. One stranger. One alien. Who was he to oppose the will of the faction’s ultimate rulers? Any attempt at defiance at such a crucial time risked him being thrown back into a cell and onto an operating table to learn his secrets.

  Something he vowed would never happen again.

  He disliked the subservience he was yet again subjected to, but obedience now would mean less pain later. Or so he hoped. He gave Reya one last long look, then turned around and boarded the ship after wishing her goodbye.

  Reya could only watch helplessly as Adrian disappeared into the ship, gone from where she could be with him. She returned to the house with Rann and Kell, who were to be her guard detail while the others were gone for the day. She made her way around the porch and to the fire pit, lost in thought. She plopped down into one of the chairs and was soon joined by Rann.

  “Kell’s going to stay inside for a little, says he has some work to do,” Rann said as she sat down. She was dressed for combat, kitted out in body armour and fully armed. While they’d always been armed in the house, now she was ready for war.

  Reya cast her friend a sidelong glance. Ever since the team had returned from the ship, they’d been tense. Like a coiled spring ready to snap, they’d returned not as friends but as soldiers ready to die. She didn’t know what Jyn had told them on the ship, but it had been effective. So effective in fact, that she was surprised Rann was even sitting down with her instead of standing guard. “Good to know,” she responded. “Any idea what he’s doing? He doesn’t have access to his lab on the ship.”

  Rann shook her head. “He didn’t say. Simply asked not to be disturbed for the next hour unless there was an emergency.”

  “I think we can manage that,” Reya said. “How’d it go on the ship with Jyn before?” she asked. While she wasn’t going to get a response while Adrian was nearby, she might be able to gleam some insight now that the two of them were alone.

  Rann hesitated but ultimately figured that giving her friend the bare bones of the meeting wouldn’t cause any harm. “We received a more in-depth debrief along with our new orders. Tassie also backed him up on what he said. That was a surprise. They haven’t gotten along well now for months.”

  Reya frowned. “She and Jyn were both absent right before the meeting was called, so it makes sense she was already aware of most of what Jyn was going to say. How will your new orders impact me and Adrian?”

  “We’re on high alert,” Rann said. “Neither you nor Adrian will truly go anywhere unaccompanied. We don’t know what to expect after today, and we need to be prepared for anything. Jyn is under the impression that both of you are in danger but evaded the question when asked why.” She went silent for a moment, deep in thought. “What happened in Adrian’s experiment that’s so bad that we’re not supposed to watch it?” she eventually asked, unable to keep her curiosity under control any longer.

  Reya didn’t respond right away, a faraway look in her eyes. She knew exactly what the video entailed and relived the moment. “Pain like you’ve never seen before,” she said quietly. Tears welled in her eyes. She brought the corner of her sleeve up and dabbed them dry. “Please don’t watch the video. It’s not fair to Adrian.”

  “There’s more to it than that,” Rann said pointedly. “What’s the real reason you don’t want me watching it?”

  “Because they did it to me, too,” Reya said, unable to keep her tears from spilling over any longer. “Watching it means understanding what happened to me right before you found me. I don’t want you knowing what that means.” She sniffed.

  “Adrian once told me that pain was something you both understand well,” Rann said. “I didn’t understand how he could understand the torture you went through when he was only an experiment. But if they did the same thing to both you, his comment suddenly makes a lot more sense.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “They didn’t do the exact same thing,” Reya said. “It was slightly different but had the same result.”

  “You were unconscious for weeks when we rescued you,” Rann said. “Just what happened for you to have that kind of response?”

  Reya simply shook her head. “I know you’re curious, but please don’t watch the video.”

  “Even now, you refuse to tell me what happened,” Rann said, hurt once more by her friend’s unwillingness to trust her. “Why is it Adrian can know but not me?”

  “I found out the same thing happened to him entirely by accident when we were at the campfire soon after we met,” Reya replied. “He understands. I love you to death Rann, but no matter what I say, you won’t truly understand just what it was that happened. Nobody apart from Adrian ever will. And by the gods how I hope none of you ever do.”

  “So that’s it?” Rann said, holding back her tears. “You open up to a stranger but not your closest friends? Tassie knows. Even Jyn knows! But it’s too much if I learn about it?” She was unable to hide the hurt in her voice. Reya turned to look at her, her eyes utterly dead and devoid of any warmth. Rann had to keep from flinching at the sight of Reya.

  “Yes,” Reya said hollowly. “That’s it.”

  Reya went silent, her mind faraway from where the warmth of her friend could shield her and lost in a haze of pain.

  Kell locked the door to his room inside the house and took out his data slate. Though he’d been asked not to learn, he needed to know what had happened to Adrian in the experiment that was being kept from him. Perhaps he’d find a clue to help Reya reverse her transformation into whatever Adrian had become. Tassie still refused to share with him the knowledge she’d learned during her research, much to his irritation. As the only other available researcher, he needed to stop being shut down when he requested more information.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. By the gods, he sounded just like Jyn. But unlike Jyn, Kell finally had the opportunity to circumvent High Command’s gag order on vital information. After so long without gaining any insight into the nanomachines infesting Reya and Adrian, he’d be damned if he passed up the only opportunity he’d been given.

  The house being as empty as it was presented him the chance he needed to continue his research uninterrupted. Turning on his data slate, he went to search the news. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to find Miarre’s broadcast that had been forcibly shut down. But from the looks of it, there were forums upon forums filled with theories about what had happened and what the Tribunal was hiding from the populace.

  For the moment, Kell ignored those forums and watched the press release. It didn’t take long until he was done that and then began searching for the elusive experiment that had been performed on Adrian. This time, however, he paid attention to what was being publicly discussed over the network.

  What he read didn’t inspire any confidence. Most of what he found cautioned against viewing the video at all, with almost all the comments expressing that they hadn’t been able to stomach it. Each of comments from those who’d witnessed it expressed disgust, pity, and outrage on Adrian’s behalf, seemingly forgetting that first contact with a new species had been covered up for who knew how long.

  Kell continued his research, surprised at how polarizing the opinions were. Most were angry at the Tribunal for failing their legal duties, but anybody who’d found the video seemingly didn’t care. They were more concerned with whatever the contents of the video were, hoping dearly it was fake.

  Finally, he found a site that had the video on it along with a warning against viewing it. Kell turned up the volume of his data slate to a reasonable level and steeled himself, hoping Adrian would forgive him for violating his privacy after having been asked not to.

  He pushed play.

  And promptly rushed to the nearest toilet where he was sick.

  Pallid, he returned back to the room and forced himself to pick back up the data slate. He regarded the paused image carefully, Adrian’s expression of pain so agonizing there would be no other visual image so perfectly encapsulating the meaning of pain.

  Guilt immediately filled Kell. He should’ve heeded the warnings that were all over the network and public forums. As a doctor, he’d dismissed them, already accustomed to witnessing macabre sights. But nothing had prepared him for such agony in another person. That video was so intensely personal that Kell felt he had no business ever watching it.

  Unlike those postulating online, Kell knew for a fact that what he’d witnessed had truly happened. To a real person. And he’d been living with that person for months. Months where Adrian had been unable to sleep properly due to his trauma.

  Judging by Adrian’s scars, Kell always guessed that what had happened to him was beyond traumatic, but that video presented cruelty beyond his wildest imagination. He eyed the remaining time in the video, utterly depressed by how much was left.

  He’d been asked not to look, and he’d chosen not to listen to the request. That both Jyn and Tassie were in agreement on the matter should have told Kell all he needed to know about how awful the contents would be.

  Now he was committed to seeing it through to the end. Not only in the hopes of learning something from it, but Kell felt responsible as Adrian’s doctor to understand the depth of his patient’s trauma. His finger hovered right above the play button, and he hesitated, wondering if continuing was truly the best course of action. Convinced it was, he hardened his resolve and resumed the video, determined to see it through to the very end.

  Tens of minutes later, he was finally done. It had taken every ounce of willpower not to be sick again. “By the gods,” Kell swore, shaken. He regretted everything. No being should be subject to such pain, and it broke his heart that someone had.

  He would never be able to look at Adrian the same way again.

  After lapsing into an uncomfortable silence, Rann had lamely excused herself stating she needed to be on patrol. Reya knew it was to get away from her and have some time to herself. Her disappearance suited Reya just fine, as she was lost in her own memories and could only stare blankly at the firepit while reliving them.

  The unforgettable sound of Adrian’s screams filled her ears, snapping her out of her reverie. Her head whipped towards the second floor of the house and remained locked in place there the entire time, her ears filled with a melody of misery.

  Eventually it stopped, only to begin again for tens of minutes. Reya knew what had happened and worried that Rann had chosen to ignore her request not to view Adrian’s experiment. Her fears were quelled when she saw Rann come around porch out of the corner of her eye.

  But the video kept playing.

  Rann made her way towards Reya, who didn’t acknowledge her arrival. Rann took in her friend’s bizarre pose and turned her gaze in the same direction as Reya’s. She saw nothing of note. “What are you looking at?” she asked.

  “Kell didn’t listen,” Reya said, disappointed. She turned to face Rann with the full brunt of her displeasure. “He watched the video.”