KIRA'S POV
I was going to break through the vent and go to him.
My claws were already digging into the metal grate, tearing it open inch by silent inch. Below me, Atlas sat on the floor of my quarters—our quarters, really, since I'd spent more nights there with him than in my own bed—holding my lab coat against his face. His shoulders shook. He was crying.
Don't go down there. He'll kill you. He has to kill you.
But watching the man I loved fall apart because he thought I was dead was worse than any transformation. Worse than the hunger. Worse than becoming a monster.
I had to tell him I was alive.
My body tensed, ready to drop down. Just ten feet. Just ten feet between me and the person I loved more than anything. Ten feet and I could hold him, could tell him everything would be okay, could—
Atlas lifted his head. His eyes were red from crying, his face devastated. And in his hand, catching the light, was my engagement ring. Still covered in my blood.
He brought it to his lips and kissed it. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry I didn't protect you. I should have been there. Should have stopped this. You died alone and scared and I wasn't there."
I'm not dead! I wanted to scream. I'm right here! Look up! Please look up!
But what would he see if he did? Not Kira. A monster with four arms and black eyes and acid drool dripping from too many teeth. He'd see the creature that killed Martinez and Rodriguez. The thing that had to be destroyed.
I pulled back from the vent, my claws releasing the metal. The grate settled back into place with a whisper.
I can't do this to him. Can't make him choose between love and duty. Can't make him live with killing me.
Atlas stood up, stumbling slightly. Empty whiskey bottles littered the floor. How long had he been in here? How long had he been drowning in grief and alcohol?
He walked to my desk, touching everything like it was precious. My favorite mug—the one that said "I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right." My research notes covered in my messy handwriting. The framed photo of us from last year's celebration dinner, both of us laughing at some stupid joke I'd made.
"I was going to propose again," he said to the empty room. To my ghost. "With a better ring this time. Something that didn't come from a military salary. Something you deserved."
You already gave me everything I deserved. You loved me. That was enough.
He picked up the photo, his thumb tracing my face behind the glass. "You were too good for this ship. Too good for me. You should have stayed on Earth, married some safe boring scientist. Instead you fell in love with a broken soldier and followed him into space."
You're not broken. You're the strongest person I know.
"I dream about you every night," Atlas continued, talking to my picture like I could hear him. Maybe some part of him knew I was there. "But they're not good dreams. I dream about finding you in that lab. About your face melting off. About you screaming my name while I stand there doing nothing. I dream about the creature wearing your skin, pretending to be you, and I can't tell the difference. I point the gun at it and I don't know if I'm killing a monster or killing you."
My three hearts broke simultaneously.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you have to live with this.
A sound in the corridor made both of us freeze. Footsteps. Multiple people. Atlas quickly hid the whiskey bottles and straightened his uniform, wiping his eyes.
Marcus appeared in the doorway. "Commander. Captain Cross is planning something. She's moved major weapons to the cargo bay and—" He stopped, seeing Atlas's face. "You've been crying."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're falling apart." Marcus stepped inside, closing the door. "And I don't blame you. Losing Kira would destroy anyone. But you need to pull yourself together because what I'm about to tell you—"
"The creature is still alive," Atlas interrupted. "I know. I've been tracking it."
"It's not about tracking it." Marcus pulled out a tablet. "Dr. Tanaka discovered something before Captain Cross's people silenced her. Something about Kira's transformation."
I pressed closer to the vent, my enhanced hearing catching every word.
Marcus pulled up files on the screen. "This wasn't an accident, Atlas. Captain Cross deliberately exposed Kira to Subject Zero. It was a planned experiment. Project Genesis. They wanted to create a human-alien hybrid."
Atlas went very still. Dangerously still. "What?"
"There's more. Medical records show Kira was pregnant when it happened. Three weeks along. The transformation should have killed the fetus but..." Marcus hesitated. "The baby is still alive. Growing inside the creature. And it's part human, part alien. Exactly what Captain Cross wanted."
The tablet dropped from Atlas's hands, clattering on the floor.
Above them, hidden in the vents, I wrapped all four arms around my glowing stomach. They knew. They knew about the baby.
Our baby. Still alive. Still growing.
I'd discovered it two days ago when the hunger had shifted. When my body started craving different nutrients—proteins, vitamins, things a developing fetus would need. At first I'd thought it was just another evolution. Then I felt it move.
A tiny flutter. A heartbeat that wasn't mine.
The impossible had happened. Our baby had survived the transformation and was adapting, changing, becoming something new. Something that might be the bridge between human and alien. The future Captain Cross wanted to create.
And she'd used me—used us—as her experiment.
"Where's Captain Cross now?" Atlas's voice was deadly quiet.
"Cargo bay. She's mobilizing a strike team. Planning to tranquilize the creature, extract the hybrid fetus, and terminate the host." Marcus met his eyes. "She's going to kill Kira to get the baby, Atlas. We have maybe twenty minutes."
Atlas grabbed his plasma rifle from the wall. "Then we have twenty minutes to get them both out."
"'Them?'" Marcus looked confused. "You mean—"
"The creature isn't just wearing Kira's body. It is Kira. I don't know how, I don't know why, but she's still in there. Still alive. Still protecting our child." His voice broke. "And I left her alone in the dark, thinking I wanted her dead."
He ran. Sprinted out of the room with Marcus close behind, both of them heading toward the cargo bay. Toward me.
I should have run too. Should have hidden deeper in the ship's guts where no one could find me. But Atlas was coming. Finally, finally coming to save me instead of kill me.
I crawled through the vents as fast as my four limbs could carry me, racing toward the cargo bay. I had to get there first. Had to see him. Had to show him I was still me before Captain Cross's team arrived.
I dropped through a ceiling vent into the cargo bay, landing silently among the supply crates. My chameleonic skin had activated automatically, making me nearly invisible.
Then I heard it. The mechanical whir of weapons charging. The synchronized footsteps of trained soldiers.
I spun around. Twenty guards surrounded me, plasma rifles aimed at my head, my chest, my stomach. And standing in front of them, smiling coldly, was Captain Cross.
"Hello, Dr. Chen," she said. "Or should I say, Subject Zero? We've been waiting for you."
Tranquilizer darts hit me from six different directions. I felt the drugs flooding my system, fighting my alien biology. My legs buckled. My vision blurred.
"Don't fight it," Cross said, walking closer. "The sedative is specifically designed for your physiology. In sixty seconds, you'll be unconscious. Then we'll extract the hybrid and dispose of your host body. You should be proud—your child will be the first of a new species."
No. No, I have to stay awake. Have to protect the baby.
But the drugs were too strong. My body was shutting down. I collapsed, all four arms instinctively curling around my stomach, trying to shield the life growing inside me.
The last thing I heard before darkness took me was Atlas's voice screaming my name, and the sound of plasma rifle fire.
The last thing I felt was something warm and wet spreading across my stomach.
Blood.
I was bleeding.
The baby—
Everything went black.