Drip. Drip. Drip.
The memorial wall stood in the corridor to the lab wing—a simple granite slab etched with names. No photos. No eulogies. Just the dead.
Twenty-nine names were added since the operation two weeks ago.
I stood in front of the newest column.
Connie O'Connor.
Gabriel Lefèvre.
I brushed Connie's name first—edges still sharp, freshly cut—tracing the curve of the 'C'. Then Gabriel's—the 'L' had a tiny imperfection. I Lingered on it longer than I meant to.
The corridor was empty. No footsteps. No voices. Just the low hum of the ventilation.
Two agents walked out of a room.
"Dude, look, it's Blossom." One whispered.
"Hey, she got to the Heart of the Void."
They began walking down the hall. I could still hear their faint whispers.
"She must've seen everything. Can't imagine what she's been through."
I exhaled—slow and shaky—and kept walking.
A door opened. I dashed back, the door just skimming me.
A tall man with long hair, parted in curls over his fringe, stepped out from the room.
"Oh, sorry, Himiko"
"It's fine. How are you holding up, Harden?"
"It's hard…"
"You look miles better than the trembling mess I saw in the forest." I nudged his arm.
He chuckled gently.
"Yeah… Thanks for saving me, by the way, honestly."
"Don't worry about it."
"You're a hero, Himiko. Don't forget it."
He placed a hand on my shoulder as he walked off. I followed him down the corridor with my eyes for a few seconds before walking.
The lab door hissed open.
Inside, the lights were dim. At the central workbench, Kaoru sat hunched over, his tablet placed in front of him. He stared through the screen. On the other side of the room, BB could be seen sleeping through an observation window. Dr Josep Entenga stood in front. Observing. BB's chest was open, blue-veined circuits pulsing faintly under the work lights.
"How have you gotten on with BB?"
Kaoru shot up.
"Oh. er. Hey, Himiko." He whispered, "Stable, more than stable actually."
He bumbled out of the chair, picking up the tablet on the desk before leading me to the glass.
Dr Entenga nodded to me.
"Aethesium is coursing through him." Dr Entenga announced, his voice lifted, pleased.
"Not just that," Kaoru interrupted, "It's integrated in him. A part of him now."
"The entity must have… imprinted. The blue signature overwrote some of the original code. We're still mapping how deep it goes."
Entenga followed. It was a battle of scientists as they each tried to one-up each other. They each turned their back on each other, lifting their glasses slightly.
I giggled.
I stepped closer to the glass, placing my palm on the window.
"Incredible."
Kaoru tapped a few keys on the laptop's screen. A string of letters, numbers and random characters scrolled.
"That's not all," Kaoru tapped, "There's a code running through BB's system repeatedly in ASCII."
"Bad?"
He scratched the back of his head.
"Ermm. I don't really know. Translated, it says Ultrua'is is a threat to God. Kill Ultrua'is. Become the true vessel. I can tell you for sure I definitely didn't code that in."
"Do we know who Ultrua'is is? There a photo or anything?"
"Nope."
I rubbed my eyes.
"So it's useless then?"
"It could prove to be important information." Entenga turned away from the glass, "We know nothing about these entities or vessels, as they seem to put it here. Every piece of info is a step forward."
"I suppose… Hey, Dr Entenga, have there been any updates on Project Millie?"
He snickered slightly, like the inner mad scientist was breaking out.
"We've managed to create an extract using the samples we've gathered. It's injectable now. We've been testing it on animals for now. Once we understand the effects fully, we can begin human tests. Then…"
His stance widened, his arms slowly raised in an arc.
"Then we may be able to create our very own superhumans."
My gaze lowered.
The doctor straightened his jacket and checked his watch.
"Right, I've got a meeting with the director, so I'll be off. Kaoru, keep me updated on BB."
Kaoru responded with a thumbs-up.
"And you let me know about the tests," I yelled.
He responded, not looking back at me.
"Of course, Lady Himiko, you'll be the first contact."
The door hissed behind him as he swooped out.
Silence settled.
"Isn't that weird?" Kaoru's head rested on the glass, gazing at BB, "He actually sleeps now."
"Your very own son. Can you handle that responsibility?"
He breathed out a laugh through his nose, shoulders bouncing slightly.
"Yeah, looks like it."
We stood there for a long moment—watching the bot breathe.
Kaoru's voice dropped lower.
"How've you been holding up, Himiko?"
I didn't answer right away.
"I'm kind of happy that we managed to at least come out of there with something. But…"
Kaoru raised his head from the glass, one brow raised.
"But… It was just like when you showed me BB. We thought it was gonna make every operation a breeze."
Kaoru didn't interrupt.
I looked down at my hands, still feeling the warm wetness of blood on them.
"But every time… someone dies. Every step forward we take, we face enemies ten steps ahead."
My voice cracked a little.
"I'm starting to wonder if there's any point in it, if we're just gonna end up losing everyone."
"Humanity needs to evolve, Himiko. Otherwise, we get wiped out."
He looked at BB—at the slow blue pulse.
"But maybe we evolve by choosing. Not by taking everything we can grab. By deciding what we're willing to lose… and what we refuse to."
I met his eyes.
He gave a small, crooked smile.
"Connie didn't die, so we could stop. Gabriel didn't sacrifice himself, so we could give up. They died so we could keep asking the question."
I looked back at BB.
"So we keep going," I said quietly.
Kaoru nodded.
"So we keep going… Oh, about what you said earlier"
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, matte-black disk the size of a coin.
"The tracker," he said. "High-aethesium adhesive. Sticks to anything with a trace. We can tag users. Track them. Find them."
It was cold. Smooth.
I turned it over in my fingers.
Miko stood outside the front door of a colonial home, flipping a bronze coin in her fingers, tapping her feet against the concrete.
She'd been doing it for three minutes straight—flip, catch, flip, catch—the rhythm was the only thing keeping her heartbeat from jumping out of her chest. The coin was old and worn.
She raised her fist.
Knocked twice—soft.
The door opened almost immediately.
A woman stood at the door, late forties, in a faded green cardigan, sleeves covering her hands. She smiled an automatic smile, the kind you'd give to a neighbour or a postman.
Then she saw Miko.
The woman was Ellen O'Connor, mother of Connie O'Connor.
"Miko," she said softly, leaning in for a hug. Miko embraced it, "Come in, love."
Miko stepped inside. The interior was warm. Photos on the walls—Connie at eleven with a black eye and a grin, Connie and Ellen at a rugby match, Connie and Miko on a boat, one hand holding fish, the other slung around each other, both trying not to laugh at the camera.
It pierced her heart. This was exactly what she knew was gonna happen. She wondered if she should've just let the MEI officers do it rather than stepping in to do it herself.
Ellen closed the door quietly.
"Tea?" she asked.
Miko nodded, throat too tight to speak.
They sat in the living room. Ellen poured two mugs from a pristine white pot. The tea was dark and bitter. Miko wrapped her hands around the mug anyway. The mug was hot. She welcomed it.
Ellen sat opposite her on the small sofa, knees together, hands folded in her lap.
"Is Wilson home?" Miko asked. Her voice came out smaller than she meant.
Ellen shook her head.
"He's at work right now."
Miko stared into the tea. The surface trembled slightly.
"I was hoping he'd be here," her voice began to shake, "But… if I don't say it now, I don't think I ever…"
Ellen's brows drew together. She leaned forward a fraction.
"Is there something wrong?"
Miko's fingers tightened around the mug. It burned her palms. She didn't care.
"Connie is… dead."
The words landed like a pebble in a pond.
Ellen blinked once—slow, like she hadn't heard correctly.
Then she laughed—a small, disbelieving sound.
"W-what are you talking about. Why would you say such a thing?"
Miko looked up.
Her face must have said everything, because Ellen's laugh died in her throat.
The older woman's mouth opened—a single breath escaped as words failed—then closed. Her hands rose halfway, then fell back into her lap.
"No," she whispered.
Miko fell silent; she hadn't rehearsed this part. From here on, it was pure emotion.
Ellen stared at her for a long moment.
Then the tears came—quiet at first, just a shimmer in her eyes. Then her shoulders shook. A soft, broken sound escaped her.
"How?" she asked.
Miko swallowed.
"He saved me. Pushed me out of the way. Took the hit instead." The words left her mouth monotone, like she was reading from a coroner's report.
Ellen pressed a hand to her mouth. Tears slipped between her fingers.
"He always said… he always said he'd look after you. That you were the only one…"
Miko's vision blurred. Her lip quivered. She promised herself she wouldn't cry; Connie wouldn't want her to. A single tear escaped, rolling down her cheek.
She set the mug down—tea sloshed over the rim.
Ellen reached across the gap between them. Her hand found Miko's.
They sat like that for a while.
Tears dripped onto the carpet.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The bath water was scalding.
But the pain felt soothing in a way. Soothing in the same way that it felt to dip your hand in a bag of uncooked rice. It tickled.
I never stopped hearing that dripping, since the slaughter in the void. It even tickles the inside of my skull now.
I sat in the bath, knees drawn above the bubbles, in the squad's shared flat. Everyone else was asleep—the TV in Aiko's room had switched off a while ago.
Steam fogged the mirror.
Drip.
Connie.
Drip.
Gabriel.
Drip.
The eight members of my squad who fell at the hands of the Sylvacapra.
And the twenty-nine names on the wall. Some I'd only known for weeks. Some I'd known since the beginning. All gone.
Was it worth it?
I sank my head into the water, letting it drown out the dripping in my ears.
A small sob released. Then another. All the emotions I had held back for so long.
Why did I leave the police force?
I'm an idiot. I was seduced by the words of Mrs Isamu. I thought I could be a hero.
I walked away from a steady job, the tradition the Suzukis had upheld for generations. All because I thought I could do more.
I placed my wrist against my eyes, soaking up the tears. My lips trembled.
I should have never left home—mum, dad.
But then I remembered.
Aiko's voice, fierce and certain.
"Whatever you demand, Himiko, I'm with you… She's the reason you're all still standing after all."
Kaoru's arms around us before we rappelled.
"Be careful." His smile—wide, stupid, full of teeth—telling us to "go break a leg."
The night of our first group training op. Too much beer. Good food. The stupid names we came up with.
"How about the Furious Four?"
"What, no, that's lame, how about The Cherry Blossoms?"
"I'm-"
"Blossom. You're Blossom, I don't want to hear any buts."
My lips curled up on their own.
The night on the rooftop.
"You can't be brooding over here when you look that hot."
I giggled, breaking between sobs.
It was all worth it.
I lifted my wrist from my puffy red eyes. The dripping quietened. I looked at the ceiling—towards the future.
They hadn't died for nothing.
Whether they meant it or not, they died so we could keep moving forward. So the next time someone stood at the edge of something impossible, they wouldn't have to face it alone.
I'll carry them with me, all of them.
I'll make sure that their sacrifices mean that others don't fall to the same fate.
We'll step forward. Fight on, no matter what comes next.
High above the ceiling. High above the clouds. The moon sat in peaceful silence, overlooking the roaring seas and the bustling cities.
The pale rock glistened against the black.
A light flashed—Dozens, Thousands. The cold darkness of space roared with a symphony of engines. Ships of all sizes—big and small. And in the centre, the pièce de résistance.
A humongous pale structure. Two large rectangular cylinders flanking the body in the centre, holding a weapon that glowed a bright orange. On top was a massive tower that stretched to the heavens, piercing a large glass observatory.
GEORGE.
TOM.
YOUR FIRST TRIAL WILL SOON BEGIN.
PROVE YOURSELVES AS MY TRUE VESSELS.