It was nice to finally have a meeting that was properly planned ahead of time, Orryn mused as she joined the Tribunal meeting. Normally, they didn’t meet as often as they had in recent times. The figures of the other Elders appeared, seated at their usual positions around the desk.

  Kaius took a look around the table now that everybody was present. “It’s been two weeks,” he started. “It’s now time for us to decide whether we release Ava so that she may continue doing work for us.” Dissatisfied faces broke out around the room on various Elders, Cirrus included. “We made a deal with her,” he placated. “We need to uphold it if we want to continue getting results.”

  Cirrus waved a hand dismissively. “We’ve already managed to find results without its help. Do we truly need to release that menace out where it can do harm? We still don’t know what it’s capable of if it gets ahold of our systems.”

  “We promised to assess the situation based on her behaviour,” Orryn reminded her, “not her potential for harm. While it’s true that we’ve managed to find new information from the Highest’s terminal since she’s been imprisoned, we’ve been doing so at a far slower pace. The only thing we found was about Adrian’s brain!”

  “The codes run by the two soldiers we have working on it cast a wide net” Cirrus said. “I’m convinced they’ll find something new soon.”

  “Without Ava’s help we don’t even know where to cast our nets,” Orryn retorted. “Face it, Cirrus. We need Ava’s help if we want things to go faster.”

  “I’m telling you we’re giving the thing access to too much information,” Cirrus said. “We have no way of knowing how much she’s withholding from us whenever they make a discovery.”

  “Enough,” Kaius called out. “Orryn is right. Time is of the essence. If that means contracting a captive to get the results, so be it.” He called up a holoscreen in front of him and summoned Cyrix. “Commander Cyrix, summon Officer Elydis,” Kaius ordered as soon as Cyrix’s figure appeared at the podium facing him. “We shall hear what he has to say about Ava’s behaviour, as he was the person who spent the most time observing her when not actively researching.”

  “He’s already here,” Cyrix replied smoothly. “I had a feeling you would require his assistance and ordered him on standby.”

  “Good,” Kaius said, pleased that they wouldn’t have to wait for Irric to arrive. “We wish to speak with him now.” Cyrix bowed deferentially and stepped aside, disappearing from view. Irric nervously shuffled into place and set his eyes upon the Tribunal, fighting the urge to shrink back before them.

  “Most Honourable Elders,” Irric said respectfully with a shallow bow. “How may I serve?” Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t quite keep the nervousness out of his voice.

  Kaius smiled slightly. “At ease soldier,” he said. Irric visibly relaxed. “We’re not here for interrogations nor have you done anything wrong. We simply wish to know your thoughts on Ava’s behaviour during the past two weeks from your perspective.”

  Seven sets of eyes bore into Irric. “It’s been strange,” Irric said after a moment’s thought. “If I were basing it off of a’vaare standards, I would think she’s been depressed and struggling with something. She spends a rather large amount of time unmoving in her cell, looking rather dejected.”

  Murmurs broke out across the room. Irric glanced towards the Commander briefly, who was out of sight. “It’s nothing but a ruse,” Cirrus huffed. “That things wants you to feel empathy for it. Once it has that, it’ll poison your mind with whatever nonsense the gru’ul programmed it with. We can’t trust a single thing it says or does.”

  Orryn spoke up next, before anybody else had the chance to comment on what Cirrus had said. “Do you know why she acted that way?” she asked.

  Irric shook his head. “I know that it’s related to whatever caused her to have that seizure,” he said, skirting the truth. The revelation that had come from both her and the gru’ul was something he was still processing, and he didn’t know how to properly explain the discovery yet without tangible proof. “She’s been very tight-lipped about it.”

  “You’re sure that’s all?” Orryn pressed. Irric remained silent. “Fine,” she sighed. “How has her behaviour been apart from that? Has she done anything that warrants our attention?”

  “She’s been doing her best to ensure that you let her out of her cell again,” Irric replied. “She has no desire to remain trapped in there any longer than she needs to be. She’s cooperated with just about everything I’ve asked of her.”

  “Would you deem her safe enough to work alongside?” Kaius asked.

  Irric shifted his gaze to look at him. “I would,” he said simply. “To be honest, we need her help in order for our research to progress smoothly. It’s been very frustrating without her there. She speeds things up immensely.”

  Cirrus scowled. “Surely you’re able to advance your work without it?” she asked.

  “We can,” Irric replied, “but if you want to speed things up then we need her input.”

  “Can we expect her to cooperate with us?” Kaius asked. “It wouldn’t do to release her and then have her decide to stop working.”

  “Of that, I’m sure,” Irric confirmed. “As long as imprisonment is the other option, she’ll do whatever she can to avoid it. She’s probably quite eager to get back to work.”

  Kaius drummed his fingers on the desk, deep in thought. The rest of the Elders gave him the time he needed to come to a decision. “I have no further questions at this point in time. Does anybody else?” When the room remained silent, he nodded. “Officer, you are dismissed. You will be made aware of our decision shortly.” Irric bowed and his figure winked out of sight. Kaius looked around the room. “We’re running out of time,” he stated. “Now that Miss Ayala’s existence has been leaked to the public, it won’t be long before they demand to know what happened to half of our fleet.”

  “We’re the Tribunal. We don’t bend to the whims of the populace,” Cirrus huffed. She’d had enough of being tossed around by people with no authority. “They can’t force us to answer any questions.” Around the room, the other Elders nodded in agreement, Orryn included.

  Kaius sighed. “It’s not about giving in to what the populace wants, Cirrus. It’s about our mission becoming public. The very fact that we had to mobilize half of our entire fleet is already cause for concern. They’ve probably put together that whatever mission gave Miss Ayala her Silver Star is the reason for the mass deployment. What I’m worried about is that the other factions are going to start trying to find where we went. And then we’ll have to truly defend the facility with our fleet if we want to keep uncovering its secrets.”

  “We could always blow it up if it comes to that,” Orryn suggested. The entire room turned to look at her. “We’ve already learned quite a bit. We can always try to copy the information down, bring back any loose items we can carry and then abandon the facility. Once we have everything back on Verilia, the other factions won’t be able to do a thing against our entire fleet.”

  “You want to give up such a treasure trove?” Cirrus asked, aghast. “We’re better off defending it and learning more than running with our tails between our legs.”

  “At the cost of our soldiers’ lives,” Orryn said. “That’s a last resort. Already, we’ve learned an incredible amount from their ships’ engines and weapon systems, not to mention the terminals that aren’t fully corrupted. Once we begin building prototypes, we can outfit our fleet with them. We’re best off cutting our losses and being happy with all that we’ve actually gained.”

  “She’s right about the ship engines,” Maraz said. “What we’ve discovered is groundbreaking and will revolutionize the speed at which our ships travel. The trip to the facility that took weeks will only take days instead. Days!” He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice as he spoke. “We’re recreating their engines and adapting them to our existing technology. We should have a working prototype soon.”

  “That’s excellent news,” Kaius said. “Proof that our efforts are paying off. Already we’ve received quite the bounty. We should take Orryn’s proposal under serious consideration. We need to discuss what to do if ever we get found out.”

  The Elders began a debate that lasted well over an hour as Orryn tried to convince them of scorched earth tactics whereas Cirrus pushed for holding the line and defending. They were mercurial, always alternating between sides and never finding equilibrium.

  Eventually, Kaius put up a hand motioning for them to stop. Conversation died out and the room became quiet once more. “We shall shelve this for later, once we determine what to do with the android. All those in favour of releasing her?”

  Five lights appeared above Orryn, Maraz and three other Elders. Kaius waited to see if there would be any more votes. When it was clear that there wouldn’t be, he spoke again. “So let it be. We will uphold our word and release the Android so that we may continue our research.” All eyes fell on Cirrus.

  “Fine,” Cirrus said begrudgingly, “we’ll release the android.”

  Ava looked around the Highest’s lab. It was time for her first research shift now that she’d been liberated, and so she’d been released to accompany Irric and Tassie. She stared around the room, her processors comparing what she saw to memory. Nothing had changed. The room was as it should be.

  Her relief was palpable and caught her by surprise. She had not realized how much she’d been looking forward to having something to do again. As they settled in, she regarded Irric curiously, trying to assess his reaction to having learned of what the Mandate was. What he’d done with that information, she was unsure. Given the lack of Elders up in arms over it, she assumed that they didn’t know.

  Yet.

  She continued to stare at Irric while he got set up for work. Before he connected a line to Tassie, he looked up from his data slate and eyed her. “This again?” he asked in a weary voice. “Why are you staring at me this time?” He hardly had it in him to entertain whatever game she was playing at. Not after the revelation that had just come from her and the gru’ul prisoner.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Ava hesitated before answering. “Are you alright?” she asked tentatively. “This is what people ask when somebody is being bothered by something, correct?” Truthfully, she wanted to know what his thoughts on the Mandate were, as the conversation where she told him had been rather one-sided. She never actually knew how he reacted to the news.

  “Why do you care?” Irric responded, more harshly than he’d intended. Seeing Ava’s downtrodden expression, he backpedaled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said with a weary sigh. “I haven’t slept much since learning about the Mandate.” He kept silent that he’d had a conversation with the gru’ul prisoner.

  “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Ava said, nodding in understanding. “I don’t need sleep, but I can imagine I’d be having trouble with it too had I needed any.”

  Irric narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, imagine?” he asked.

  “Exactly that?” Ava cocked her head to the side. “I don’t understand your question.”

  “What does imagining something mean to you?” Unbeknownst to her, Irric started recording audio with his data slate, determined to log her answer for future reference. He’d be missing the visual that came with her response but didn’t want to tip her off that he was recording. He wanted an honest answer for the record.

  “I ask myself a hypothetical question and then run simulations to determine what would happen next,” Ava replied. “Then I attempt to construct appropriate imagery in order to have a better grasp on the thought that generated the question to being with.”

  “Is everything a simulation to you, then?” Irric asked. “Are your actions predefined based on possible outcomes?”

  “My actions are a result of my logic processor,” Ava said. “It is very difficult to predict the outcome of a biological lifeform. Most simulations attempting to do so are useless. It’s far better to run a simulation when you input the reaction as a known variable.”

  Irric took a moment to digest her answer before returning back to the original topic, the thought of her having an imagination unsettling him greatly. “How did you handle learning about the Mandate?” he asked. He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed.

  “I didn’t,” Ava said bluntly. “It was too much for me to handle and I overloaded.” She shuddered as she recalled her first experience with pain. “You already know what happened to me. You refused to let me out of my cell for weeks because of it.”

  Irric’s eyes widened in realization. “That’s what caused you to have a seizure?”

  Ava fidgeted uncomfortably. “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Irric demanded.

  “How could I!” Ava exclaimed. “You’re just after admitting to me that you didn’t take the news well. How would your Tribunal have reacted if I had told them?”

  “Fair point,” Irric conceded. He focused his attention back to his data slate when a message came in. “It’s Tassie,” he announced. “She’s been waiting for us for a while now.” He cast Ava a sidelong glance. “We’ll talk about this later.” She nodded.

  Several seconds later, Tassie’s face appeared onscreen. “What took you so long to get set up?” she demanded. “I don’t mind waiting but I don’t have all day.”

  “We’re ready now,” Irric said, flashing her a smile. Together, the three of them poured over their code one more time before running it again, having Ava correct any mistakes they had made. Once they were satisfied, then ran it and waited several hours for a response.

  When one came, Irric eagerly opened the file. He sent a copy to Tassie and began reading over the report. “It’s some kind of food,” he remarked. “There’s even a picture of one of them. Some kind of cube that looks vaguely like meat.” His eyes jumped around the report to find out their purpose. “They introduced more nanomachines into his system and worked to change his musculature. How strange.”

  “There’s a video attached to it,” Ava pointed out. “Should we watch it?”

  “I really don’t want to,” Tassie replied. “If it’s like any of the other videos we’ve seen so far, it’ll just be Adrian in pain.”

  “Surely, it won’t be that bad,” Ava said. The lack of response gave her pause. “I think we should watch it,” she said, pushing ahead anyway. Thus far, she hadn’t seen any of Adrian’s videos and was intensely curious to see what the experiments done by the gru’ul entailed. Now knowing of the Mandate, she wanted to see firsthand what kind of modifications the gru’ul had done to Adrian.

  After all, she knew her role now. She wanted to see what she’d condemned him to that warranted such an outburst of anger directed towards her when she’d been asked to translate for Kell and Stanley.

  “I’m not sure I want to watch another one of his experiments,” Irric said. Can’t we just content ourselves with what’s written in the report this time and let the Tribunal view the video?”

  Ava shook her head. “No, that won’t do.”

  “For you or for them?” Tassie said, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do you want to see Adrian’s video so badly?” Personally, she’d witnessed enough misery to last a lifetime. She didn’t want to see more, for she was the one that had to look Adrian in the eyes afterwards. The others didn’t understand how hard that was becoming with each passing discovery.

  Ava hesitated for a moment, gauging Tassie’s reaction. She knew the other soldier wasn’t in the know about the Mandate and would prefer it if it stayed that way for the time being. “Because I want to know,” she said softly. “He was so angry at me, and I need to know why. I don’t want to remain in the dark about how my actions impacted him. Not after what I did to him.”

  “Play the video, Irric,” Tassie ordered after she digested Ava’s answer. “Show her the consequences of her actions. Show her what they cost Adrian, even if what we’ll see is only a small part of it.”

  “Irric mentioned there was another video about some kind of chemical used on —” Ava hedged only to be cut off before she could finish.

  “No,” Tassie said with steel in her voice. “I will never show another person those videos without Adrian’s express permission. If ever you view them, gods forbid, I’ll tell Adrian, consequences be damned. Just know that whatever we’re about to see will never hold a candle compared to the horror that video contains.”

  “This is the same chemical that you almost shot me over?” Ava asked Irric.

  Back in her ship, Tassie jolted. “How does she know about the chemicals, Irric?” Her voice held a dangerous edge. “This isn’t a joke!”

  “She was there when they were discovered!” Irric said, defending himself. “She knows nothing other than the fact that they exist, not what they do.”

  “And what do they do?” Ava asked, trying her luck.

  “Nothing you need to worry about,” Tassie said, shooting Irric a withering glare. “Of all the people to learn about them. You didn’t think to tell me she knew?”

  “It never came up!” Irric protested. “With everything else going on, it slipped my mind.”

  “Fine,” Tassie grumbled. “So long as she doesn’t learn more about them.”

  Irric nodded. “I’ll ensure that she doesn’t.”

  Not put out by the information being withheld from her, Ava instead prompted them to view the video. Irric reluctantly started it for the three of them to see. An image of Adrian reaching for one of six cubes in a small slot in the wall appeared onscreen.

  He reached for one of the cubes, hesitation and mistrust written plainly on his face. They watched him tentatively take his first bite, only to choke on it. Then he ate the remaining cubes in quick succession. Once the final one was eaten, he paused, as though searching for something, only to scream and drop to the floor.

  Adrian continued to scream without pause for several long minutes, prompting Irric to jump to a later point in the video. Adrian was still screaming, his voice raw. Irric chose not to pause the rest of the video and instead looked over towards Ava to gauge her reaction. She grew distinctly uncomfortable, hearing the man’s shrieks of pain continue for so long and was relieved when they finally stopped.

  “Are they all like that?” Ava asked in the quiet aftermath of the video.

  “Yes, if not worse,” Tassie replied. “Adrian doesn’t talk about what happened to him, and with each discovery we make, I understand why. Irric,” she said suddenly in alarm, “I remember something from when Adrian first came here.”

  Irric tore his eyes away from the fascinating report on some of the changes made to Adrian’s musculature. “Which is?” His eyes briefly flicked back to his report before settling back on her.

  “They starved Reya at the facility but still fed her food,” Tassie said. “She and Adrian once discussed that they’d both been fed some sort of purple bread and that it hurt to eat. What if it also contained some of these nanomachines?”

  “He was fed different kinds of food? And Reya also ate some of the same food?” Irric asked. He worried as he imagined that if the bread hurt anything like what they’d seen in the video, it might also have been part of an experiment. “Do you think they experimented on Reya as well?”

  Tassie nodded. “That’s what I’m afraid of. If she ate those things, what happened to them? Are they still in her? What do they do? Just look at Stanley!” she panicked. “He’s dying because of something they did to Adrian. What if it’s the same for Reya? She’s going to die, isn’t she?”

  “She’s been fine so far,” Irric pointed out. “I don’t think whatever was done to her is going to kill her. Stanley reacted right away after they experimented on him. It’s been months for Reya.” He saw on Tassie’s face that he was failing to placate her and calm her down and tried a different approach. “Look, we don’t even know if she’s got anything wrong with her. We would need samples to find out, assuming we’d even be able to find anything. Why not have her get a physical done by Kell?”

  Tassie calmed somewhat and regarded Irric’s proposal. “How would we get her to agree?” she asked. “We can’t force her, she’s no longer military. And it would be suspicious if we asked for samples from her without telling her why. She’s going to find out we think they did something to her.”

  “What’s wrong with telling her what’s going on — the bare minimum — and let her make the choice for herself?” Irric asked.

  “I don’t know if she’d be able to handle it after everything that happened,” Tassie said. “Is there any way we could convince her without tipping her off?”

  “Why not organize a physical for the entire team and extend the offer to her and convince her to take it?” Irric proposed. “Your team would benefit from a checkup to make sure that nothing’s happened to them since being in contact with Adrian. We don’t know if these machines can spread or what would happen if they would enter somebody else.”

  Tassie frowned. “You really think we’re also at risk?” She was feeling fine. It was hard for her to believe that there might be something wrong with the rest of the team. Irric nodded. “Fine,” she said, “I’ll bring the matter up with Kell. He’ll probably be on board with it. How much do you think I’m allowed to share with him about our findings given that he’s researching Stanley’s blood?”

  “You’d have to ask General Nessah,” Irric replied.

  “You’re right,” Tassie nodded. “I’ll do that. Now.” With that said, she hung up the call and took several minutes to go over their newest findings. Once she’d read enough, she sent a request directly to Nessah to schedule a call with her. Not ten minutes later, she was talking to the General. Idly, she wondered just what her life had come to in order to have a direct line to the General of all people.

  Tassie explained the situation.

  Nessah pinched the bridge of her nose. “Do you think there’s a chance anything adverse has happened to Miss Ayala since her time in captivity? Why did our doctors not pick up on a foreign substance in her bloodstream.”

  “I’m pretty sure Kell did, but he left it as is back when we first found her since she had more immediate medical needs.” She pitched the proposal to have the team undergo a physical, to ensure that they hadn’t been exposed to anything since coming into contact with Reya and Adrian. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the team,” she added quickly. “It gives us a good excuse to check on Reya without alerting her that there may be something wrong.”

  “We can’t force her to be looked at by your team’s doctor,” Nessah pointed out. “She’s no longer military. What will you do if she refuses?”

  “I’ll find a way to convince her,” Tassie replied confidently. “Otherwise, we’ll just have to wait and see. Since I’m going to need Kell’s help, how much am I allowed to tell him about the work I’ve been doing?”

  Nessah turned pensive for a moment as she reflected on what the doctor already knew from his research into Stanley’s blood. “Tell him about the potential for nanomachines being introduced into the host’s system using food and explain your worries about Reya potentially being experimented on. He already knows about the existence of the nanomachines — he found them in Stanley’s blood,” she revealed.

  “He did!?” Tassie startled. “So even Ava’s experiments had to do with these nanomachines back on Earth?”

  “Yes, and for some reason it’s killing Stanley but not Adrian,” Nessah replied. “It’s important we figure out if anything is happening to Reya as well. Don’t reveal to him what the purpose of the nanomachines you’ve found is and keep anything else you’ve discovered thus far secret. Give your doctor the bare minimum he needs to do his job and have him report his findings back to you. In matters concerning the facility, you will outrank him. Even if he is the doctor. He doesn’t know about the existence of the chemicals. Keep it that way.”

  Tassie’s eyes turned hard. “Understood.”