"Mona?"
Hearing the weak voice come from inside the door, Mona forced a smile. Every day, every single day, this weak cry was her reason to keep going, a shield helping her resist the pain outside the door.
"I'm back, Milisen."
On the bunk inside lay a Twi'lek girl with a gaunt, pale face.
Mona walked over and sat beside her, gently touching her lekku, massaging her rough, blue forehead with her hand.
"How was today?" Milisen asked.
"You know, same as always." Mona held out her left arm, showing the dense track marks covering it.
The two fell silent under the cold, clinical light.
Milisen broke the silence. "I miss Cyan."
"I know." Mona looked at Milisen's face. The thumb massaging her eyebrow suddenly felt a trace of moisture.
Milisen pressed her lips together, her body beginning to tremble slightly. Suddenly, she raised her hand and roughly shoved Mona's arm away.
"You don't know! You forgot Cyan! You! You don't care about us at all! You're always happy!"
Milisen suddenly shot out her right hand and pushed forward with the Force.
In that instant, Mona felt everything around her turn icy cold, as if her entire body had plummeted into a harsh winter.
"Milisen. You!?"
"Get away from me!"
An irresistible invisible force struck. Mona's body was thrown toward the door like a rag doll. Her delicate body slammed against the alloy wall, knocking the wind out of her so hard she couldn't even make a sound.
Slumped in the corner, Mona hugged her chest tightly with her slender arms, desperately enduring the pain wracking her body.
"Hmph—!"
"Milisen, everything will be okay, Milisen..."
Mona pushed herself up against the wall, walked back to the bunk, and hugged the crying girl.
"I'm sorry, Mona, I'm sorry. I... I can't control it..."
"It's okay..."
. . .
Another Room
Inside an upright bacta tank was a young boy. His skin was covered in bloody, darkening ulcers, and some of his bones were visible through the necrotic flesh. His body was pierced with countless tubes, delivering different nutrients, life-support drugs, and blood.
His tightly furrowed brow was faintly visible through the liquid, letting one feel that even in hibernation, he was still enduring pain.
Outside the tank, four security droids stood guard in a line.
It was unclear if they were protecting him or containing him.
. . .
Another Room
A group of children stood in a line, holding their hands out to a console in front of them, gritting their teeth as if desperately trying to sense something hidden within it.
Several researchers recorded data beside the console, their faces impassive.
. . .
Amir's Quarters
Amir woke from his sleep, walked to the fresher, and the spider droid quickly returned to his wrist gauntlet.
While washing up, Amir checked the information the spider droid had gathered last night.
First was the holographic map. In that so-called "Rest Area" and the "Training Area" next to it, the spider droid had obtained many high-resolution holographic images. Vague humanoid figures could be seen inside. As Amir had expected, there were indeed many children there.
The experiments here reminded Amir of the group of children he, Hak, and the others had rescued on Coruscant.
Amir suspected that the underground research institute on Coruscant was a division of this place. However, the experiments there hadn't touched the core; they were only responsible for a small part of the entire project.
The cruelty of the experiment on Coruscant was obvious. Once the experiments on the rescued children had begun, they had to be continued according to the steps. Forcible termination would trigger unexpected consequences, with a high probability of death.
Now, those children were just continuing the treatment under the guidance of the captured researcher, constantly searching for a way to eliminate the experiment's side effects during the process.
And the main experimental site here would only be more brutal.
From the spider droid's images, Amir saw a young boy shut inside a bacta tank. According to the scan, his vital signs were already extremely weak.
With a sigh, Amir walked out of the fresher and sat on the bed, waiting for breakfast and his new "lesson."
After more than a day of reconnaissance, Amir had roughly grasped the situation on this cruiser. If he wanted to leave, he had a perfect opportunity to escape by surprise, given the current severe information gap.
After all, his lightsaber had been with him the whole time.
But he didn't want to leave yet.
What Tulio said yesterday had greatly disturbed Amir. For the past ten-plus years, he had always thought he was an ordinary person who would live out this life peacefully. It wasn't until the recent string of events that he gradually began to doubt this.
But it was only doubt. And those words from Tulio, the "truth" they contained, had left Amir deeply confused.
So he couldn't leave yet.
There were many things he hadn't figured out, and many things he still wanted to do.
Boris, John Morley, and those children...
He couldn't fully believe what Tulio had said yesterday. Even if everything he said was the truth, it was only the "truth" he knew. The information he possessed wasn't necessarily complete or real.
Besides, there were some logical inconsistencies.
The main one was the existence of John Morley. He claimed to hold the method to find Amir.
What exactly was this method?
Amir had many guesses.
Tracking a living organism wasn't necessarily hard, but it wasn't simple either. But tracking one without any abnormalities inside the body was in Amir's blind spot of knowledge.
What else could they track? No chip, no mechanical device, not even anything that could emit a detectable signal!
Unless the signal was extremely weak, or wasn't an electromagnetic wave at all.
But whatever it was, Amir had no way of knowing. And until this problem was solved, even if he escaped, he would have to live under the shadow of a signal jammer forever.
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded on the door. The second day's explanation was about to begin.
It was still Tulio. Yesterday's loss of composure hadn't affected his condition today. He still had that shaman-like demeanor, making one feel both awed and at ease.
Today, he didn't continue his brainwashing. It was possible they felt yesterday's session was sufficient, or perhaps it was postponed until later.
Today, Tulio brought a small booklet.
It had no cover or other fancy frills. It was just a booklet, bound with white paper. In this day and age, finding a physical piece of paper was much harder than finding an electronic datapad.
Taking the booklet from Tulio, Amir opened the first page.
"Yesterday, I should have cleared up most of your doubts. Today, we will test your abilities. You must be very interested in this as well."
"Mm, I know about this. I've been able to do this since a long time ago. It's like an instinct." Amir held out his hand, letting the booklet float above his palm.
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