Flavio's story struck Youri harder than he had expected. He listened all the way to the end, taking in every detail, and when it was finished the question slipped out of him before he could stop it.
"Did you ever find out what happened to your wife and child?"
Flavio's face collapsed, and his eyes dropped to the floor. "When I woke up," he said quietly, "I was strapped to a lab table like some chained mutt, and Knox walked in acting like he owned the world. Told me this was where I'd spend whatever time I had left. Then he blabbered on about genes and mutations — the same crap he always spews. So I asked him." His jaw tightened. "I looked him dead in the eye and said, Do you know what happened to my wife and child? And with a perfectly straight face, he told me they were long dead." His voice thinned. "My only reason to keep going vanished in that moment, and the last piece of my spirit went with it."
Youri regretted asking at once. "I'm sorry, Flavio. I didn't mean—"
Flavio managed a weak smirk. "Don't worry about it, kid. None of this is your fault."
Before Youri could say anything more, the distant clatter of chains came scraping down the corridor, slow, dragging, impossible to mistake. They both turned toward the sound. Andy came out of the shadows with chains hanging from his arms and shoulders, scraping along the floor as he walked. Without a word he stopped in front of Flavio's cell, unlocked it, took Flavio by the arm and pulled him out.
"I guess it's my turn, then," Flavio muttered, and he gave Youri one last look before Andy marched him away.
Youri sank back against the wall until he was sitting on the cold floor. The hours crawled by. Nothing moved; there were no footsteps and no voices, only a silence thick enough to smother every thought. He sat in it half awake, half drifting, until the sound of those same chains tore it apart again.
He jolted upright. Andy was coming back down the corridor. This time he was carrying Flavio over his shoulder, limp and unconscious. Knox strolled along behind them with his hands clasped at his back, as though he were coming home from a pleasant evening walk. When they reached the cell, Andy unlocked it and tossed Flavio inside like a sack of grain and slammed the door. Knox came to a stop in the middle of the corridor, between the two cells, smiling.
"Youri, my boy," he said pleasantly, the way one might greet an old friend. "How are you settling in? Are you enjoying the place?"
Youri stared at him in silence and refused to give him a single word.
Knox chuckled and glanced toward Flavio's cell. "His potential is remarkable," he said. Then he looked back at Youri. "But you… you are something else entirely." He came closer and lowered his voice, as though he were admiring a painting. "Did you know you possess a rare talent? Perfect recall. A super memory. Whatever you see, whatever you read, whatever you experience — you never forget it. People like you are almost extinct in this age. And that gift, my boy, is only the beginning. There are many others buried deep inside you."
Youri's stomach twisted, but he still said nothing, and Knox seemed to enjoy the silence. He folded his hands behind his back and glanced over his shoulder at the old man sprawled on the floor of the other cell. "Flavio was interesting once. Now he's a fading ember — unreliable, delicate. His genotype was promising, but time has thinned it out. You, on the other hand—" he leaned toward the bars, and his smile widened "—you are a miracle."
Youri pressed himself back against the wall, and Knox chuckled again. "Still afraid. That's fine. Fear sharpens the mind, and it makes memory cling all the harder." He tapped the bars twice with a gloved finger. "You'll understand in time."
Andy, still holding the end of his chain, gave an impatient grunt.
"Yes, yes, we're finished," Knox said, waving him off. "Bring Flavio some food later. Something mild. He'll be useless for a day or two."
Andy nodded, and for a moment he looked at Youri with the same blank, empty expression he always wore. Then he dragged himself away, his chains rasping in time with his steps, and Knox followed, his shoes clicking sharply along the floor until both sounds had faded away completely.
Silence settled back over the corridor like a heavy cloth. Youri watched Flavio's still body in the dim, flickering light. For one terrible moment he wondered whether the old man was dead, until he saw the faint rise and fall of his chest. Relief washed over him, and then just as quickly it turned to dread. If this was what Knox did as a matter of routine, how long would it be before he came for Youri again?
Minutes passed, or perhaps hours; it was impossible to tell in the cold and the dark. At last Flavio stirred, and a low groan scraped out of his throat as he rolled onto his side.
Youri rushed to the bars and gripped them, ignoring the sting in his hands. "Flavio! Are you okay?"
The old man breathed raggedly for a while before he could force out a whisper. "Still alive… unfortunately."
Youri didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Flavio pushed himself up slowly, wincing at every movement, until he was leaning against the wall. "They're testing you," he said quietly, his eyes half-closed but alert. "Seeing how you react. Knox is calculating. Sick, but calculating."
Youri swallowed. "Why does he want me so much?"
"Because you're valuable," Flavio said, with a grim little smile. "People like us — gifted, cursed, call it whatever you like — we're nothing but trophies to him. Experiments. Proof of his own genius."
Youri lowered his head. "I don't want any of this."
"Nobody does, boy." Flavio shifted, trying and failing to get comfortable. "But you stay alive. That's the only rule down here. Stay alive, and wait for the slip. Everyone slips eventually. Even Knox."
Youri stared at him. "You really think he can slip?"
Flavio's eyes hardened, and it was the most fire Youri had seen in them yet. "Every man slips. Even the smartest bastard in the galaxy bleeds red."
Somewhere deeper in the facility, a distant clang echoed, and a low mechanical hum rose up through the walls. Flavio sighed. "Night cycle. We won't see anyone for a while."
Youri slumped down, exhaustion dragging at every limb. His hands throbbed inside their stiff, half-dried bandages, and his body begged for sleep even though his mind refused to settle.
"Try to rest," Flavio's voice drifted to him through the dark. "Tomorrow might be worse."
Youri curled up against the cold stone, shivering. His breathing slowed, and his eyes slid shut. But just before he slipped away, he heard Flavio speak once more, softer now, almost to himself.
"Hold on, kid. Don't let this place take you."
And then the silence swallowed the cell block once more.