Malden was stunned by the readings. The data scrolling across his tablet defied everything he knew about human biology, as though the boy on the operating table were not human at all. In his defense, he knew nothing of Youri's past, or of the artificial body that had been built around him; but the readings were undeniable all the same. Youri's physiology was abnormal and engineered — something far beyond any ordinary genetic deviation.
With that realization settling in, he slowly lifted his eyes from the tablet to the boy still strapped to the table, whose expression had not changed in the slightest despite everything his body had just been through, and he adjusted his glasses. "EH36, where are you from?"
Youri met his gaze with the same hollow calm he had carried through the whole test. "Why do you care?"
Malden got up from his stool and walked over to the table, his shoes clicking softly against the sterile floor. He began releasing the restraints one at a time. "I'm simply curious. Enlighten me."
Youri sat up slowly and set his bare feet on the cold metal floor. Pain surged through every cut and incision, itching and burning beneath his skin. He steadied himself against the edge of the table, took a long breath and forced his body upright. Then, without another word, he walked away toward the door, where Jean and Zayn were waiting.
As he reached it, Malden spoke again from behind him. "So you're not going to tell me?"
Youri turned his head and looked him in the eye. "What would I gain from that?"
A faint smile tugged at Malden's lips. "Smart boy. Very well — I'll grant you one reasonable request, then."
Youri turned back to the door. "I want something to pass the time in the chamber. Maybe then I'll tell you."
The twins took up their places behind him as the door hissed open, and just before it slid shut, Malden called out once more. "You do know I can get that information quite easily, don't you?"
Youri looked back one last time, straight into Malden's eyes. "That's a given. But what you truly want to know, only I can answer."
The doors sealed shut with a hiss. He faced forward again as Jean and Zayn walked him back through the corridors to the chamber rooms.
When he stepped into his room, the first thing he saw was a box sitting neatly on his bed with a small note on top of it. He picked the note up and read it. Something to pass the time. The handwriting was unmistakably Malden's. He had already kept his promise.
Inside the box were three books: History of the Terrian Galaxies, The Lore of Arabek, and Caspia. Real books. For the first time since he had arrived in Altex, Youri felt a faint sense of comfort. Holding a book in his hands again after so long felt grounding and familiar, almost sacred. He lay down on the bed and began to read, and time began to move differently as the pages turned quietly beneath his fingers, until, without any warning, the lights dimmed and went out. The night cycle had begun.
Morning came the way it always would: the alarm echoed through the chamber rooms, mechanical and merciless. Robotic arms hissed down from the ceiling to deliver the day's medicine. Each subject received something different — pills for EH17, a syringe for EH26, and for EH33 a cup of thick yellow liquid — but Youri's room was left untouched. He stood at the glass and watched as the others took their doses. EH26 collapsed to the floor moments after injecting himself. EH33 had barely swallowed before he was vomiting violently into the toilet. And EH17 stayed on his feet while the veins bulged grotesquely across his face, enduring whatever was coursing through him. A few minutes later, Jean and Zayn came into the hall, opened EH26's room, and dragged his unconscious body away without a moment's hesitation.
Youri went back to his bed and opened one of his books, but something at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He looked up. High in the left corner of the room, just below the ceiling, was a small air vent.
He closed the book and stood. The ceiling was high, so he jumped once, then again, stretching his arm as far as it would go, and his fingertips barely brushed the edge of the grate — but it was enough for him to feel it. Air was moving through it. And that meant it led somewhere.
Before he could think any further, the doors to the hall hissed open again. Jean and Zayn were back, dragging EH26 into his room and leaving him sprawled on the floor. Youri sat back down on his bed while the twins glanced around and looked briefly in on EH17 and EH33 before they left.
Then Malden's voice came over the speakers. "Bring EH36 in."
The twins turned toward Youri's room, and once again he was taken out. This time they led him down a different corridor, quieter and more isolated than the first. The doors at the end of it opened on a new room. Soft light poured from a glowing panel in the ceiling and gleamed on a polished concrete floor. A long, dark conference table filled the middle of it, surrounded by sleek black chairs. Malden sat at its head with his hands folded beneath his chin. Behind him, frosted glass panels blurred whatever lay beyond, and on the opposite side the room opened onto a glass railing overlooking open space.
"Have a seat, EH36," Malden said, gesturing at the chair across from him.
Jean and Zayn pulled the chair out for him. Once he had sat down, they went and stood behind Malden like silent sentinels.
Malden adjusted his glasses. "Well, then. I've held up my end of the bargain. Now it's your turn."
Youri looked at him calmly. "Sure. You wanted to know where I'm from, right?"
Malden nodded.
"Volar," Youri said.
Malden leaned forward a little. "And where is that?"
"In the Prepequal Nebula."
Something in Malden's face changed. "I once worked at an institute in the Prepequal Nebula," he said slowly. "It was a long time ago. But there was one thing about that place I have never been able to forget. A certain project." He paused. "They called it Project Infinity."