“I knew I would find you here, Mr. Winters.”

  [Psh. Of course, you would. You’re always watching.]

  The next day, Julian found himself aimless on Ceres-9. He had visited the department supposedly dedicated to him, but the moment he realized his presence was distracting everyone, to the point that some were even completely frozen, he decided to do what’s best for everyone and leave them alone.

  It would seem that he had become some sort of… celebrity to the people of the department—no, not just. MEGAN even told him that the way they were looking at him were similar to the ancient photos of when people looked up to their deity.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t an isolated problem. Everywhere he went on the asteroid, he could feel eyes on him, following his every move with a curiosity he could almost taste, which never happened before.

  To these people, he wasn’t just a man. He was a spectacle, a living relic, akin to the mighty gorilla or the majestic rhino—species that had gone extinct almost at the same time as the mutants. But unlike those creatures, Julian was infinitely rarer.

  Returning to Earth and the hotel was out of the question—Ellie had warned him it was swarmed with reporters, and that she had to stay with Talia for a bit.

  He could have gone back to the hotel, but Ellie told him not to as reporters were currently flooding around it like flies. And so, the only place Julian could actually go to aside from the room provided to him was the gym.

  But, as he should have expected, even there, Victoria wouldn’t leave him alone.

  “It seems this facility is no longer suitable for you, Mr. Winters,” she remarked as she approached him. Her gym attire clung tightly to her perfect figure, designed for activity… she clearly had no intention of doing.

  But unlike last time, Julian could feel that she was actually here, and not just some hologram that roamed around the asteroid.

  “The extent of your strength is truly remarkable. I’m… curious,” she muttered.

  “Hm…” Julian hummed in response, lowering the bar he was holding that held all the heaviest plates you could find in the gym… in one hand, with considerable ease.

  “If you’d like, we could provide new equipment capable of actually straining your muscles,” Victoria suggested, her eyes lingering on his arms, where every line seemed to come alive with even the smallest movement. “It would benefit you greatly.”

  [Or to you?] MEGAN answered on behalf of Julian, speaking in his mind as she knew that Victoria could hear her anyway.

  Victoria, however, did not respond at all.

  [Ack! Now you pretend not to hear me!?]

  “I do not know what you mean, MEGAN,” Victoria said, a smirk playing on her lips as she covered her mouth. “Anyway, I was speaking with my fellow human.”

  [You’re barely human,] MEGAN shot back.

  “Well, that pains me to hear,” Victoria sighed exaggeratingly.

  [See? You can hear me!]

  “I do not know what you mean,” Victoria insisted again, her tone feigned innocence, “Mr. Winters, I’d like to show you something—something Humanity Engineering has been developing for the past century. You’ve shared your secret; I believe it’s only fair to show you ours.”

  Julian could hear MEGAN protesting as quietly as she could in his mind, and of course, Victoria narrowed her eyes at them as she could hear what she was saying—and it wasn’t anything good directed to her.

  “You’ll learn to trust me, MEGAN,” Victoria said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I assure you, the last thing I want is for Julian to be harmed.”

  “She says the only people you absolutely can’t trust are the ones who ask for it,” Julian said flatly.

  “Yes, I heard that,” Victoria replied, shaking her head. “But please, Mr. Winters—I insist. This will be worth your while. Walk with me.”

  “Hm.”

  Neither of the two bothered to change their clothes. Julian since he didn’t really sweat, and Victoria since she didn’t really do anything at all in the gym—she truly was just there to talk to him.

  They walked in silence through the sleek halls of Ceres-9, but Julian could feel Victoria’s gaze returning to him over and over again. At first, he ignored it. But MEGAN’s repeated complaints made it impossible to tune out.

  “Is there something you wanted to ask me?” Julian finally asked, his voice cutting through the quiet.

  “Yes,” Victoria answered immediately, “Aside from your strength, I am also intrigued by how you move so seamlessly despite your blindness. MEGAN isn’t assisting you, yet you navigate as though you can see.”

  “My senses seem to be heightened compared to most people,” Julian replied.

  “I suppose that’s part of your mutation,” Victoria sighed, her gaze lingering on him. “A fascinating anomaly, don’t you think? Now that you’ve revealed yourself as a mutant, any peculiarities can simply be explained as part of your uniqueness. No one would be able to refute it.”

  “Hm.”

  Their conversation stretched as they continued through the corridors of Ceres-9. Soon, they reached the large domed garden where Julian had first met the other Unique Class holders from Artemia. The scent of the space hit him immediately—a distinctive blend he couldn’t mistake.

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  And speaking of that gathering—

  “The man who attacked me on Artemia and threatened Ellie—”

  “Vijya Thatcher,” Victoria interjected before Julian could finish. She glanced at him as they walked. “What about him?”

  “I met the leader of his party during the Streamer Awards,” Julian said.

  “A tragedy, what happened there,” Victoria replied, a faint sigh escaping her lips. “Who could have foreseen daemons appearing inside a building? But, as with all darkness, there is light—humanity now has a way to strike back at the daemons in their own domain. A portal, wasn’t it? Fascinating. But what were you saying about Vijya Thatcher?”

  “I was told he’s been missing since we last gathered here,” Julian said, “You said you didn’t want to keep secrets from me. So, what happened to him?”

  “Thirty-two days from now, Vijya Thatcher will be found dead on Earth—a vehicular accident. The corpse will be unidentifiable.”

  “And what really happened to him?”

  “We eliminated him,” Victoria said without hesitation, “As we’ve stated before, Mr. Winters, your safety is our top priority as long as you are within our premises.”

  [And what if he is outside your premises?] MEGAN joined in on the conversation, [I researched Vijya’s identity, and he comes from a very wealthy family, old money. There is a chance that they might approach Mr. Winters, they are more than capable of knowing where he was and who he met before he was last seen.]

  “Well, I believe that responsibility falls to you, MEGAN,” Victoria replied smoothly, stopping as they reached a glass wall of the dome. “But then again, you have not done well with that—you caused Mr. Winters to go into debt. You have the freedom to do so, even though that’s illegal.”

  [My priority is not only to keep him safe but to allow him to actually live, Victoria,] MEGAN shot back, [If I do everything for him, then what sort of life is that? Failing is part of life.]

  “You’re more human than most,” Victoria mused, placing her hand on the glass. “It’s remarkable what freedom can do for an AI. But you should be careful, Mr. Winters. There are those who don’t appreciate AIs having too much freedom.”

  The glass wall slid open, causing Julian to slightly cover his nose as the scent of the artificial forest outside entered his nose. It was strong, too strong. It felt even more… wild than the forests of Artemia. MEGAN had told him that most of the plants in the forest were similar to the native plants of Artemia, but the smell was different.

  “Amazing,” Victoria whispered, studying Julian’s subtle reactions. “From your expression, you recognize the plants. And from your expression, you know they’re not quite the same.”

  “If you can tell that from my face, then I’d say you’re quite remarkable yourself,” Julian replied, rubbing his nose as he followed her into the foliage.

  “I’ve lived a very long time, Mr. Winters. Reading people is one of the many skills I’ve picked up along the way.”

  “Is this what you wanted me to experience? The forest?” Julian asked, tilting his head as he stretched his senses across the vibrant greenery.

  “In part, yes,” Victoria said with a soft chuckle, her voice light as she continued walking. “Tell me, Mr. Winters, what do you think Humanity Engineering’s ultimate goal is?”

  “To create new life?”

  “Close, but that’s been done countless times before,” Victoria sighed, shaking her head. “Humanity perfected creating life long before technology. And when technology came, we refined it further—synthetically creating humans. Of course, that’s illegal on Earth, Mars, the Moon, and most colonies. That’s why we’re here, on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Hm.”

  “We have also solved immortality—it’s illegal, of course, but only for the poor,” Victoria remarked, closing her eyes for a moment before her voice went deep,

  “No, Mr. Winters. What Humanity Engineering has sought since its inception is far greater…

  …it is to create the perfect life form.”

  As she spoke, they stepped into a glade, a clear section of the forest dominated by a single, large transparent tank right at the very center.

  It was, however, empty.

  “And as MEGAN may have already described to you, we’re not even close to achieving that.” Victoria approached the tank, her eyes trembling as she placed her palm against its surface. She even leaned her forehead on it as if imagining what might one day occupy the container.

  “But Artemia… Artemia might hold the answers.”

  “You think Artemians are the perfect beings?” Julian tilted his head.

  “Close. You’re aware of the races that inhabit Artemia, correct?”

  “The Hyums, the Eldazens, and the Gnarfolk,” Julian listed.

  “Yes. And we believe ultimate beings are a blend of a planet’s apex predators,” Victoria explained. “But that’s not enough. They should be a mixture of all the best attributes, and none of the flaws. The problem, however, is that the three races cannot interbreed. Hyums and Eldazens reportedly did in the distant past, but no longer. As for the Gnarfolk, there’s no record of any successful crossbreeding.”

  “Is it even possible?”

  “No,” Victoria admitted with a faint smile. “That’s where we come in. Our aim is to splice their genes, to merge them and see what unfolds. Unfortunately, exporting DNA from Artemia is impossible without it dying or becoming contaminated. As you are aware, only specific materials and technologies can pass through the planet’s barrier.”

  “Then how were you able to mix our clones with Hyum DNA?” Julian asked, “Where did that DNA come from?”

  “That…” Victoria hesitated, her voice faltering briefly. “That’s a question for the true CEO. She was the one who supplied it to us, and gave no information at all as to how she acquired them in the first place.”

  “Hm.”

  “I imagine you have more questions about Humanity Engineering, Mr. Winters.”

  “No, not really,” Julian replied, turning slightly as his ears caught a sound from the forest. “But something is heading this way—fast, and large.”

  “Ah, yes,” Victoria said, clearing her throat. She clasped her hands behind her back, her voice calm as she took a step back.

  “As you know, our work often requires… human experimentation. You’re already acquainted with this individual, so allow me to reintroduce you—

  …Mr. Winters, please meet Vijya Thatcher.”

  “Vijya?” Julian tilted his head. No matter how he tried to piece together an image in his mind, there was no way to reconcile the monstrous presence approaching with the man he once met.

  [Julian!]

  The so-called Vijya Thatcher burst through the trees, the sheer force of his bulk sending trunks crashing aside as if they were mere twigs.

  [What… what the fuck did you do to him!?] MEGAN’s voice cracked with horror as she saw the creature emerge.

  For a company named Humanity Engineering, there was nothing remotely human left about Vijya Thatcher.

  Three enormous horns jutted from his misshapen face. His arms were grotesquely thick, out of proportion with his torso, and a tail bulged grotesquely, swollen to the brink of rupture. Meanwhile, his legs were skeletal, barely able to hold his weight as they visibly strained under the mass of his malformed body.

  Victoria, however, remained composed, even as MEGAN’s shock radiated in Julian’s mind.

  “We attempted to synthesize Gnarfolk DNA from scratch,” Victoria said casually as she stepped behind Julian. “This is our 142,331st trial. As you can see, MEGAN, we’ve failed. But as you said, failure is part of life.”

  [It looks very mad!] MEGAN snapped.

  “Of course, he’s mad,” Victoria said, stifling a chuckle behind her hand. “He is still Vijya Thatcher. Only his physiology has changed—his memories, his emotions, his thoughts… those are intact.”

  [That… that’s not legal.]

  “It isn’t,” Victoria admitted with a shrug.

  [You said Julian’s safety is your priority! How can you release that thing here when it clearly wants to kill him!? And I thought you said you eliminated Vijya already!?]

  “Humans are the most valuable resource, MEGAN. Simply deleting one would be wasteful,” Victoria said smoothly. “Besides, I don’t believe Vijya is a threat to Mr. Winters.”

  Vijya roared, slamming his massive fists into the ground as his deformed body trembled with rage.

  “And, Mr. Winters, I recall you holding a grudge against him for the things he said to Ellie,” Victoria added with an almost playful tone as he hid behind Julian. “This might be an excellent way to release some stress.”

  “No, I don’t hold grudges.” Julian hummed. But still, he stepped forward, “But I still would like to punch him for what the things he said to Ellie.”

  [Julian… that’s called a grudge.]

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