(Viewpoint: Chetan)
I was abandoned, tied up in the middle of the beach.
Asmara, it's allowed to turn your back on me.
The ramp was almost closed.
I could see her.
Through my heavy eyelids. Through the sand that still clung to my face.
A thin rectangle of light that shrinks.
Again.
Again.
Until they almost disappeared.
So that's how it was.
After all that.
I stood there, unable to even yell at him.
I let out a sharp cry against the fabric that was blocking my lips.
Even I didn't believe it.
She was really going to leave me there!
– HUMMMMMM, HUMM! HUM! UMMMMM~
I screamed until my veins burst, my energy rising as fast as my anger.
I bit the strips hard into my mouth.
But the light stopped.
The mechanism stopped.
A strange silence fell.
Voices echoed inside the capsule.
I was confused for a moment.
I couldn't make out the words.
Then the ramp went back down.
Slowly.
I frowned and hopped back.
Two soldiers came out.
They walked straight towards me.
Without a word.
Without looking at me.
As if I were a forgotten object, I jumped even more, even more than those slippery things in the water.
One of them grabbed me under the arm.
The other man lifted my legs.
I wanted to protest.
I thrashed about in every direction, as violently as possible.
– HHUMMMMMM, MMMMMMM, HUMM-
My voice.
No sound came out and it was followed by a metallic darkness.
I let myself be swallowed up.
Like savages, they threw me onto the hard ground, dislocating my leg in the process.
The ramp closed completely behind me.
The takeoff was brutal.
The sun vibrates.
My stomach churned.
Then nothing more.
Just a constant buzzing.
I slowly raised my head.
Rows of soldiers occupied the walls.
Immobile and Silent.
Their black visors reflected the artificial light.
No one was speaking.
Nobody moved.
As if they had been manufactured, but I didn't care.
My gaze immediately sought out Eugene.
I found it at the other end of the hold.
Strapped to a stretcher, eyes closed.
A multitude of cables ran through his neck.
Her wrists.
His temples.
He did not react.
Even when the capsule was shaking.
Even when the engines were roaring.
Nothing.
I gritted my teeth.
– (Eugene…)
My gaze continued and stopped on Roum.
Around him.
Everyone was getting agitated, they were getting a little too agitated.
Technicians.
Machines.
Screens.
Medical devices.
Things I've never seen before.
There were more of them around Roum than in the rest of the entire capsule.
As if the fate of a hundred people mattered less than his own.
I could barely see him.
His body was almost entirely hidden.
But his black arm still protruded.
This dark mass.
Asmara finally appeared; she was wearing a white jumpsuit.
She approached and looked at the results.
Then he suddenly looked up.
– Increase the dose.
Several people froze.
A tension immediately swept through the room.
I didn't understand everything, but it wasn't good.
It was so serious that no one even seemed to notice my presence.
The journey lasted a long time, or just a few minutes.
I no longer knew.
The walls were vibrating.
The engines too.
anger drained all my energy; I felt heavy and my arm...
I couldn't feel it anymore.
Everything slows down.
The buzzing subsided.
The shaking stopped. I thought it was sleep, but the capsule had just opened.
A white light floods the interior.
The second circle.
I recognized him immediately.
Dozens of soldiers entered.
Orders began to rain down.
– Medical unit.
– Containment area.
Everything sped up.
Roum was the first to be swept away.
An entire team was already waiting for him.
His body disappeared behind a cloud of white masks.
Like a treasure that you finally bring home.
I didn't even get to see him leave.
Then came Eugene.
His stretcher slid in front of me.
Her eyes remained closed.
His face appeared peaceful.
Almost happy.
It made me want to hit someone.
Only two white-masked men walked beside him.
I managed to hear a few words.
– Behavioral reset.
– Emotional rehabilitation.
– Reconditioning.
My blood freezes.
I pulled on my bonds instinctively, pointless violence.
The fasteners didn't even move.
– Hmmm!
My voice would die in the fabric.
A few heads turned.
Then nothing more.
As if I had never spoken.
Eugene was carried away.
Without knowing.
Without listening.
Without being able to respond.
And he, in turn, disappeared behind a reinforced door.
I remained the only one…
Completely alone.
An unpleasant, familiar feeling. Detestable.
The same as in the Pit.
When all the others disappeared.
One by one.
Until there is no one left.
Someone pushed me roughly.
- Advance.
I stumbled on the spot and found myself flat on my stomach.
My legs were still numb.
But they did not hold back.
I was dragged by the collar.
The corridor seemed endless.
White and clean.
I hated that place.
More and more.
Each door resembled the previous one.
Each intersection too.
A final door appeared.
Thick.
Black.
Unlike the others.
I understood immediately.
Not here, I had guessed it, but she really did it.
The prison.
A scanner swept across my face.
A green light appeared.
Then the door opened.
With a metallic rumble.
The room was tiny.
A bed.
A sink.
A table fixed to the floor.
Nothing else.
No window.
No screen.
Not even a clock.
They finally untied me.
I turned around immediately.
– What have I done?
No one answered
– Why am I here?
Still nothing.
– Where is Eugene?
Silence.
– Where is Alpha-1?
The nearest soldier hesitated.
A fraction of a second.
Barely.
Then he closed the door.
CLANG
The noise echoed throughout the cell.
I remained still.
Facing the metal.
Fists clenched.
Heart pounding.
I let myself slide down against the wall.
Sitting on the cold floor.
I looked at my hands.
Still covered in sand.
A few grains had remained stuck in the folds of my skin.
The final pieces of this… joy?
Of this strange freedom.
I closed my eyes and understood my fate.
I wasn't at home.
But at their place.