I took her hand. “Nobody is programmed for motherhood. We all learn together, one day at a time.”
Later, watching the trainees practice on each other, I thought of Ben. He’d sacrificed everything because he saw the humanity in these cyborgs. Now I saw it, too—their uncertainty, their hopes, and their capacity for love. These weren’t machines. They were people forging a future, and I was suddenly vital to that future.
As the day finally wound down, Aeon approached me, his stance betraying tension despite his calm expression.
“You should eat something,” he said, standing close enough that I caught his scent—something clean and distinctly his. “You’ve been working twelve hours straight.”
I glanced up at his face, noting the concern in his eyes. “I’m needed here.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his voice dropping lower. “You are. More than you know.” He hesitated for a second. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
The question lingered in the air between us—loaded with implications and complications. I could refuse. Create distance. Protect my heart against whatever collision of worlds might come when Earth found us.
But looking at him—steady, reliable, and infinitely complex—I realized I had already crossed a line I couldn’t redraw.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “I’ll stay with you.”
TWENTY
AEON
I looked up from the sterilization unit, where I’d been preparing instruments for the morning’s first exam. The early sunlight through the medical bay windows shone in Olivia’s hair as she organized patient files on her tablet, turning her brown waves to copper. Every movement of her small hands was precise and efficient. These past few days, I had been watching her more than doing my own work.
Suddenly, Sage burst in, her chest heaving. “Someone on Earth discovered Planet Alpha.” Her words landed like jabs to my abdomen. “They’re coming for her.”
Olivia froze, the tablet in her hands slipping to the counter with a clatter.
“How certain are you?” I stepped forward, my body instinctively positioning between Sage and Olivia.
“Our monitoring systems picked up encrypted communications. They’re planning a covert recovery mission.” Sage’s eyes flickered to Olivia. “With lethal force authorized against any resistance.”
My gut clenched with something primal—fear, but not for myself. For her. For us.
“That’s impossible,” I said. “Planet Alpha’s location is classified at the highest level. The encryption protocols?—”
“Someone leaked it.” Sage’s jaw tightened. “Had to be internal.”
Olivia stepped beside me. “Who would do that? And why now?”
I caught her eye and then looked away. Her presence here was complicated enough without adding betrayal from within.
“We need to find Tegan,” I said. “He oversees external communications.”
Olivia touched my arm—a brief, warm pressure that sent electricity through my veins. “What are we going to do to ensure the colonists’ safety?
The question pulled me back to purpose. “We secure vital points first. Medical bay, security center, council chamber, and the residential sector.”
“I’m coming with you,” Olivia said.
We soon found Tegan at his workstation in the security center, surrounded by holographic displays. His fingers danced over controls, too casual for the crisis at hand.
“Implement full security protocol theta,” I ordered. “Station guards at all critical infrastructure and double the perimeter.”
Tegan nodded, avoiding my eyes. “Already underway.”
“How did they find us?” I stepped closer, looming over him. Something in his body language made my instincts flare. “Earth doesn’t have the technology to track us here without help.”
“No idea.” He shrugged, the motion too rehearsed. “Signal interception, maybe? Or they followed the initial transport?”
