It was nice working on something again. That something wasn’t security measures or some unlucky diplomat’s private servers, but something she was actually building. It also wasn’t based on the absolute fear of losing someone, as it had been a few months ago. 

No, this was based on the simple task of saving the queen. 

And Haseul actually loved it. 

The tech they’d ordered was some of the best quality she’d seen. Some of it was stuff she’d only ever dreamed of having a few years ago. It was also everything she’d need to transfer a consciousness back from the ship and into a body. 

If the machine worked, the virus would be a simple problem. At least she hoped so. 

And Haseul hoped desperately that she’d be able to take something away from this, be it the contacts they’d used to order this stuff, or the stuff itself. 

First, she’d have to be able to get off this ship. She didn’t want to completely believe that Vivi would have her killed or imprisoned after all this, but she had to be ready for it. 

A part of her really debated getting off the ship. Even with what she’d told Yeojin, there was a very real chance that she’d be able to escape without getting blown up or dragged back. She was essentially free on the ship and could go anywhere. Even the places she wasn’t ‘allowed’ to go, she could get there. That included the cockpit. 

What held her back from trying was the sneaking suspicion that Vivi knew that, but was still giving her everything she wanted. She wasn’t exactly hiding that much. It was almost as if she trusted her. 

“Busy enough to need silence? Or can I come in?”

Haseul looked up only to see Hyunjin at the door. She’d forgone the royal finery she usually insisted on wearing. Instead, it was a simple dress of deep blue. Of all the things she’d expected Hyunjin to wear, a dress hadn’t been one of them. 

“I work surrounded by people who never shut up,” Haseul replied. “You’re peaceful in comparison.” 

Hyunjin made a small sound of indignation. “I’m not sure being compared to Eden’s employees is something to be flattered by.” 

She laughed. “Just like a compliment from a space rascal isn’t that flattering?” 

Hyunjin rolled her eyes. “I’m a space rascal, thank you very much.”

Haseul stared at her. 

“What?” She frowned at her. “Didn’t read my file yet?” 

“I didn’t look.” 

Hyunjin’s brow shot up. “But it’s easy. You have access to the databases with all of us.” 

Haseul shrugged. “You actually want me to know your life story?” 

“We know who you are,” Hyunjin replied. “I thought you would’ve gone ahead and evened out the playing field.” 

“I barely even know how you got some of the info you have on me,” Haseul turned her attention back to the project, “I thought I took care of it all.” 

“Aphrodite knew about you,” she said casually, as if knowing about the life Haseul had tried to erase was normal. “And you didn’t erase our database.”

“I’m good,” Haseul grumbled, “and I wasn’t bad then, but I couldn’t exactly hack into another system.” She didn’t really have to care about it now. People knew who she was anyway. The news had made sure of that. 

Hyunjin dragged over a chair and sat down. “You could’ve. Especially once you and Eden got here.” 

Haseul waved a hand. “Wasn’t exactly important at that point.” 

She raised a brow. “You’d say that knowing that the rest of us know your story?”

“You know some,” Haseul corrected. “And I don’t care if you know how bad I was in physics or even that you know where I was born.” Not even if they knew about her parents, or lack thereof. 

“What about how you sabotaged a professor?”

“I didn’t sabotage him.” Haseul hadn’t really faced a lot of consequences for that. Especially when she went to Saturn. 

“You made sure the lectures didn’t work for a month, but always at a random time, so he wouldn’t be able to prepare for it.”

“They were useless anyway. Nobody cares about how space travel’s supposed to work when we’ve already colonised literal planets.” 

Hyunjin chuckled. “I enjoyed that class.” 

“And where was that?” Haseul raised a brow. “North, south, the mountains? A beach-side academy?”

“One of the moons,” she replied. “Back then being planet-side wasn’t something I was authorised for. Yet.” 

It took a few seconds to process. 

“They let you to work in government?” Haseul asked. Even within Earth, the appointment of someone from the moon to assist the royal family was frowned upon. “And they actually trusted you?” 

Hyunjin smiled. “You can be born on the planet, in that country, and still be a treacherous if you wanted to be.” 

“Great.” Haseul leaned back on her elbows. “So you passed a test?” 

“I’m great at what I do,” she replied. 

“I barely even know what you do here, unless it’s being intimidating and messing with my stuff.” Haseul lifted her hands. 

Hyunjin just gave her a look. “As if I’d let you keep your knives?”

Haseul kicked the bottom of her chair. “As if I’d use them!”

Hyunjin laughed. “Well, you never know. Knives’re also great for sabotaging electrical lines. You know,” she shrugged, “old school.” 

“Ancient, you mean,” she gave her a look, “who do you take me for? I’m barely a passable engineer.”

Hyunjin’s eyes went to the tech around them. 

“That doesn’t count.” Haseul moved on to the next part. “This’s simple stuff.”

“Simple,” she repeated. “The people who followed in your footsteps would disagree.” 

Haseul shrugged. “Well, I was great at what I did.” 

Hyunjin frowned. “You still are, though.” 

She shook her head. “Everything’s moved on so much. I have to read and reread the notes on this stuff.” She glanced at the papers she’d scattered across the ground. “Whoever did this part of the work, I’d give them the world.” It was meticulous, even if this person was full of little bits of commentary for each research paper and new tech. She got the feeling that this person was self-taught for a lot of it, because they kept talking about trying something out themselves and adding in “whatever” to the plans. They talked about failed prototypes as much as they did successes. 

“Wait ’til you meet her.” Hyunjin chuckled. 

Haseul grabbed the glass of water and took a sip. 

Hyunjin was looking at the scattered parts. “How do you work like this?” 

“I know where everything is,” Haseul replied. “And it’s organised.” 

“Really,” she picked up two papers, “page three and nine belong to each other?” 

“They give you the number twelve,” Haseul shrugged, “and they’re both on upgrades whoever this is made to my first machine.” She couldn’t help but laugh. “Made it better than anything I’d have made at the time.” 

To her surprise, Hyunjin grinned. 

Haseul blinked. “Woah, I say something right?”

“You’re still so into this,” Hyunjin said. “And it’s been eight years, huh?” 

The thought hurt a little bit more than usual. “Yeah.” 

Hyunjin nodded once. She didn’t say anything else, but she looked like she was thinking about it. 

Haseul decided to take that moment to stand up and stretch. Her back was aching, but she was used to that. Even Eden let her not move from her spot for days on end if she wanted to. Her back muscles weren’t exactly all that great, but at least she didn’t slouch. 

“You can ask us questions, you know,” Hyunjin said. “I can tell you're tempted every time we mention something.” 

Haseul shrugged. “Are we on that level yet?”

“If this works, you’ll have saved the queen,” she replied, a perfectly straight face. “So I’d say we’re not on the worst level. Unless you mess something up.” 

“And after that?” Haseul tried to phrase it carefully. She didn’t know if she’d be ruining this new piece of peace with Hyunjin. She usually ended up souring it by saying something. Even if it was fun, she actually preferred being on Hyunjin’s good side. 

“After?” Hyunjin repeated, looking a bit confused. “You get to making that body of yours.” 

“Seriously?” Haseul asked. “And you can be honest with me. I’m already pretty far with this.” She nodded at her own notes on the far end. They’d given her a desk with an extremely comfortable desk and she’d managed to make a semi decent blueprint. If they got rid of her now, they’d probably still be able to build it. 

She looked at her for a long moment. “I know you’re expendable at this point.” 

Haseul didn’t even try to hide her unease. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t say it like that.” She touched a hand to her heart. “It hurts me.” 

Hyunjin glared at her. “But nothing’s going to happen that we haven’t promised you,” she said. “The queen keeps her word.” 

“But it’s not just the queen at stake,” Haseul countered. “I’m a wanted woman. It comes out that you had me and let me go—”

Hyunjin scoffed. “You actually think she’d turn on you after this?”

Haseul blinked. “That’s sort of what you do when you don’t want a secret coming out. Risk management and all that. Don’t they have a course at the academy for that?” 

She raised a brow. “Do you even know which academy you’re taking about?” 

“Nope,” Haseul brought the next piece into place, “Aphrodite’s huge and there’s a lot of moons too. I can’t be bothered to know which one’s which.” 

“I went to two,” she said. “First one’s where I learned how ty Aphrodite actually is. Second one’s where I learned how to deal with it.”

“I’m guessing the second one was on Aphrodite?” 

Hyunjin nodded. “Heejin and me went to the same one.”

Haseul frowned. “So let me get this straight. You were on the moon because you weren’t allowed to be on the planet. Then you got authorisation and then you’re working for the queen?” 

“Told you,” she smirked, “I’m good at what I do.” 

“Great,” Haseul said. “Was that a class too?”

“Being great?” Hyunjin raised a brow. “I was born with it.” 

Haseul wondered if she was serious about being able to ask her, but she’d give it a go. “And where was that?”

“Artemis,” she said immediately. “If anyone’s a space rat outta the two of us, it’s me.” 

“Except one of us is basically royalty, and I’m the one with a bounty on my head.” 

“But,” Hyunjin raised a hand, “you’re a lunar baby.”

Haseul gave her a look. “You really wanna make this a competition?” 

“No,” she said. “You’d probably win that one once we got to the last ten years.” 

Haseul was stunned for a second. Then she laughed. 

In the back of her mind, she wondered how Aphrodite could even allow that. 

“Why’d you start comparing lives then?” Haseul took a few deep breaths. “If you knew all that.”

Hyunjin shrugged. “It was fun.” 

“And how wasn’t that hated by everyone?” Haseul asked. “There’s barely a word about an Artemis kid being taught planet-based, let alone one in the royal court.” Then she frowned. “This's another secret?”

Hyunjin shook her head. “They know, and I know a lot don’t like it, but they can’t really say much anymore.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, her eyes practically glittering. “Because I’m already here.”

“So what you’re saying is,” she started, “they kept it a secret until it was too late to try and get you out of it?”

“That’s right.” She raised a brow. “Now would you say that’s a bad thing or not?”

“But they knew you were around, right? That you existed?”

Hyunjin rolled her eyes. “Of course they did.”

Haseul raised her hands. “Not always. Some people can fly way under the radar if they want.” 

“I didn’t,” she said. “We just weren’t so obvious about where I was born.” 

Haseul started on building the computer. She’d actually wanted to save that for later, but it was easy and she could just focus on actually talking to Hyunjin. She’d already been a mystery before, but now there was something else to it. 

“So on that note,” Hyunjin leaned forward, “were you actually born on the moon or did someone manage to hide that stuff on you?”

Haseul chuckled. “I was born on the moon. Most of what you have is probably true, even the part on the professor.” 

“And then the rest is rumours,” she finished. 

Haseul nodded, a weight settling on her chest. “Exactly.”

Hyunjin’s expression softened a bit. She got to her feet. “Want anything? Another tea? Something to eat? I’m not making you a thing.” 

She smiled. “A sandwich’d be great.” 

Hyunjin’s brow twitched, but she didn’t look annoyed. “I’ll see what I find.”

_____

Even though they hadn’t given her a deadline, Haseul knew things were getting worse. 

Vivi was pretty good at hiding it, but Haseul had spotted how she’d flinched when the machine had connected to power for the first time. The queen was essentially logged on to the ship. In theory, she’d be able to open any of the doors without a code, tap into the cameras herself, and even steer the ship if she wanted to. 

Except all that just made irritated her brain, with the virus leaping to interfere with whatever parts of her mind were able to connect to the devices. 

It was an incredible idea, but letting Vivi’s mind connect to other devices had also made it vulnerable to whatever attack on her had been planned. 

Because it had to have been planned. Haseul couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone on the research team who’d have leaked the secret, or someone in Vivi’s father’s court who’d turned. 

Or maybe even the people who’d planned the assassination in the first place. 

Haseul never thought about it long, mostly because it wasn’t what she was here for. The other reason was because she just didn’t understand enough about Aphrodite and whether or not any of the royals had had a lapse in judgement. She also didn’t raise the subject with anyone, because she knew they’d already thought about it. 

They also all skirted around the subject if anyone came too close to it. Even Yeojin, who Haseul would’ve expected to be loud-mouthed about it and ready to engage in a little bit of gossip, hadn’t said a word about who she thought did it. 

It meant they either really didn’t know, or had their suspicions. If it was the latter, that information was apparently even more classified than the queen having almost had a successful assassination. Somehow. 

The inner circle still talked to her in spite of that. Two weeks in and they’d all figured out that Haseul didn’t mind talking while she worked. Most of the conversations had been harmless, asking her about how she’d actually gotten to neuroscience or about what Earth was like. Even Vivi had only been there once, and she’d barely seen the rest of the planet, something Haseul still found bizarre. 

They didn’t ask much about Eden, or why Haseul’s job had ended. Haseul both appreciated it and wondered when curiosity would get the best of them. She was pretty sure they wanted her to keep trusting them, so they avoided touchy topics. 

She’d learned that Heejin was essentially the spymaster for southern Aphrodite. Hyunjin both worked for her and other branches of the government. Yeojin wasn’t just a pilot, but she was a runaway from a now disgraced aerospace family from Hermes’ main moon. From what Haseul could gather, it wasn’t for anything terrible. It’d been some political manoeuvring that’d practically dragged the family into ruin. 

So Yeojin had managed to get to Aphrodite and enroll in one of the few academies where her name didn’t mean much. 

Yeojin hadn’t been working for Vivi at the time of the assassination attempt, so she’d only really known her afterwards. Maybe that was why Vivi liked her so much and why the other two put up with her. 

“We’ll be reaching Artemis by morning.” Vivi was at the door. “I suppose we got you everything you needed?” 

“And more.” Haseul grinned. 

Vivi smiled and walked to the chair everyone had decided was the seat for the guest of honour. At least for the hour they sat in. 

“I’m here to ask for a small favour.” The queen crossed her legs once she sat down. As always, she sat perfectly straight. 

Haseul braced herself. She hadn’t gotten any more reasons to doubt the queen, only more to trust her. Still, she couldn’t help but worry. You always had to be careful around something, or someone, who had as much power as she did. 

“Take a break,” Vivi said. “You’re barely in your own accommodations anyway.” The corner of her lip tugged up. “And I know for a fact that we’ve got some of the most comfortable ships in the galaxy.” Her eyes were shining. When Haseul had seen one of her eyes glow, it’d actually been glowing. She’d been connected to the ship and hadn’t turned the light off in her eye. Probably for special effect. 

“I know,” Haseul laughed slightly, “Yeojin never wants to leave this ship.” 

“She would if I finally gifted her a Phantom.” Haseul shook her head. “Not until she’s thirty.” 

Vivi laughed. “I was thinking thirty-five.” Then she nodded at the three devices that were in the making. “Are they variations of the same thing? Or do they have different functions?”

Haseul pointed at the left one. “That’s what I’ll be using to get an even better sense of the networks you put in place, because some of ‘em changed since they were put in place.” Then the middle one. “I don’t know what’ll happen, so I need to leave room for the virus taking more with it than we want it to.”

“So you’ll be copying my head onto it?” Vivi eyed it. “That won’t make a separate consciousness, will it?” 

She shook her head. “It’s information. Like how yours was managed in the first place, but in that machine, it’ll all just be what you have now, but not working.” She almost debated not continuing, but thought better of it. “I did that for a crewmate, the one who’s tied to the ship right now.” 

Vivi turned her attention back to her. Concern flickered in her eyes, as well as a question. She didn’t ask it. 

Haseul had already brought it up. She hadn’t needed to and Vivi probably wouldn’t have pried. 

Except it was also one of the reasons she was here in the first place. If Vivi was serious in letting Haseul use what she’d learned, then she needed to tell her what she was going to use it for. 

At least she felt like she had too. 

“We got away too late from a job,” Haseul said. “The bastards had some good ships, one with a cannon good enough for even a Phantom.” She shuddered, remembering the pure dread she’d felt when they’d watched the beam start up. Jiwoo had tried to move, but they’d anticipated that. The blast had torn through their main engine. “She’d gone to free the debris from the ones we’d had blocked. Someone else had gotten the shields working, so it should’ve been fine.” 

Vivi’s brow had furrowed. There wasn’t pity in her eyes, but understanding. Of course there was. 

“And that’s when it’d exploded,” she sighed, “the only reason she didn’t die immediately was because some of it’d already detonated.” She grit her teeth. “Guess that’s the downside and upside of having almost indestructible fuel cells.” It had been one single fuel cell with a leak. 

“Where did that leave her then?” Vivi asked. “Only with time enough to let her mind be transferred?” 

“She’s still alive,” Haseul said. “On life support for her heart, one of us stole a dialysis machine and just about everything to keep her body from shutting down.” 

“So that’s how you had enough time to link her to the ship?” 

She just nodded. 

Vivi reached out and squeezed her arm lightly. “You’ll have more to work with than they did, luckily enough,” she said. “I can’t guarantee they’ll let you have the machines, but Jinsoul was willing to let you see the steps for all of it.” 

“If it’s a price or a favour we have to repay,” Haseul shrugged, “then we’ll handle that too.” 

“Technically, you won’t need to owe them.” Vivi chuckled. “I’d guarantee that you can be trusted with it completely. And then I’ll have a hard time denying them a free dinner and parts.” 

“Is that where the taxes go?” Haseul raised a brow. 

“I beg your pardon,” Vivi lightly shoved her, “I’ve made my own investments and have my own profits outside of tax.” She fixed her with a stern gaze. “All before my robotic brain came into the picture, so all that drove me was human judgement and potential corruption.” 

She couldn’t help but smile at that. Still, the ‘robotic brain’ part rubbed her the wrong way. More than the corruption, funnily enough. Maybe that was because she was still part of what most people called a crime syndicate. 

“I’m sure,” Haseul said. “But you also didn’t boost your intelligence, so I’m not sure if that’d have made a difference.”

The queen eyed her. Had Haseul not known that she was more than a bit of a softie, she would’ve been intimidated. 

But unfortunately for the queen, and fortunately for the rest of them, Haseul had spotted Vivi in the kitchen baking with Heejin. 

It didn’t score many points for either of them on the intimidation side. 

“Was that a jab at my intelligence or a compliment?” 

“Whatever you want it to mean, Your Majesty.” For good measure, Haseul added a very exaggerated wink. 

Vivi’s eyes formed crescents as she smiled. Haseul had known the queen of Aphrodite was beautiful (it was almost a requirement, unless you wanted to be the brunt of some very unfair jokes, which had happened in the past), but she looked even better than the pictures now. 

“It takes more than that to charm me, Ms. Jo.”

Haseul almost said something else, but she held it back. Flirting with a queen wasn’t quite the best course of action. Even if she was stunning and quite frankly someone Haseul wanted to know a lot more about.

“And the third?” Vivi then pointed at the right machine. It would connect to an operating table, because Haseul knew from the notes that they had one. 

“I’ll have to actually get in your head,” Haseul grimaced, “we have to be ready to replace a neuron if we can’t remove the virus virtually. With all that, I think I can make it work.” She looked at what she’d built so far. “It’s just taking a while.” They were all skeletons of what they could be. Prototypes too, because she didn’t trust the first version of any machine she made. 

“We have the time,” she told her. 

“But it’s getting worse.” Haseul met her eyes. “You’re spending more time in those rooms than you did last week.” 

Vivi’s brow rose. “You’ve been watching?”

“Didn't you tell me I haven't been in my rooms enough?” She pointed at the door. “I just checked the other logs. I was surprised that Yeojin doesn’t sneak out more often.” 

“She used to,” Vivi replied. “But now you’re the one who does most of that.” 

Haseul blushed. “Maybe.” 

“It’s alright. You hadn’t seen the layout before,” she let out a particular long sigh, “I’m sorry we put you in a cell for two days.”

Haseul shrugged. “It was a nice cell.” 

“Still,” Vivi shook her head, “the first day was because Hyunjin and Heejin were trying to convince me to send you out on a ship back too Eden. The second day was to let Heejin do an one last extensive background check.” 

“And you still went through with it?” she asked, feeling a bit self-conscious. What exactly did an extensive background check mean? Did they dig into Eden to see what she’d done there? Did they look for eye-witnesses? And had they been doing that ever since the virus made itself known? 

“With you?” Vivi smiled slightly. “I had a good feeling about you, even if the actions I base this on are a few years old.”

Haseul looked at her. “What?”

Her smile faded. “All I know from your time in Saturn is that you erased your work from everywhere you could and that whatever it was, you destroyed it as well.” She looked down at her hands then, one finger tracing a scar that went from the thumb to the wrist. “We couldn’t even do that.” 

“If you’d have destroyed this,” Haseul pointed at the papers documenting years of work, “all I’m doing now would’ve been delayed and that’s time I’m not sure you can afford.”

“Maybe.” Vivi’s gaze was distant. “But with you, it’ll be the first time we share this knowledge.”

Immediately, Haseul felt terrified that the queen was going to reconsider. 

“You’ll have it,” Vivi said then, her voice a bit firmer. “It wouldn’t be fair for you to see what I am and then have to return to your people, not allowed to even try and give her another life.” Her jaw tightened. “If I can make that endeavour easier, then I will.” 

Haseul suddenly wondered if Vivi actually knew everything about her role in Eden. She’d probably committed a few crimes that the Southern Hemisphere would love to charge her for. 

“I’m not sure if destroying this would be a good idea though, outside of this whole thing too,” Haseul said. “It makes it easier for people to figure out where things might’ve gone wrong if there’s a problem.” Then she thought of the people who’d actually made those notes. “And you’d break at least three people’s hearts.” Hers was still broken. 

“It’s a slightly bigger team,” Vivi said. “I’d break many hearts.” She frowned. “But it is something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.” Something shifted and she looked tired. “You have your fingers, others have false hearts, synthetic nerves to regain the ability to walk,” she trailed off. “And I have an entire body I can barely say is real.” 

“You’re not the only one,” Haseul replied. She wondered if her being there was even helpful. 

“You’ve seen their research, the procedure,” she shook her head, “we went back and forth on whether or not to destroy it. My father had wanted to, I’d wanted to, but Jinsoul had begged both of us to reconsider.” 

“Why?” Haseul knew what it took to destroy that. She knew it was painful, but had Jinsoul refused for that reason? Or something else?

“As you said, mostly in case problems came up.” Vivi’s hand brushed her temple, tracing a scar there. “But also in the hope that we might reconsider. That I might reconsider.” 

“And tell people what happened?” She could barely imagine the reaction if the galaxy, let alone Aphrodite, found out about Viian. 

Vivi shook her head. “Not what I am, but the means with how one could create a second body, with working organs, and all that.” Then she sighed. “But that also means giving everyone with the means, specifically money, to cheat death.” 

“There’s a lot of room for error,” Haseul said. “What Jinsoul’s team pulled off, there’s only a handful of people in all three systems who could do that.” 

“But for the right price,” Vivi looked at her, “and matching tenacity, you’d have people like me all over space within a few decades. People who wouldn’t age, wouldn’t get sick, and people who’d let their minds be augmented even more.” Her eyes flickered with unease. “What would you do, if the people you hated, or the ones you feared, never went away?” 

She immediately had an answer, but it was in bad taste on all levels. “I can’t answer that.”

“There’d be ways to get rid of them anyway,” Vivi said. “And maybe even ways to legislate against it, perhaps even putting a cap on how many years the subject can be.”

“Jinsoul was writing about ways to give you a natural ageing process,” Haseul countered. “There could be a way to have a slow degradation of the organs that way. Put in materials with a specific longevity.”

She looked pleased at that. “That’s been the focus at the moment, mostly because I’ve wanted them to focus on that.” 

Haseul didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted to be mortal? 

“When my friends are old and wrinkled,” Vivi chuckled, “I’d like to be sure that I’ll be too.” A pause. “It’ll be induced, because I physically can’t, but I’ve made Jinsoul promise me that when it came to it, I would die of old age.” 

Haseul frowned. 

Vivi met her gaze and just shook her head. “I will not live longer than the ones who came before me and I won’t live on without the people I started all this with.” She then raised a brow, looking slightly confused. “Has that made sense or should I start again?” The corner of her lip tilted up again. 

“If a leader from thousands of years ago had heard you say that, they’d have slapped you.” 

She laughed. “My father wanted me to double my lifespan as well.” She shook her head. “It’s something he would’ve done had he died and come back.” 

That was another thing. Vivi talked about it like it wasn’t a big deal. 

Except there was a log from the first year, one Heejin had let her read (albeit with pursed lips a raised eyebrow). Vivi had started with phantom pain all over her body. Sometimes it would be her head, other times her hands, or even her entire blood vessels. She’d started barely knowing her own body as hers. 

And here she was, talking about it like it was as simple as her father wanting a new ship. 

“A lot of Aphroditans probably wouldn’t mind,” Haseul said. “They love you. I mean that too, I know Aphroditans, and not the ones who’d, you know, gain a lot from up to you.” 

Vivi raised a brow. “You mean criminals.” 

Pause. 

“Maybe.” 

The queen laughed. “Well, I’m flattered if I can make even them happy,” she shook her head, “but my brother is next in line for the throne. Her daughter will most likely come into power when it’s time. They know what I am, so once they have the authorisation to see, well, the rest, they won’t be too surprised.” 

Haseul had stopped working entirely. She didn’t want to miss a word of what Vivi was saying. It all felt like it wasn’t supposed to make sense, but it did. 

It also made sense why Hyunjin looked up to her the way she did—why someone from Artemis would actually serve an Aphroditan royal without some alterior motive. 

“But isn’t there a risk that they’d misuse what you know?” Haseul asked. “Good intentions can still be twisted, either ten years later, or a month later.” 

Vivi nodded. “And there’s no guarantee I won’t be the one to do that in ten years.” She sighed. “Or that the next virus takes its course even more quickly and makes me do something I won’t be able to reverse.” She tapped her head again. “There wouldn’t be the option of heightening the defences here, would there?” 

“I could try,” Haseul fought her own sigh, “but I’m not exactly the best at making defences. I just crack them.” 

“Then I’ll leave it for another time,” Vivi chuckled, “and Heejin’s not too bad at it.”

The mention made Haseul think again of those two and their protectiveness over Vivi. “What did they think about this whole thing? The research, you sticking to a mortal life.” 

“Neither Heejin nor Hyunjin agreed,” Vivi replied. “But that’s because they like the idea of me on the throne.” She bit her lip. “But I won’t start that. What happens the next time?” 

“You mean, what happens if it’s a tyrant?” 

She nodded.

Haseul debated telling her about what had actually happened then. 

Vivi kept talking. “I still want this destroyed. I still want there to be no evidence, no possibility of this happening again.” Then she deflated, her posture faltering. “But at the same time, I know how much good could be brought. The first example is your friend. There are countless others that follow.” 

“I’m not sure if you need to be worrying about that right now,” Haseul said. 

“Not right now, no,” she said. “But I have, and will have to.” She pursed her lips. “I wouldn’t raise the subject when we get there, but I know very well how much Jinsoul discusses it with her group. They have just as many benefits as I have negatives, but they’ve also raised many problems with it too.” 

“And that’ll be figured out then,” Haseul told her. “But right now, I think we should be grateful you didn’t burn these papers.” 

“Would you?” Vivi asked. “If you had the choice, would you let all this stay?” 

Haseul looked at the papers, the machines she was building, and then Vivi herself. There was a lot to be afraid of, because anything this advanced could be extremely dangerous. 

But it could also help a lot. 

And maybe it was selfish, but if there wasn’t any of this, they’d only have Hyejoo’s mind in the ship and all she’d be with them was a body that couldn’t survive on its own. 

“I would,” Haseul said. “Because what I was working on back then,” she hesitated, “it—well, I don’t think the people in control of it would’ve ever been like you.” She took up her tablet and looked at it, searching for any flaw in one of the designs. 

“Like me?” Vivi sounded confused. 

“I wouldn’t have trusted them to use my work for what I’d wanted it to do.” She found a mistake. “So I destroyed it.” She saved the first diagram before she started the correction. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t figure out how to do it in fifty years time.” 

When she looked up, it was only to see that Vivi was already looking at her. The look in her eyes wasn’t something Haseul hadn’t seen in a while. She’d missed it. 

“Because you can’t stop progress like that,” Haseul said. “So the way I see it, the person who kickstarts the whole movement has to know what they’re doing, know what could happen, and be ready for it.” She kept working on the blueprint. “And I think you and Jinsoul’s team could be the one for this.” 

After a long moment, Vivi got to her feet. She knelt down in front of Haseul. She was smiling brighter than Haseul had ever seen, even in her short time being here. 

“Thank you, Haseul.” She took her hand and squeezed it for a short moment. “I’ve already told you I will, but I know you still doubt me.” She let go. “But I promise you that I will do everything I can to help you with your friend and that you will come away from this free to live your life as you did before we brought you here.”

“Olivia,” Haseul said. “That’s her name. At least the name that won’t give her away completely.” 

Vivi just grinned. “Then I’ll make sure we can give Olivia her life back.” The expression faltered for a brief second. “But there’s an adjustment period.” She glanced at the papers. “I guess you already know about them?”

Haseul just nodded. She was both blushing and beaming at the same time. “I do, and that’s something we’ll deal with when we get there.” She had to resist the urge to hug the queen. “Thanks as well, Vivi. This means a lot.” 

She wasn’t just talking about the promise. She hoped Vivi knew that. 

"And what about that break I asked you to take?" The queen raised a brow. 

Haseul smiled back at her. "I just took it." She dodged the weak slap the queen aimed her way, holding back a laugh. 

_____

Author's Note 

First off, Haseul posting again made my day and is probably the main reason I was able to write this chapter. That with the SHINee comeback has made this a very good day for me. 

If you couldn't tell, this story isn't scientifically accurate. I try for as long as I can, but my mind has limits and they stop at basic physics and some semi decent neurobiology. Space travel is a fun concept for me and I won't be explaining how they get from one planet to another in a short amount of time (but I'm pretty sure that's not why you're reading this). 

These characters are an absolute blast to write. I love them all. You haven't met them yet, but oec and yyxy are also wonderful. There may be a spin-off for oec, but I'm going to try and wait until I finish one of my stories on here (either that or I'll give into temptation, but we'll see). 

I'm honestly so happy that people are reading this! Sci-fi is a lot of fun to write for and I love to read it, but it's hard for me to get into properly. However, this story is something I'm getting so passionate about, so I'm glad to be able to share this on here too. 

Hope you're all doing well! Stay safe and see you next chapter. 

Twitter: @hblake44