The moment the door closed behind her, Vivi took off the helmet. She was only slightly surprised to see a light coming from the lab. Few people had been able to stop working after she'd woken up years ago, with a body that was both her own and not. Jinsoul had downed several pills that even Jungeun’s research hadn’t been able to justify as healthy. She’d taken the lead on too much, going from keeping Vivi’s digestion system functional to helping Vivi learn how to speak again. 

She was still grateful, and still slightly in shock, at how Jinsoul had nearly made herself a wanted woman in Coruscant by shouting at Vivi’s father. 

I don’t care if you could literally behead me right now, you are not forcing her to make some statement to your planet.

More had followed, of course. Vivi had committed that entire exchange to memory. It’d also been the day she’d decided that Jinsoul was probably one of the best people in the entire universe. She’d also had to have several discussions filled with defending Yerim, Jinsoul, and especially Jungeun to her father. He’d wanted to have them imprisoned at first, or blackmailed to the point of unwavering silence. 

It hadn’t all been out of sheer paranoia. Her father had faced at least four cases of researchers threatening to expose the truth of Vivi’s ‘accident’. They’d wanted grants, permissions granted to them that overruled the committees or their directors (or just the removal of said directors). The king had managed to either sway them into keeping silent (through blackmail) and other means that Vivi knew of, but didn’t want to acknowledge. He’d been right to deal harshly with them. As much as Vivi hated to resort to their spy network and worse, she had to. 

It was one of the reasons Heejin and Hyunjin were so important to her. They knew that, but they could also put all of it into perspective. They were ready to help her make a difficult decision, but just as ready to step in if she was making a mistake. Both of them could be wrong too, but they weren’t at her side for a flawless judgement. 

Vivi brushed off the wave of sentimentality. She just let herself be tired. Very tired. 

She also wanted to see the progress they’d made. If she was perfectly honest, she really wanted them to be getting to the right place sometime soon. The headaches were getting worse and she’d started having nightmares. She wasn’t sure if that was the virus, or just the constant threat of said virus. 

She just wanted it out of her head. 

“Vivi?” Haseul was in the door, hair held back by a clip. The symptoms of being overworked were there, but she wasn’t close to being burnt out yet. 

Still, Vivi couldn’t help but feel guilty. For as much as she wanted them to hurry, she couldn’t push them too much. They were all under an immense amount of pressure. Vivi couldn’t really help any of them, because she’d refused to get augmentations that’d let her learn some sort of skill randomly. 

Yerim had suggested it several times and Vivi was sure she’d already have a way to do it, but there was a limit to the tampering you could do. 

“I didn’t think I’d be seeing you here.” Haseul sounded stunned. 

Vivi had to smile. “You would’ve at some point. Fighting a virus isn’t really something we could do in my actual chambers.” 

“Chambers,” Haseul repeated, shaking her head. “I think they talked like that almost a thousand years ago.”

“Probably more.” She went over to her. “Am I bothering you?” 

“Not at all.” Haseul pulled out the clip. Her hair fell around her face messily, but there was something charming about it. “It’s time for my coffee break.”

“Not sleep?” 

Haseul shook her head, smiling. “I took one of those stimulants. Still not sure how the hell those can be healthy, even if Jungeun’s proved it.” 

“It still isn’t quite natural,” Vivi replied. “Then again, neither is being born on a moon or on a planet that’s not earth.” She looked to Haseul. “Or being reborn an android.”

She shrugged once. “Want a coffee?”

Vivi fought a sigh. “You’re allowed to take this lightly, you know. Me being what I am.” She leaned on the counter. “I had to spend months prodding Heejin so she’d crack a smile when I said I was a real life Terminator.”

Haseul’s hand slipped as she poured out the milk, some of it splattering the counter. “You said that?” 

“I actually said I was a prettier version of Bender with skin, but Terminator came up every now and then.” 

Haseul stared at her. 

“I’ll take a coffee.” Vivi gently pried the milk from her hand and poured some into her cup, following it with coffee from the dispenser. Her head was still hurting, aching from the exertion of the day. Maybe she just needed to drink something. After the coffee, she’d get a water. 

“Milk first?” Haseul raised a brow. “You’re kidding.”

“No.” She breathed in the scent, closing her eyes. “Artemis like to import Kepler’s coffee beans,” she muttered. “I’m glad Jungeun forced the rest to keep with the Aphroditan brands.”

“Aren’t you supposed to say that?” Haseul asked. “Being a proud Aphroditan and all that?”

Vivi chuckled. “That, and we just make the better foods.”

“You also have the most successful line of artificial flavourings.” 

Vivi took the first sip. “And it works.” 

Haseul looked at her coffee for a long moment. “You’re right.” She winked at her. “But Earth’s is better.” 

Vivi only shook her head. Haseul’s response was a small smile, one alight with a silent I’m right. She just cradled her coffee cup as though it were precious. 

“We’ll be finished by the end of the week,” Haseul said. “We’ll need you in for tests the day after tomorrow. Or sooner, depending on your schedule. Heejin said something about you either having a really short, or really long meeting?” 

“It’s with Earthers,” Vivi replied. “They sent over a party. I think they were already on the way since our last little chat.”

Her brow furrowed. “Will it be a problem?” She didn’t look like she’d run if it was going to be. She looked like she was concerned for a different reason. 

Vivi didn’t dwell on it. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Haseul didn’t look convinced. 

“When the northerners found out that Jungeun was getting money indirectly sourced from a southern account, it was almost hell,” Vivi told her. “I was able to find a little northerner scheme within the south and based on Artemis. The details were muddled enough that I could still shift it in our favour, pull Jungeun in without breaking any of the trust she’d built with them, and have everyone move on.”

Haseul set her coffee down. “All I got from that is you fixed it?”

Vivi smiled. “I fixed it,” she said. “Just like how I’ll get the rest of this resolved. I wanted to ask you if you want there to be a statement that you’re still alive.” She took a biscuit from the tin. Heejin had been baking. “Even though most people already know you’re still alive, I didn’t know if you’d wanted that confirmed for the general public.”

“You can do that later,” she replied. “But not now. Not when we’ll be moving around a little too much for my liking.” 

Vivi wasn’t really sure what that meant, when Haseul had moved systems twice, but she didn’t pry. “So I’ll leave it to speculation, or deny it flat out?” 

“Why’re you asking me?” Haseul asked. “I don’t know what a lot of this’ll mean for you, for how they see you—any of that.”

“Angry Earthers aren’t what I’m worried about,” Vivi replied. “And I mean this in the best way I could, but you’re not as controversial as Sana Minatozaki’s kidnapping was.” 

She put a hand over her heart. “Not as important as an Earther princess,” she tipped her head back, “my ego’s destroyed.”

“It’d take more than that to hurt it.” Vivi gave her her coffee back. “And if it’s any conciliation, Queen Minatozaki isn’t helping me keep my crown.” 

“She probably would if you asked.” Haseul laughed, but it sounded dry. “Does she know what’s going on this side of the galaxy?” It wasn’t a question of the queen’s awareness, but more about whether or not Saturn’s issues were Earth’s. 

“I don’t know,” Vivi admitted. “I had a wonderful call with Dahyun yesterday, but there wasn’t any mention of a chase, or suspicion.” 

“You’re on first name basis with her?” She looked surprised. 

Vivi gave her a look. “She’s Artemisian and we southerners were innocent. I even know that their little romance started because of a shared love for building.” 

Haseul raised a brow. “She’d tell you that?” 

“She was and still isn’t quite a politician, nor was she ever the cutthroat criminal,” Vivi said. “And Hyunjin also really wanted to meet her. They got along being,” she made quotation marks, “‘space rats’ drawn into the royal court.” 

“So indirect bonding?” Haseul was already smiling. “Did Hyunjin set little friend dates up?”

“Something like that,” Vivi held the cup to her cheek, warming her face a little more, “they make this strange part of society bearable.” 

“And what about the endless pockets of money?” 

Vivi held a hand to to stifle the laughter. “That’s the main reason,” she said between chuckles, “but I didn’t quite want to go into wealth so quickly.”

Haseul smiled. “How gracious of you.” 

They were quiet for a bit. Haseul stayed looking at her coffee. 

“It’s a great team you have working here,” she said. “Even if it’s just three of them, they work like they’re nine.” 

“I would’ve said twelve,” Vivi said. “Good things come in twelve.” 

“You mean Olympians,” Haseul chuckled, “wasn’t it a scramble to find things to name after all twelve Olympians?”

“When Coruscant first started, yes,” she replied. “But we also have twelve grades in school and twelve branches of government.” 

“Sounds a bit like twelve propaganda.”

“Oh it is,” Vivi smiled, “but even I like the number, so by royal decree, we can keep it.” 

Haseul’s nose wrinkled slightly. She was still smiling. “How do you do it?” 

“Do what?” 

“You look exhausted.” 

Vivi laughed. “So do you.” 

“I’m not the queen.” Haseul took a sip. “But I’d love to know how she manages to make several days full of meetings seem like she just finished up a workout.” 

She shook her head. “She’s also part robot, so that could be a part of it.” The robot part of her was still hurting, pounding almost. She was only glad to have only Haseul’s voice reaching her ears. The incessant buzzing of Artemis station was too much for her. 

“I know how her brain works,” Haseul said. “She gets tired just like the rest of us do, even if she lasts a little longer.” 

Vivi just shrugged. “I’ve had lots of practice,” she said. “It’s like you can read through these papers, build your machines, and understand all of it, but I’d most likely be overwhelmed.” 

“I doubt it.” 

“I don’t,” Vivi replied. “I’ve tried and failed to properly understand how my body works, even before all this happened.” 

“It probably works the other way round,” Haseul said. “Politics were hard enough to understand in my old job, let alone the one I’ve got now.” She chuckled weakly. 

Vivi didn’t reply to that one. She just let there be a bit more of a silence. She rested her head on one of the cupboards. She couldn’t wait to sleep, even if it’d only be for a few hours, it’d hopefully get rid of the ache. 

Haseul’s head was clearly elsewhere. Vivi didn’t know if it was better to interrupt that thought process or ask her to say it aloud. 

She’d finished her coffee. Then she filled the cup with water and downed it. 

“Jinsoul’s ready to literally disconnect from her lab to help” Haseul said then, running a hand through her hair. Twice. “How’s she gonna get back? Stuck in transports, hiding her face and everything else, just to somehow sneak back and people don’t notice?” 

“They technically do that anyway,” Vivi replied. “Jungeun and the other non-Artemisians do.”

“But this’s different,” she shook her head, “this’s actually going into hiding, not knowing what people will think of your name now, it’s—“ She broke off. It was the most emotion she’d given away to date.

“It’s what happened to you?” Vivi finished. She didn’t reach out, but she wished she could.

A large problem by itself was that she didn’t understand the gravity of what had happened to Haseul. She’d never had to throw away her life. She’d had to fight to keep it somewhat normal, had other people save it, but she’d never lost it completely. 

Haseul just nodded, a lot of the fight leaving her in that moment. 

“Jinsoul is proud of what they managed to do here,” Vivi said. “So am I. The more I think about what they accomplished, in a short time too, the more I’m amazed.”

She smiled weakly at that. It looked like a combination of exhaustion and doubt had taken over. 

Vivi felt a little bit guiltier then. “But they’ve only done it once. They’ve only saved one person.” She paused for a moment. “For Jinsoul, she’s got a chance to do it again.” Then she added. “And she’s got the permission too.” She remembered what she’d told Haseul before. She wondered if what she’d said now made her a hypocrite. Why would this have to end with saving only one person? And why was it only Vivi who could decide?

“That’s not what,” she trailed off, “that’s not the part I’m arguing against.” She grit her teeth. “She just shouldn’t be taking this risk.”

“I think she’d disagree.”

“She already does.” Haseul looked at her. “But you know that already.”

Vivi could only nod. While she didn’t understand the research, she did understand the reasons behind it, as well as the love for it. For Jinsoul and her team, they wanted to give what they could, while still getting what they wanted from the field: knowledge (and a job). The good that did wasn’t always direct. To Jinsoul especially, helping to rebuilt Vivi’s body had been something where she’d really been able to help. 

“How?” She lifted a brow. “You’re getting along with someone who went from being a smuggler in Artemis to being a queen of Earth. You’ve got these people,” she waved a hand at the other rooms, “they respect you and they’d all protect your secret right until the end.” 

“What’re you asking me, Haseul?” Vivi asked. “Is this about Jinsoul helping you? You helping us? Or why I’ve been able to earn their loyalty?”

Haseul shrugged. “All of it, I guess.” She tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling. “The more I think about any of this, the more surreal it gets. The closer we get to fixing the problem, the more I realise that all this’ll end.” She frowned. “I don’t know how, but I’m supposed to believe it’ll work out somehow. I feel like it’ll be fine for me, because I can walk away from a lot of this, except—” She stopped talking. She grimaced. 

“You don’t know how the others will?” Vivi finished, wondering if she was overstepping by filling that silence. 

Except Haseul nodded, even if she didn’t look happy about it. “You’re all doing this for a stranger. Jinsoul barely knew me anyway. We didn’t study the same thing, I didn’t care about the fish, she didn’t care about the brain. Not then.” She laughed. “And all the rest know is that I’m from Eden. We’re a literal crime syndicate.” 

“We all know that,” she said. “But you’re not here because of what you were doing for them.”

Haseul pursed her lips then. 

“Did I say something wrong?” Vivi asked. It wasn’t that she felt insecure, but was Haseul’s break. It wasn’t exactly supposed to be filled with a discussion of the past and future, however complicated those things might be. 

She shook her head. “You’re just putting a lot of value on something you don’t even know the full story about.” She leaned from one foot to the other. “All of you are.”

“Does that change a lot?” Vivi turned to face her properly. “Should it?” 

“No idea.” Haseul’s next laugh was dry, a step closer to being hysterical. Was it the fatigue? Or something else? “I left all of my life behind for that. I stopped doing this,” she waved at what was around them, “what I loved—what I still love.”

She also didn’t say anything to that. 

Haseul had closed her eyes. Her shoulders drooped. It was a far cry from the lighthearted confidence she tended to carry around with her. 

“You want another coffee?” Vivi asked. 

A small chuckle. “No, otherwise I think my body’ll actually overload.” She opened her eyes. The look in them wasn’t defeated, but resigned. “I basically built a machine for brain-washing,” she muttered. It sounded like she was forcing out the words. “It could change your memories, maybe even give you ones from someone else, but you wouldn’t have known, because it was just the way you were experiencing those things.” 

It was unnerving how easily Vivi thought of ways to use that. She knew exactly who would make the most of such a machine. She also knew the lengths people would go to have one with them. 

That was also the reason Saturn wanted Haseul alive. 

“I was building it to maybe help ease a trauma someone had, or to let them see the memories of other people.” Haseul shook her head. “We’d already managed to take a memory. One of mine.” She tapped her temple. “I still don’t have it.” A dry chuckle. “But then I actually started thinking.” 

Naturally, it’d started with good intentions, but many things could be twisted. That included Jinsoul’s discoveries, Jungeun’s products when they’d been coming out, and more. 

“I thought it through,” Haseul continued. “I went through what would actually happen when word of it even got out, or if we were asked to start making changes.” She sighed. “And that was terrifying.” 

It would’ve gotten her so much money, so much notoriety within Earth. Vivi wondered how long it would’ve taken for all of that to be exposed. Earth wasn’t the best at hiding information like that, at least not from Coruscant.

“So I wiped all the computers,” Haseul said. "Everything my team worked for. I ruined the data we’d gotten, stole the animals we’d been using, ruined every single model we’d made, and destroyed the machine and pretty much the entire lab.” She looked at her hands, where the prosthetic fingers still were. “I should’ve framed some troop from Jupiter, or the Keplans, someone else,” she frowned, “but I didn’t know how.” 

Silence, save for the distant whirring of one of the machines. Might’ve been one of the incubators (except Jinsoul insisted that wasn’t what it was actually called). 

“And you were scared,” Vivi said. “Scared that if you didn’t get rid of it all fast enough, you’d be giving them a chance to recover it all.” 

Haseul only nodded. “Realistically, someone’ll do it at some point. Like you said, the rest of the galaxy’s will get to the point of advanced biotech somewhere in the future.” Her gaze fell. “Same thing for what we can do with the brain.” 

“But you delayed it,” Vivi told her. “It could give people more time to defend against it, because the technology will be better by that time.” She needed to sit down. She slowly went to the chair, but her legs gave out almost too quickly. 

The other woman stumbled as she went over. “Are you okay?” Worry had filled her eyes. 

“Fine,” Vivi patted her arm, “just tired, remember?”

“Your eye’s glowing again.” Haseul was looking at it. 

Vivi didn’t really know what that was supposed to mean. It also wasn’t important, not right now. 

“So what do you want me to do?” 

Haseul frowned. “Nothing? Maybe rest.”

“I meant with Jinsoul. You don’t want her to risk doing anything close to what you did.” Vivi nodded. “If something happens, I’ll do everything in my power to avoid that. There’s already failsafes in place to avoid catastrophe as best we can.”

“But the risk—”

“Everyone's taking a risk,” Vivi said. “From the start of all this, they have put their careers on the line. Ye–Choerry has set her future on doing everything she can here, but she also doesn’t have all the certainty I’d want to give her. I can’t.” The words were simple, but they still clawed at her. They’d dragged people in who would help her without hesitation. It was a gift Vivi didn’t want, but she appreciated it more than anything. 

Haseul leaned on the table in front of her. She was searching her eyes. Whatever she’d been saying before, she was done for now. Now she was waiting for Vivi. 

“Jungeun is consistently monitored by the northerners. Her being here already has to have plenty of reason all on its own, and she refuses to have Jinsoul tied into it, so Choerry smuggles her in. We have someone else to confuse their servers when the craft docks here, but it’s a constant back and forth.” 

“I know Yerim’s her real name,” Haseul said quietly. 

Vivi had to smile at that. “That’s a good sign. I went for a few weeks without knowing it. I think she was afraid I’d find out about everything she’d done once I knew her name.” 

“But you already knew?” Then Haseul sighed, expression softening. “Don’t answer that.” She smiled lightly. “She loves you now.” 

Vivi’s heart felt heavy again. 

Haseul’s brow rose. “Did I say something wrong this time?”

“Not at all,” Vivi reached over and gently squeezed her arm, “I just think you need to take a bit more note on the fact that the people in this lab trust you. I trust you, as do Hyunjin and the other two.” She didn’t pull away just yet. “They know what you’re doing here, they know how much you’re working to fix what happened, and they’re willing to take risks for you too.” 

A flicker of confusion came then. “But they—” She stopped when Vivi shook her head. 

“They took those same risks for me, even greater at the time, and I was a royal they knew next to nothing about, before they were giving me a new life.” She pulled her hand away now. “I gave them the choice: they could stay in this project or never have anything to do with it. Just as long as they left their notes and the means for others to be able to help me if something ever went wrong.” She smiled lightly. “I offered to give them the same funding for their own labs, to somehow get Yerim into a schooling system that could finally let her get the career she wanted.”

“And they all said no?” 

“Half of the original group took the offer,” Vivi said. “They know the secret, but there hasn’t been anything. I continue to fund when it’s needed, but there’s been no other contact.” She paused. “The rest stayed and I funnel the funds into their projects, but it needs to be divided.”

Haseul frowned. ”Don’t people object to that? Your economists or whatever?”

“The team here doesn’t fail to bring in results in some form. Naturally, I can’t really sponsor those directly from northern Aphrodite or Artemis, but I’ve managed to do what I can.” 

“And they love it here,” Haseul finished. “You genuinely made the perfect lab here. The projects they get to do,” the corner of her lip tilted up, “I feel like they’d want this to be their actual lab.” She looked at her then, a small frown that slowly faded away again. “So you’re telling me that because they already took the biggest risk in their career?” Her brow rose a touch. 

“I’m telling you this, because they’ll be willing to do the same for you. Jinsoul would take this ship from the station and go to wherever it is Olivia will be, and she’ll help get her back to the life she should have.” 

Haseul looked away. She was fiddling with her cup, tapping a rhythm onto the side. 

Vivi rested on her elbow. Her head felt heavy. Maybe she really did need to sleep soon. 

Then a door opened. Soon after, Jungeun trudged into the kitchen, bleary-eyed, opening a cupboard only to draw out a purple, red, and blue cup. She set them down in front of the coffee machine, before getting out three plates (all one colour) and putting them beside the stove. When she turned around, she jumped when she saw them. 

“Morning?” She bowed her head slightly, eyes going from tired to alert in a matter of seconds. 

“It’s five in the morning,” Haseul said. 

“So I was right,” Jungeun chuckled, “morning.” She pulled out two more plates. “Should I factor you two in for an early breakfast?” 

Vivi shook her head, while Haseul was staring. 

“Please don’t tell me all of you wake up this early.”

“We don’t wake up this early,” Jungeun replied. “I do.” She filled the red cup with coffee. “Happened when I stopped taking my own drugs.” She leaned against the counter now. “How’re they treating you?” She aimed a pointed look Haseul’s way.

“Great. Not even a coffee makes me jittery.” Haseul pointed at it. 

Vivi’s eyes fell shut. She forced them open again. There was a buzzing in her head again. Was it the coffee machine? 

“If it’s already that early, I should probably get back.” Vivi pushed herself to her feet. She swayed. The pain in her head spiked. Haseul was at her side in in the next moment. 

“Sit down,” Jungeun was saying. She sounded far away. 

Vivi only noticed how her legs gave out. Her mind was burning. 

______

It took everything in Haseul not to shake. She attached the electrodes to Vivi’s head, while Yerim started the mapping and data extraction. 

Vivi’s eyes were open, but unseeing. Jinsoul had told her Vivi was just unconscious, but it didn’t feel like that. With how the one eye glowed, how the colour had drained from her face, Vivi almost didn’t look real. They’d also had to take away the top of her head, because someone had actually fitted a seam into Vivi’s skull so that there could be an intervention when necessary. 

Haseul had only seen diagrams before, as well as the beginnings of the brain Yerim had been working on. Seeing it now, a mass of synthetic and organic tissue, with neutrons that seemed to actually light up when the light hit them in a certain way, Haseul felt dizzy. All of this was happening too fast. They were supposed to have time until this kicked in. 

“It’s working,” Yerim said, sounding relieved. “Nothing I’m getting looks corrupted either.”

Haseul gently pressed in two more electrodes, the ones that would actually be in her head, before pulling away. She’d never been anything close to an actual doctor, let alone a surgeon. She’d had steady hands in the past, but that’d been years ago. She just knew where to put what. And she’d know how to run the next machine, but what happened if it didn’t work? They hadn’t tested it. 

Someone led her to a sink to wash her hands. It was Jinsoul, whose mouth was pressed in a harsh line. 

“Do I have to take those off?” She pointed at Haseul’s fingers.

“They’re waterproof,” Haseul muttered, rinsing off the blood. She knew on paper how much of Vivi was synthetic and how much wasn’t, but to actually see it was a completely different thing. 

“It’ll be fine,” Jinsoul said. “This’s better than what we had then. We’ll have everything Vivi needs in no time.” 

And then the door opened. Hyunjin ran in, in the middle of taking her helmet off. She looked panicked. 

“There was a signal coming through here,” she said, gasping. Had she run here? “It was interfering with her—the virus. The ship’s docking in twenty minutes.”

“What?” Jungeun looked up, gaze steely. “Who’s is it? How fast?” Her voice wasn’t sharp, but it was all asked with a familiarity to it. Jungeun had done this before.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jinsoul stiffen. 

“Based on the Phantom,” Hyunjin replied. “Haven’t found any connection to anyone.” Her hands were going to her waist. "Saturn's also got a ship docking in ten minutes, but they'll have customs to deal with." There was a gun there.

“You’re not doing anything with that,” Jungeun went over to her, “you, Heejin, and Yeojin all have to get back to the craft, announce some sort of emergency over on the south, and then get the hell out of here.” She went over to another console, a holograph of the Coruscant system appearing, beside it was the edge of Kepler. “When she’s okay, we’ll transfer forty signals to Station Five if we can try coming back, thirty if we go to the Boa four, twenty if we’re going straight to wherever Eden’ll want to meet us.” 

Hyunjin nodded once, putting the gun back in its holster. “Heejin’s readying the statements. I’ll be checking for who’s sending which message.” She looked Haseul’s way and came over. 

Haseul almost shrank away. She thought the worst part would’ve been after they got the virus out. Not now. 

“This ship isn’t a part of Aphrodite, Artemis, or anything else,” Hyunjin told her. “It’s basically a ghost, but they’ll follow it. You just have to keep doing what you’re here for, we’ll handle the rest.” She smiled. “And I mean everything else.” She clasped her on the shoulder, squeezing tightly. 

“Does anyone know I’m here?” 

“Depends on whoever the bastards’re working for,” Hyunjin gave her a tight hug, “and I better see you again, or I’ll probably use the spy network to hunt you down.” 

Haseul realised then that there was a high chance she’d never see Hyunjin again. Not if anyone knew where she was and definitely not if there were people hunting her again. 

Haseul hugged her back. “Just as long as it’s not to arrest me or any of the others, go ahead.”

“Already did that.” Hyunjin winked when she pulled away. “Now save our queen.” She put her helmet back on. “No pressure, right?” Then she was gone. 

Yerim was at a display, eyes glued to the information they were copying. None of it could be corrupted, but they’d built in protective software. Unless the virus was even more advanced than it already was, they wouldn’t lose Vivi’s consciousness. That was the most important part. They just had to wait. 

Haseul needed something to do. There wasn’t anything else, but to go check the other machines. 

Except two people were in her way. They were stuck in a quiet argument too, but noise travelled in a lab. 

“You need someone to fly this,” Jungeun was saying. “There isn’t—”

“I’ll make it work,” Jinsoul hissed. “You’re getting off this ship and back to Aphrodite. You can’t be anywhere near here if this gets out.”

Jungeun’s brow furrowed. “This’s exactly where I need to be.” 

“Haseul,” Yerim called. “We’re good.” 

She went over. “This ship flies stable?” 

Yerim nodded. “We’re leaving once we know they’ve docked, maybe a little later, but there’s nothing.”

They couldn’t leave immediately. It was easy to just change course and chase after any ship that was going off somewhere. It wasn’t that easy to immediately leave a station like Artemis. Unless your ship didn’t technically exist. 

“Is that going to be a problem?” Haseul nodded at Jungeun and Jinsoul’s way. “Is she getting off or staying.” She cleaned her hands again, before Yerim put gloves on her. Vaguely, she knew they a lab coat wouldn’t hurt, but it was already too hot on the ship. Or she was on the verge of a meltdown. You couldn't always tell when everything went to . 

“Staying,” Yerim said. “She’s the only one who’ll be able to get us out of reach.” 

Haseul felt her heart drop. Jinsoul didn’t want Jungeun there, because whoever was watching them would figure out that Jinsoul had something to do with it. Yerim had no part of this officially, but Jungeun wasn’t accounted for on Aphrodite. Haseul had no idea where she was supposed to be officially, but depending on how this went, whoever was after them could set their sights on her too. A decorated Aphroditan was a good target for anyone, including Aphrodite. 

“It doesn’t matter!” Jungeun hissed. “I’m flying us out of here, because none of the rest of you can do it. Both Yerim and Haseul have to get the virus out. You have to be ready in case her vitals shift.” She pushed past Jinsoul and to where Haseul assumed the cockpit was. 

Her heart almost broke when she saw Jinsoul’s expression. She looked away. 

“I’ve got this,” Haseul said, patting Yerim’s arm. “Just have to be sure we can focus in on it.” She gave her a gentle push.  

Yerim immediately went over to Jinsoul, grabbing her hand. 

Jinsoul’s head found Yerim’s shoulder quickly enough. She wasn’t crying, but she was close to it. 

Haseul looked to the mapping software. She could see the virus. It was spreading. That was why Jungeun was worried her vitals would change. If the virus hit the cerebellum, Vivi wouldn’t be able to move anymore and they’d need to replace it. If it corrupted any part of the brain stem, Vivi could stop breathing completely. Her heart would stop. That was where they’d need Jinsoul, because Haseul didn’t know how to help that. 

“Yerim!” Haseul called. “We’re starting now.”

Yerim pulled away from Jinsoul, squeezing her hand once before she was at Haseul’s side again. She unwrapped the surgical tools they’d need. She cleaned the tool they’d use to remove the virus completely. Haseul prayed she’d written the algorithm right. She’d gone over it three times when she’d first made it and another six times over the last few days. 

And they needed to do it for each cell that’d been affected. She silently cursed Vivi’s father for making the decision to make her brain so overwhelmingly synthetic. Yes, it’d made it possible to enhance her brain, and for her to have all of her memories, but it’d also exposed it to the virus. 

In the back of her mind, she knew that the machine she’d once made would circumvent that problem. She pushed it out completely. 

“I’ll get it away from the stem,” Haseul said, slowly forcing the instrument through. Through the tiny camera they’d attached to it, she could see the affected cells even more clearly. The edges of the cells almost looked like they were undergoing necrosis. They’d have to replace those, but that was Yerim’s job. 

Haseul’s was this. 

She took hold of one cell through the instrument, only a tiny bit of pressure from her finger needed. Then she put in the second, Yerim had called it the Elder wand. Haseul held her breath when she aligned it with the cell body. 

“Little bit to the right,” Yerim said quietly. “Right opposite the axon.” 

Haseul did what she said. Then she pressed lightly on the button. The needle pierced the cell, driving into where the hardware was. It took everything she had to keep her hands still. She waited. 

“You got it,” Yerim breathed. “Cell’s clean.” 

Haseul went to the next. She vaguely heard Hyunjin’s voice coming from the cockpit and Jungeun’s response. 

She heard how the engines thrummed to life. She heard how the docking mechanisms above them detached, how the air-locks hissed as the ship prepared to leave. 

There was the smallest of lurches as they pulled from Artemis station. 

All Haseul could hope was that they’d have time before another started to follow. She could only hope that she’d clear enough of the neurons before they started getting shot at. 

We’ll handle the rest. 

Haseul didn’t even know what ‘the rest’ meant. She just had to hope it meant they’d get away safely. 

And that Vivi would wake up with a body she could still use. 

______

Author's Note

I'm aware things are happening rather fast, but I don't really have the knowledge to feasibly know how a lot of this would take place. There's some things I could theorise about and if I spent even more time with my textbooks and all that, maybe I'd think of a really cool discussion for it. 

Except I didn't write this story for that and I'm not sure how many of you are reading for that. Either way, I hope you're enjoying it so far! The end of the story is in sight, but it won't be coming next chapter. Maybe the one after that, but we'll see. This wasn't meant to be a very long story, but I hope it's been having a good progression. 

I had a lot of fun writing these last scenes with oec, but also having another conversation between Viseul. It was a longer scene, part of the reason I made a separate chapter, but there were still some questions that needed answering (as well as a few more that came along).

Let me know what you think! I hope you're all doing well and I'll see you next chapter.