July 20, 4021 03:00 [Matriarch 07- Girls’ Dormitory]

A loud pinging violently roused Vivian from her slumber as she groggily looked around the room for the source of the racket. She checked the time on her HoloPad, groaning at the odd hour chosen to be awoken so abruptly. The pinging concluded just as suddenly as it had started, replaced by the pleasant voice of a woman over the speakers.

“All personnel, please report to the Amphitheater immediately, for an emergency meeting. Please be advised, failure to arrive will result in the termination of your contract with Lunar Gate, effective immediately. I will repeat this announcement once more—”

“Urgh, what is it now? Is this the announcement Commander Huā was talking about?” Aisha had also woken up, speaking to Vivian for the first time in weeks.

“I think so. We better hurry up,” Vivian answered, content to be conversing with her roommate once more.

The two quickly got dressed and made their way to the Amphitheater, looking for the others as hordes of staff and soldiers filed into the enormous cathedral-like hall. Vivian spotted Cecil amongst the crowd, his head peeking above the rest. She grabbed Aisha by the arm, directing their course towards their taller comrade, knowing that the other boys would be close by. When they edged closer to Cecil, Akula, and Mirai came into view. Mirai, spotting the ladies first, waved over to them. Vivian waved back, although Aisha turned her head, ears red. The five of them greeted one another; Mirai and Aisha exchanged pleasantries awkwardly. As they shuffled into the Amphitheater behind the crowd, Vivian noticed something amiss.

“Where’s Indra? Didn’t he come with you?” She looked around the packed hall.

“We thought you might know. We checked his room, but the door was unlocked and his bed was empty. Maybe he just arrived early?” Akula yawned.

The Homunculi and Vivian scanned the seats for any sign of Indra to no avail. He had disappeared, his absence leaving Vivian a nervous wreck.

“This is awful! We have to find him! They’ll cancel his contract if he isn’t present during the meeting!” she said, clutching her head.

Cecil frowned. “There must be a reason he’s not here, there's no way he would miss this announcement. It’s been eating at him for weeks.”

Vivian flinched; she was sure the arrival of the announcement wasn’t entirely responsible for Indra’s worries. Amongst all the conversations resounding throughout the enormous auditorium, three figures walked on stage. It took only moments for people to notice their presence, a silent hush enveloping the crowd as Kǔ Shén appeared on stage once more, adorned in yet another regal outfit, this time in jade cloth laced with golden tapestries depicting a serpentine dragon. Flanking him on both sides stood a woman dressed in aquamarine military gear similar to that of Commander Huā’s and a man casually dressed in pure white techwear. Both wore golden faceplates in the shape of a hyena’s snout.

The three commanded an imposing presence on stage that suffocated Vivian. Kǔ Shén grabbed hold of the microphone on stage and addressed the huddled masses sternly, “My fellow Homunculi and staff of Matriarch 07, it is with the utmost pleasure that I announce that the culprits behind the terror attacks carried out across Yuèliàng have been identified. Militants from Levante infiltrated our borders and staged these attacks under our watchful gaze. The circumstances in which each group was apprehended varied, regardless, this victory is in part thanks to the brave Homunculi of our Matriarchs who were able to keep casualties to a minimum—” A roar of applause erupted from the audience.

Kǔ Shén waited until the noise subsided before continuing. “Ahem. Yes, yes. As I was saying, Homunculi soldiers were able to stop the threats before they could cause excessive damage to our cities. The capture of these terrorists allowed us to uncover a plot to destabilize our country, spearheaded by the current King of Levante, Rahman bin Alsamawi Al Mumit. During our interrogation process, we were able to extract critical information from the attackers, who have turned out to be Traitless Homunculi, defectors in fact. In uncovering this information we made a swift but difficult decision to cordon off contact with Traitless Homunculi in all of our Matriarchs until their loyalty can be proven. At the moment we cannot prove the presence of embedded intelligence operatives with one-hundred percent certainty so we will be moving them to a separate Matriarch for processing,” Kǔ Shén explained.

A wave of murmurs and restless whispers echoed throughout the hall. Vivian’s stomach dropped like a bag of stones. They were going to move Indra, that’s why he wasn’t here. She had avoided him, rarely talked to him, nor had she made any attempt to resolve their issues and now, they were going to send him away. He had reached out multiple times, but she could not bring herself to address their problems, for fear that she would lose him entirely. She cursed herself; she was going to lose him anyways if she hadn’t already pushed him away.

“With all that being said, the Homunculi with Traits and our ground units will be relocated to Matriarchs stationed along the border of the country. The company has been issued a call to arms as the state prepares for war with Levante. All of you are more than capable of holding your own in battle, given the training you received here. Nonetheless, you will all receive supplementary training with Virya firearms once you arrive at your new Matriarchs. Your objectives have been changed from minimization of casualties and de-escalation prerogatives to resource gathering and enemy subjugation. Your assignment details will be sent via HoloPads, and these reassignments will be implemented effective immediately. I suggest you all take the time to pack your belongings and say your goodbyes before you receive further details regarding your reassignment. That is all,” he concluded.

Vivian looked to the others, all of them rife with concern. Aisha in particular looked frighteningly pale, her breath turning shallow and rapid as she hyperventilated, clutching her chest. Mirai took a hold of her, leading her to the infirmary, looking back at the others he jerked his head as if to say, “Don’t just stand there! Find Indra!” Akula and Cecil quickly exchanged glances, in silent confirmation and barrelled towards the Matriarch Transfer Building, leaving Vivian by herself. She watched the two of them hastily seek out their friend before turning foot, briskly walking towards Jìguāng’s office where she knew her father would be. The only sounds in the vicinity were the sharp taps of her flats as most of the personnel and Homunculi exited the building in favor of returning to their dorms and barracks to pack for their journeys. She reached the office in record time; breathing heavily, she forced open the door only to be greeted by Kǔ Shén, his two cohorts, and a furious Colonel Jìguāng. How did they reach the office so quickly?

“Ah yes, Dr. Ouma. Bring her in. I was just about to call upon you to discuss this matter with us,” he greeted her with a mirthless smile. “Please have a seat, make yourself comfortable,” he motioned for her to seat herself next to her father.

Still eyeing Kǔ Shén suspiciously, she apprehensively lowered herself into a chair next to Jìguāng.

Kǔ Shén smiled once more, without any hint of amusement. “I gather that you’ve come to protest this decision I’ve made, given your familiarity with a certain Traitless Homunculi?”

Jìguāng looked surprised, turning to Vivian, but she ignored her father’s inquisitive gaze. Instead, she stared daggers at the man in front of her, maintaining her silence.

Kǔ Shén shrugged his shoulders. “There are a couple of reasons why I made the decision to transfer the Traitless Homunculi to a different Matriarch. Most of them are useless on the battlefield, so having them conduct missions from a remote location would suffice in utilizing their capabilities. Moreover, we’ve been testing new treatments in order to propagate Trait manifestation in those that have yet to bloom, so to speak.” He gestured to a withered bud on Jìguāng’s desk.

“So the transferred Homunculi are being sent away for additional accelerant testing?” questioned Vivian.

“Yes, and no. The most pressing objective is to remove these ‘defects’ from the battlefield as they serve no purpose in being physically present. Amongst them, only a small portion actually serves a useful role, the rest are just a waste of resources. So in order to make use of these assets, I am going to be conducting some field tests on our expendable units, and the ones that survive will receive the accelerant treatment,” he grinned, the inflection in his words oozing with excitement.

“What about separating the innocent Homunculi from the conspirators?!” Vivian protested.

Kǔ Shén smiled deviously. “There are no Homunculi working with Levante. Truly unfortunate these attacks were, but they gave us leverage, an excuse to finally declare war on Levante and insert our troops into the Middle East,” he laughed. “Most of the Traitless Homunculi will become fodder for the one-percent that do receive the accelerant treatment. There are a few Homunculi in this Matriarch alone that I’m sure will exceed that threshold. I’m quite fond of the boy with ‘Conduction’ and the other one with the Divine Blessing. Did you know about his condition, Jìguāng?”

“Condition? What condition? And what’s the Divine Blessing?” Vivian turned to her father whose usually composed face had turned a sickly white. He appeared not to have heard her questions, instead continuing to stare at Kǔ Shén, horrified.

“How did you know?” Jìguāng spoke softly.

Kǔ Shén chuckled. “I have my ways. I know the boy hosts a Siren. How he acquired it and what he gave in return for its powers are unknown to me, but I intend to find out. I’ll use the ‘defects’ as stepping stones for the boy to ascend his abilities. Should he fail to survive, then, well, it would be a shame but I’ll gladly use his corpse to further study Siren possession. Regarding Mr. Dundra, he has quite an extensive file and I’m interested in recruiting him to my Hyenas like Grisha and Gauss over here.” He motioned at the two standing guard at the office door. “I know you have qualms with my methods but what good is amassing these biological weapons if we are to never use them and strike fear into the hearts of our enemies? The Land of Eternal Frost, Vechnaya Merzlota is backing us. We will take Levante, then the Yoru Kingdom, and finally the Cloudburst Archipelago will fall. Our little recycling project is just an aside that will help us weed out the weak and bolster our forces with only the most elite of soldiers. Is that not a just enough cause to warrant such sacrifice? For the good of our country and our people, a few pawns must be cast from the board to allow for the strategic placement of their superiors: the queen, her bishops, knights, and rooks.”

Jìguāng scoffed, “Even a few pawns can kill a queen and render her king immobile. You give yourself too much credit, Kǔ Shén.”

Kǔ Shén’s expression did not betray him, but Vivian spotted a noticeable twitch in his eyes for a split second.

“Tell me where you’ve hidden your research, Colonel, because I intend to learn everything I can about the Sirens, even if I have to tear it out of that boy to uncover the secrets they possess. I promise you I will make it as excruciatingly painful and slow as possible. But that needn’t be the case, you can just divulge your notes to me and I won’t have to rip apart your friend for an answer. What will it be, Jìguāng? Will you comply? Or once I’m done with the Traitless Homunculus should I move on to your daughter instead?”

Jìguāng spit in his face. Kǔ Shén flinched, wiping his cheek in disgust. “Fine, you’re so adamant to die with your secrets, but not everyone shares that sentiment. Isn’t that right, my dear? Perhaps you would be more willing to save your friend than your father?” His words dripped with contempt.

Vivian was appalled, barely masking an overwhelming sense of dread she felt. She could only sit frozen in silence watching as Kǔ Shén impatiently rapped his fingers on the desk, scrutinizing the two scientists. Breaking the long silence, Jìguāng spoke, “I destroyed the research, not even Vivian knew about it. If I had it in my possession I would have handed it over to you if it meant sparing Indra’s life. I can help you with the research if that’s what you need, but please, just let him go,” he pleaded.

Kǔ Shén’s mouth curled into a devilish grin, “Yes, I know the original research was destroyed, but just before it was erased a backup was created and encrypted in a defunct database server. I would like the key to that encryption.”

Jìguāng was taken aback. Flustered and confused, he responded, “I-I don’t understand, I never created a backup of the files. The intention was to erase the existence of my research. How—”

Kǔ Shén’s brow furrowed the more Jìguāng blubbered, realizing that he spoke true. It seemed that he had no idea that a backup had been made. “No one was privy to your research except me, so who made the backup?”

The room went silent again, the occupants sifting through their memories to discern the identity of the data thief. They looked at each other until all eyes landed on the only person actively avoiding their gaze. Vivian looked at the ground, eyes wide, a nervous sweat collecting on her temple. Kǔ Shén slowly walked over to her, each step echoing in Vivian’s eardrums, like a hammer hitting the ground, causing her to jump in her seat. He lowered himself to her eye level, crouching close to her face, again wearing the same devilish grin. “Tell me, Dr. Ouma, do you perhaps know where the encryption key for your father’s data is?”

Vivian’s mind raced. She was born a genius, even from an early age she could already analyze and process information faster than any of the programs her father had built to accelerate data computation. She had also developed a knack for sneaking into her father’s workspace to satiate her own curiosity despite his adamant warnings. Years ago, in the infancy of the Matriarch’s operations, she had snuck into her father’s laboratory one summer morning, slipping past the guards unawares. In that lab, she had come across an archive of data, various creatures of shadow categorized and filed away in its folders. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her as she sifted through the entire database, compiling each page into encrypted files as she went, uploading it to an abandoned server she had come across during another one of her digital escapades.

As she finished the last of the data entry, she heard footsteps approaching. She changed the display back to the first page and hid in an inconspicuous corner of the room behind a set of large boxes, watching as her father entered the lab looking weary, his complexion riddled with wrinkles of stress. He sighed deeply, taking one last look at his research before quickly scrubbing the data and leaving the room. Vivian waited until her father had left before emerging from her hiding spot and leaving his lab undetected. She had never given much thought concerning that incident, yet her decision to save that archive of data had come back to haunt her as she sat staring directly at the devil incarnate smiling wickedly at her. She weighed her options carefully: should she admit the truth or feign ignorance until she could safely destroy the research? But if she did destroy the research, where would that leave Indra? It was an easy decision for Vivian; she could not bear to see him hurt, even if it meant handing over information that could put millions of lives in jeopardy, he was too important.

She looked at her father and then back at Kǔ Shén. Reluctantly nodding, she relinquished the location of the encryption key. Jìguāng opened his mouth to protest but Kǔ Shén held up a hand to silence him. No sooner had Vivian disclosed the key’s location, a secure safe located behind a false wall in her laboratory, Grisha disappeared, almost as if she flickered out of existence, before instantly appearing with a laptop and the flash drive that held the encryption key. Kǔ Shén carefully took both items out of her hands, thanking her, to which Grisha beamed, and promptly seated himself at Jìguāng’s desk. He plugged in the flash drive, accessing the server in which the encrypted files were kept, and used the encryption key to unlock the security blocking the data. His eyes lit up as he scanned the pages of priceless information at his fingertips; information that for so long had remained out of his reach.

He looked up from the screen at Vivian. She felt chills run down her spine as he addressed her. “Splendid work, my dear! You’ll be coming with me to Matriarch 04 to oversee the testing and application of this data, seeing as you were smart enough to save such important work. I have one more task that I need you to complete. Since your involvement in this research needs to be kept secret for your own safety as well as to prevent any unnecessary confounding variables, I need you to sever contact with your friend. He is a prime candidate on which to test this data and I can’t have you interfering with the experiments. I also can’t have him knowing who’s behind them until testing is complete. Once we’re finished I shall allow you both to reunite… Although I suppose that depends on whether he survives the experiments. Oh, and one more thing, if you disclose the events of this meeting at any point to any of your friends, including our budding test subject, I will have them all euthanized immediately, understood? I can always just test the tissue of dead organisms instead of live ones,” he warned.

Vivian nodded her head quickly, fear gripping her throat.

Kǔ Shén laughed excitedly, “Good! The wheels of fate have started to turn, my friends, and we are at the forefront of destiny! The helm is ours to steer as we chart a course for a brighter future in Yuèliàng!”

***

Vivian hurried out of the office, away from her father, from Kǔ Shén, his subordinates, and her own foolish actions. If she hadn’t saved that data none of this might have happened. She cursed under her breath, her mind racing once again, attempting to predict the multitude of outcomes to this nightmare, none of which provided her any comfort. As she distanced herself from Jìguāng’s office she slowed her pace, now dreading coming into contact with Indra, though they had not exactly been very talkative to one another recently. Surely, this was the final nail in the coffin. If she broke things off with Indra would there be a chance to make him understand? To explain things to him once Kǔ Shén’s experiments were over? Would there be another opportunity to reconnect with him?

No, no, this isn’t about me. I can’t think like that. This is about saving Indra’s life. If I don’t cut ties with him I risk his death. He’s strong enough to withstand the experiments, I’m sure of it. This will be his best chance of survival and I can explain everything to him afterward. So right now I should only worry about preserving his life. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. With renewed determination, she set off towards the isolation ward that Kǔ Shén had described to her, where the Traitless were being temporarily housed while they awaited transportation.

Standing in front of a maximum security door, Vivian collected her thoughts, carefully planning out how she would deliver the news to Indra without letting on more than she could. She placed her hand in an inconspicuous divet within the door, a light ping indicating that her fingerprints had been read. A piece of the mechanical frame extended forward washing green light over her retinas before pinging once more. The contraption folded back into the door which split in two upon confirmation of Vivian’s identity. Vivian stepped through the door before the security gate locked behind her. She sighed deeply walking further into the isolation ward. Past a winding corridor, she entered a dimly lit atrium housing almost a hundred Traitless Homunculi.

She looked upon them, disheartened at the state in which the soon-to-be experimental fodder had been left. They had been stripped of their clothing and gear, instead wearing thin white garments reminiscent of rags. Pushing aside her own indignation at their plight for a moment, she scoured the blanket of white for Indra, whose dark brown skin would contrast starkly against the pale-clothed crowd. She spotted him almost immediately sitting against a far wall staring at the ground, eyes unfocused as if lost in thought. Vivian weaved through the crowd, her own lab coat blending in with the clothes of the Traitless Homunculi. When she reached Indra she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his shock.

Indra looked up, surprised. “Vivi? What are you doing here? How’d you find me?” He stood up to greet her, his eyes sparkling.

She gave him a pained smile, distraught to see his excitement at her arrival. How could she have pushed him away for so long? She should have made an effort to communicate with him more, yet now she would have to push him away even further. She closed her eyes for a moment, steeling her nerves. She had to do it, for his own safety. He would understand later. She would make things right, she promised herself. But for now, there was no other way to save his life.

“Indra, I’m here because I’ve been thinking about your transfer. You’re going to be sent away to Matriarch 04 and it might be a while before you come back. I need you to know that I care about you but I need you to forget about me and focus on making sure you pass the screening so you can come back safely—”

Indra’s face faltered. “Forget you? What do you mean? Is everything alright? Do you know what’s happening here? They just suddenly woke us up and brought us to this place, telling us we were being transferred. Is Aisha okay? Where are the others? How am I supposed to just leave everything behind for God knows how long and just forget you? You’ve been avoiding me this entire time and out of nowhere you’re asking me to forget about you? What’s going on, Vivi? Why are you doing this?” he asked her, pain in his voice.

Indra’s expression broke her. Vivian tried to think of ways to convince him, racking her brains for options in which she could ease him into the idea of distancing himself from her. She tried to reason with him to no avail, finally resigning herself to the only option she had left; one that she had been actively avoiding. She balled her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms. She kept her fists clenched even as her nails drew blood. Vivian knew what she had to do.

“I can’t be with you right now, Indra. There’s so much happening and I don’t know when you’ll be back. This transfer has me up to my neck in work and I won’t be able to focus on anything else until this whole debacle is over. I need you to be strong; we’ll talk more about this after you’ve been cleared, I promise,” she assured him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Indra looked at her incredulously, swatting away her hand. “So that’s it? You’re just going to push me away while telling me that you care? I haven’t seen you in weeks! I haven’t spoken to you in weeks! And now you just want to put off this issue again? Don’t use work as an excuse. You’re always busy. Do you feel some sort of remorse for ignoring me all this time? Is that why you came to see me? Because they’re sending me away? Vivi, I don’t need your pity or consolation. I needed your support, your confidence,” Indra said, looking even more downcast.

“Indra, please—”

“What are you not telling me?!” he shouted.

“I don’t see a future with you! You’ll only live for ten more years, maybe even less if they send you out to fight! What am I supposed to do?! Do you know how selfish it is of you to ask me to give you ten years of my life, only for you to die and leave me alone after that?! I thought I was okay with this, but I’m not. I can’t let myself become trapped in a relationship that will only end in suffering. That is why I’m avoiding you. I’m done.”

Indra turned away from her, clutching tightly at his sleeves. “Then leave,” he said, his voice trembling.

Vivian fought back tears as she turned heel and swiftly exited the isolation ward, leaving Indra to sink deeper into the shadows…