Prototype Dorian

6.

Five days before the Selection

After the bots return to normal, the medical bots are dispatched throughout the floor. They give us all a quick scan before sending Sánchez and General Caelum to the medical facility for further follow-up tests. I want to follow Sánchez to check on their arm, but the general tugs on my sleeve.

"Come with me, Lara." Her voice croaks, still parched from the burns.

"Yes, General."

I follow the medical bot as it wheels General Caelum to an examination room. She sits on a bed while another bot scans her body.

"How are you feeling?" General Caelum asks. "Are you hurt?"

I was hurt, but I'm recovered now, so I decide on a half-truth to ease her worries. "No, General, I'm- I'm fine."

"I didn't know you were in the area when I blew up the room. I could've burned you. Why were you in the area, anyway? It was quite far from your living quarters."

"I was practicing in the shooting range, General." It's so bizarre to say that; my morning practice feels like a lifetime ago. Now, my mind is miles away from practice, from the Selection... from everything I cared so much about.

But I will never admit this to General Caelum. Not when she looks at me with such pride in her eyes.

"On a day-off? Very good, Lara. I'm glad you are working so hard every day. It's unfortunate the attacks stopped your practice. Those terrorists, whoever they are, need to be brought to justice."

"Didn't you, uh," —I struggle to find the right words— "stop them, um, permanently, General?"

General Caelum waves her free hand. Her other hand is getting blood drawn by the medical bot. "There's more of them wherever they came from. I also have intel that one aircraft got away before we could take it down. We need to figure out who they are and ensure this does not happen again." She lets out a breath of annoyance. "I can't believe they hacked our systems. I need to speak to our engineering team about rectifying this issue. It's going to cost so much to repair all the damages they've done."

"They killed people too." And I did, too. I killed people. People my age.

"Yes, that too. Absolutely horrendous. And they're not even merciful to their kind." She tilts her head towards the door. "Your little rival is not doing so well."

Sánchez's charred cyberarm flashes through my mind. Their pained expression. Their labored wheezes. The 'pop' sound as I pulled the arm off. The way it crumbled away into a lifeless pile of ash.

Today has been... overwhelming.

I blink rapidly. "Sánchez is not with them."

"I know, but at least they're the least of your worries now. It's a blessing in disguise. There's no way they can even pass the initial screenings with one arm, let alone compete in the Selection."

"But they can get a new cyberarm."

"Oh, that's not possible," General Caelum dismisses as she removes her arm from the medical bot. Her blood test is completed, and pills are now being dispensed into a small bowl.

"Why?" I ask, frowning. "Is it too damaged to be repaired?" But General Caelum did not so much as look at Sánchez just now, so how would she know...

General Caelum takes a pill and swallows it. "Our mechanics do not work on bodies of Ground Earth dwellers."

"What? Why?"

"Being born and raised in a nuclear wasteland has significant effects on the human body. Their DNA differs completely from ours."