As soon as Hera finished that small talk, he finally decided to lie down on the bunk bed, which was much more comfortable than the blanket he had been given in the central dining hall. All it took was to lie down and gently close his eyes to fall asleep without even setting an alarm.

When he woke up, his body felt very heavy, as if the bed was convincing him to keep sleeping and sink into the best mattress he had ever known. He rubbed his eyes without knowing exactly how many hours he had slept and reached under the pillow, where he had left his phone in his sleep. Once he pulled it out, he gave it a quick glance and struggled to read the time: it was already 4 PM, nearly 5 on Sunday.

He placed the phone on his chest, knowing he had several messages from his family and maybe one from his inspector, but he focused on the dryness in his throat. So, he sat on the edge of the bunk and jumped down to get some water from the fridge. Afterward, he got back on the bunk to check his phone. Among the messages from his family, there was a new contact who had sent him a message:

“Tell the others we’ll be arriving soon, we’re just waiting on Vice Director Goryashko. This is Calisto, by the way.”

Lucas replied with an animated sticker of a kitten looking excited, then followed up with a simple “oki.”

His mom had sent about 10 messages since he last connected at around 2 AM during the escape with Artemisa and later once he boarded the ship, since he had internet access again. He quickly responded. It didn’t surprise him that his mom was awake at that hour, worried after the national broadcast about the academy.

Lastly, he replied to Pascal, who seemed to still be asleep, as he had spent an hour earlier sending funny cat videos and other things before going silent.

As soon as he left the room, he realized he didn’t really have anyone to ask for directions firsthand, and he didn’t want to come off as too much of a newbie (even though he was) to Calisto. After walking for a few minutes, he saw a young man who had guided him to the ship earlier. This person had black hair and a clean, composed appearance. He was stationed at the control panel between Wing A and Wing B.

Lucas approached him politely:

“Hey, a quick question,” Lucas said, a bit nervously.

The young man looked at him expressionlessly and fixedly, not moving a muscle but also not lifting his hands from the keyboard, as if he knew the keys on the panel and keyboard like the back of his hand.

“How can I help you, Agent Marilef?” he asked quickly.

Lucas was surprised to hear that he knew his last name—maybe it was normal for them to know the names and faces of the new cadets. When he realized he was taking too long to respond, he broke the silence.

“They told me we’ll be arriving at Puerto Coronel soon. I just wanted to know… is there anything I can help with? Or do you need assistance with something?” Lucas offered nervously, feeling like he might be messing things up.

Even though Lucas felt nervous, the person in front of him showed no reaction.

“Everything is in order, Agent. I’m afraid I can’t think of anything you could assist with.”

Lucas’s cheeks turned red as he felt like he was coming off as a fool. He felt like he was interrupting an important task.

“Well, sorry. I think I’m distracting you,” Lucas said apologetically.

The person in front of him kept talking without looking away from the screen.

“You’re mistaken. As a Codeon Model V3, codename ‘Minho,’ I can maintain sustained attention. However, I am currently in energy-saving mode, which involves disabling my emotions to prioritize efficiency in my assigned tasks. I do appreciate your concern for my well-being, Agent Marilef.”

Lucas was surprised to learn that this person was actually a robot. It sparked even more curiosity, though he tried not to be annoying.

“You sound really human… and you also look… well, very human to be a robot,” Lucas paused, staring more intently and amazed.

It wasn’t normal to see robots with such a high level of realism. Usually, in the regular world—or at least where Lucas lived—the difference between a human and a robot was very noticeable. Apparently, in the world of the armed forces, the gap with public tech was huge.

“My design, model V3, focuses on effectively simulating human interaction to blend in during missions and various tasks. I appreciate your kind words, Agent Lucas Marilef. However, I have assigned duties that require my attention at this time. If you have no further questions, I’d appreciate it if you allowed me to continue my tasks.”

Lucas realized he was being more of a nuisance than he intended, but he couldn’t help but apologize.

“Sorry, Minho. It’s just… this is the first time I’ve seen a robot that doesn’t look like it’s made of tin. You get me?”

Minho nodded, and Lucas walked away to keep exploring the ship. He kept checking his phone, hoping to see a message from someone he knew or at least a familiar face as he wandered through the halls. But he had no such luck.

“Is everyone really so tired that nobody’s left their room?” he asked aloud.

Neither Pascal, nor Artemisa, nor any of his friends had connected to Glimpse again, even though they basically lived on that social network. So, he leaned against the wall and restarted the app, thinking the lack of messages might be due to a weak signal.

On his screen appeared one of the app’s featured sections: Moments of the Day. In Lucas’s case, they were usually funny animal or food videos trending that week, since he liked animals and also saved recipes he told himself he’d cook “someday.” But his brain didn’t want to deal with dumb videos anymore, so he opened another app: Flare.

Flare focused more on short text posts accompanied by images, so Lucas sometimes used it as a kind of “news bulletin.”

The problem was that right now, Flare was full of posts about his missing classmate’s case. The first thing he read was a troubling headline posted less than 30 seconds ago: “The case of Aria Schmidt now reaches 33 hours of disappearance: Desertion, accident, or conspiracy? Leave your theories in the comments!”

Lucas found himself unable to breathe for a few seconds as he stared at the picture of his classmate. Just reading the first words of each comment made it clear that none of the people commenting actually knew anything. Many of the theories were absurd: “the human core experiment,” “the creation of a nuclear god,” “secret agents…”

His mind was so occupied thinking about all the possible scenarios that he didn’t even realize when he ended up in front of the door to the room Artemisa had used. He knocked three times.

“Misa…” Lucas couldn’t hide the worry in his voice.

The door opened immediately, as if she had been waiting for him. Although her amethyst purple eyes held a worried expression. There she was, standing before him, the young woman with puffy eyes and a mournful appearance. She looked completely exhausted, like she hadn’t slept at all.

“Please tell me you came because something happened and not because you’re bored,” Artemisa said irritably.

Lucas looked away and stared at the floor.

“Did you at least get some sleep?” he asked.

“Barely any. I had to comfort Tori all night,” she replied, already tired of the conversation and rubbing her face with her hands. “Is there anything else you want to say?”

Artemisa had the bad habit of hiding whenever she felt bad. So Lucas gave up on the idea of leaving his friend alone.

“Is Tori in your room? Is she still asleep?”

From the gap between Artemisa’s waist and the doorframe, some of Tori’s belongings were visible. But he didn’t see Tori herself.

“She said she went to the bathroom, but she hasn’t come back yet,” she answered wearily. “If there’s something you need to say, say it.”

Lucas took a deep breath, then exhaled and looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. The idea of Tori going to look for a bathroom when there was one in her personal room struck him as odd. But in good faith, he assumed it was an excuse to walk around and clear her head—something Lucas himself had just done.

“It’s been 33 hours since Aria went missing,” he said in a low tone. “Do you think she’s…?” he trailed off. Just thinking about the possibility was hard. “You know.”

Artemisa’s eyes widened in surprise before she wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the partition. They stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again. The atmosphere was already uncomfortable.

“It’s the most likely outcome,” Artemisa said, staring at the floor. “I don’t buy that desertion crap. Did you really come just to bring me bad news?”

Lucas’s face was conflicted, but he answered:

“No,” Lucas said, trying not to cry—he already looked overwhelmed. “I actually wanted to know how you and Tori were doing, if you’d heard anything.”

Artemisa took a deep breath, leaving behind an awkward silence that was only filled by the sound of a ceiling fan.

“Let’s talk in your room,” Artemisa said.

She quickly walked toward him, causing her door to close, and grabbed his arm. She didn’t even wait for Lucas’s response before dragging him back the way he came. As soon as they entered Lucas’s room, Artemisa sat on the bed and Lucas, by reflex, went to the closet where he had stored his luggage and pulled out two flavored beers—lemon and cherry—that were still cold thanks to a chilled bag he used to keep them at that temperature. He handed her one, and she accepted it. They were her favorites, and Lucas knew that perfectly well. As soon as she saw the can, she couldn’t help but smile a little, but her smile faded as she stared at her dark circles reflected in the metal.

“Tori’s not okay,” Artemisa said, and her smile vanished instantly. “She was recently talking about dropping out because of Aria.” She paused. “She said she had an idea of what she could do about it.”

Lucas looked at her in surprise.

“Dropping out?” he asked, opening his can.

“Yes. She doesn’t want to be here. She wants to dedicate herself to looking for Aria,” Artemisa answered.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. In his mind, what she was doing made no sense, and he didn’t bother hiding his opinion.

“I get that Aria was really important to her, but is she really going to throw away years of training for that? By deserting?”

“I told her the same thing!” Artemisa replied in her defense. “I don’t agree with her, but I already did what I could to change her mind. I don’t know anything beyond what I told you. Of course, I told her she was crazy for even saying that now, but—”

“You have to convince her not to do it. She’s throwing everything away. And sure, Aria’s case isn’t minor, but this?” Lucas argued.

“We have to respect her decision even if we don’t like it.”

“This decision will cause her more problems than any benefit or freedom, and you know it. I’m going to talk to her,” Lucas said, standing up.

Artemisa grabbed his arm and pushed him back onto the bed.

“Don’t you dare,” Artemisa warned.

“Misa, let go. Are you really going to watch her fall apart after everything she went through to get here? If she wants to find Aria, she has more tools here!”

“You know very well that the more you try to convince her to stay, the more she’ll want to leave.”

“And what if that’s not true? She’s being too impulsive, and that’s saying something coming from the two most impulsive people in the group.”

“It’s easy for you to talk when you weren’t the one holding her while she cried all night. Do you think it was easy for me to accept her decision?” Artemisa snapped. “Of course it wasn’t.”

“You know what happens to deserters, Misa?” Lucas asked.

The tension in the room was suffocating, and that question made it worse.

“Yes, I know,” Artemisa replied, but she was interrupted.

“If you know, then why are you respecting her opinion? She took the oath, and there’s no excuse that minimizes her situation. The only legal way for her to leave is with a disability that prevents her from working long-term. That’s the only path she has to leave without consequences. And does she have that? Of course not.”

Artemisa stared at him for a few seconds until something seemed to click. But she said nothing—her breathing suddenly halted. Lucas was about to speak again when he noticed Artemisa started trembling and turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

Lucas thought Artemisa was going to lose control of her body, so he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Misa?” he asked.

“She didn’t say she’d desert… she said she had another ‘way,’” Artemisa explained.

Lucas didn’t understand what she meant.

“I don’t get it,” Lucas said.

“She only has two ways to get out of here: desertion or medical discharge due to long-term disability,” Artemisa explained.

“Right,” Lucas said, stating the obvious. “But she’s not disabled.”

Artemisa pulled him out of the room and started running, dragging this man who could easily weigh twice as much as she did, struggling until they managed to sync their steps.

“Misa, I don’t understand anything. Where are we going?”

They were moving faster and faster down the hallway. Several codeons turned to them and said, “Please don’t run.”

“Tori’s in danger! Just run!” she shouted.

“What? Do you know where she is?”

“No, but I have an idea.”

They passed by all the wings trying to find Tori, but they couldn’t see her. So they focused on entering empty rooms and checking every bathroom. They finished Wings A and C.

“Only the bathrooms in Wing B are left,” Lucas said, guiding Artemisa.

“If she’s not in a bathroom, I don’t know where else she could do it.”

They passed by Minho, who was moving slower and slower at the panel. He couldn’t help but glance quickly at the young pair but did his best to focus, even though he was visibly powering down. As they ran toward Wing B, the hallway seemed much longer than it had earlier when Lucas had walked through. Out of the corner of their eyes, they noticed someone had stopped what they were doing to follow them, but they didn’t think much of it until they heard a voice behind them.

“Hey, I know you two are super disciplined and can’t go a day without your gym routine, but you literally passed like five ‘no running’ signs in the hall. Should I ask what’s so important that you don’t care?”

They turned around and saw Calisto running after them. They didn’t know what his intentions were—and apparently, that feeling was mutual. Calisto got no answer, so he insisted, but once again his question was left hanging in the air as the two young people turned toward one of the last rooms, encountering a terrifying scene that left them speechless.