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The memory of the night I killed that clone kept haunting me.

That dark room where I listened to messages from another universe kept tormenting me.

We humans were weak. We couldn’t even stand against the science we had created ourselves. We couldn’t even keep the emotions inside us under control.

I, too, was about to release my emotions. To forget the promises I had made. Being in her presence had thrown me off balance.

I shouldn’t have let that happen again.

Now that the sky we had once gazed upon together was gone, I had no use for a heart.

CHAPTER 7

Mina

The next day, the entire planet was abuzz with rumors about the Kern family’s schemes.

It was my own fault for failing to anticipate just how much of an impact Bugan’s little performance would have. Everyone was digging up old skeletons, while the virtual world dragged every last one of the Kerns’ dirty deeds into the light.

And unfortunately, Raymond was now among the latest to be dragged into it.

When evidence surfaced online that the Kerns had a cyborg child—one well known within the scientific community—my friends rushed to the Loxton mansion. The fact that a scientist respected by everyone turned out to be a cyborg was a sensational headline, and I was certain every journalist except me was practically salivating over it. With pressure mounting both online and in the real world, it was only reasonable to expect Raymond to come forward and make a statement.

But he didn’t say a word. No one had even seen him leave the house.

After our last conversation, I knew I had to stop caring about him. I had tried everything: as the person who knew him best, as his ex-girlfriend, as his first love. I had tried clinging to old dreams and feelings, but if I was met with nothing but a wall, I couldn’t keep going. There was no point.

Still, it wasn’t something I could simply forget overnight. You couldn’t just stop caring about someone on command. It was still eating away at me. I wanted to publish some columns and clear his name, or at least try, but, as I had told him, the Raymond of today wasn’t someone who needed me. And I wasn’t going to exhaust myself over it.

Especially not on election day.

The square was more crowded than I expected. People were laughing and shouting in the streets, noise and jostling filling every corner. The Pioneer Party’s enormous gray zeppelin hovered overhead, fireworks rising from both sides. The crowd spilled out into the pavement, already taking their places for the speech of Krivan Frosger, the leader of the party who would arrive in a few hours.

My cameraman friend Amara and I yawned at the same time after a short live broadcast.

“I’m hungry as hell.” I said. “Want something?”

“Coffee is enough.”

Pushing my way into the crowd, a faint smile broke across my face when I spotted the street vendor on the opposite sidewalk. I paused at the curb, waiting for a large truck to past. A sudden gust tangled my hair. I blinked against it, then caught sight of a shape rising into the air.

A golden artificial butterfly.

The moment I saw the figure I hadn’t seen in years, my hair stood on end. I lifted my head up to follow it, but the butterfly kept rising, then entered a narrow alley. I jumped, trying to see where it exactly went, but people were on my way.

When I finally reached the other sidewalk, I looked around, but I couldn’t see the shimmering figure anywhere. With a sigh, I headed back to Amara, just as Krivan was about to begin speaking.

This didn’t make sense. How was it possible that I was seeing the toy Remi had made for me nearly ten years ago, here on the streets of Mars?

As I drowned in my own thoughts, Krivan had already started speaking. I quickly stepped in front of the camera, patched through to headquarters, and delivered the brief. The moment Amara panned the lens away to focus solely on the leader, I lowered my mic, taking a slow sip of water.

“…and so, I am deeply honored to spearhead the project that will bring immortality to the human race!”

As the crowd erupted into applause, I rolled my eyes. Same old story. Transhuman immortality had been a subject of fascination for years, captivating everyone from children to the elderly. But it had become such an urban myth that by then, no one took the subject seriously anymore. Which made the mocking grumbles from those around me hardly surprising.

A moment later, a video flickered to life on the massive black screen behind the podium, and I watched half-heartedly.

A woman wearing a lab coat, with an elegant beauty and a black bun, appeared.