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But when I caught Sebastian was still staring at my throat, my smile faded.

“If that fucking mind of yours is spinning with scenes of how this happened, I’ll break your head.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Did you make things up?”

I gave a quiet nod. If I could, I would have continued this for at least a month. A year, a lifetime… Every time I remembered her flushed face, her soft breathing, and the way she bit her lip in pleasure, it felt like getting a taste of heaven. And I was a little proud of myself. In fact, I had never felt so satisfied in my entire life. At first, I only wanted to feed my own hunger. But if I’d known Mina would enjoy it this much, I would have done it so much sooner.

The scenes flooded my mind. I took a slow breath, willing it away. I was completely out of balance nowadays, losing my shit in the most unexpected places, and thinking about her. Nonstop. I was still eighteen, after all. But if my family saw me like this, they would turn over in their graves.

“I thought you wouldn’t come to our meeting with the president either. You’re the one managing this project, Ray. I’d appreciate it if you were more careful.”

“When did you ever see me screw things up? The president also trusts me.”

“He does, but I’m the only one who knows what your priority is.” My stern gaze found him. “And now you’ve got it, I know you’d leave everything behind. I just want you to remember the promise you made.”

I lowered my gaze. The bastard Sebastian might be right. I was so happy right now I could forget the world around me and spend the rest of my life in Mina’s room.

“Don’t worry,” I said, but I knew my voice didn’t sound convincing. “I never break my word.”

When we went to meet the president, I was careful. After all, my Mina told me to ‘work hard’, and I would never disappoint her. At Sebastian’s insistence, I had also put a bandage on my neck; there was no need for unnecessary prying eyes. I was already under enough scrutiny; I obviously didn’t want any more.

People in this world, even the President Krivan, thought I was my parents’ greatest legacy. On top of that, the wealthiest family, the Loxtons, had adopted me. I knew many people were watching me, but I wasn’t very glad about the attention.

I still hated power.

From the moment I was born, I had hated science and the advantages it brought. It damaged my soul. Though my family mocked my Platonic view of life, I had always believed in it. I had just gotten better at hiding it. In my eyes, it was the soul that guided life; it was consciousness itself, it was free will, my truth. I had been searching for a deeper reality that transcended this cold external world, believing since childhood I would attain a higher consciousness by recognizing the absolute spirit instead of absolute power.

Mina was the greatest proof of this. I had never encountered anything more meaningful than her. She was the only reason I was able to survive in this soulless materialistic world.

She was my truth.

“Are you claiming that we can watch dreams with this device?”

I blinked, then replied immediately. “Watching is a strong word, but visual data can be obtained. This device can also match your brain activity while you’re dreaming and generate visual reconstructions. Since the body is paralyzed during REM sleep, it’s quite simple to obtain clean data from it. We will work on it.”

“The visual reconstructions…” someone murmured.

I sighed. The committee had been working on this for months, “the Dream Television”. I had taken on the presentation, but there was still a lot to consider. If we released it, it could spark a lot of backlash because things that delve into the human mind never receive a positive response from society. Still, I had no say in the matter. For the sake of my own pursuits, I should have kept playing the role of a scientist who caters a bit more to the collective. After all, there were only two things I cared about in this committee.

Transhumanism and interdimensional transmission.

“Good job, Ray. How could we have known they’d bring up the watching thing again?”

We had left the conference room, and my teammate Yalaz tapped me on the shoulder. I only offered a tiny nod.

“I was expecting it.” Coretta walked beside us with her arms crossed, looking bored. “I wish they had asked me. This brat always gets all the attention.”

“Maybe if you work harder, we can give you the presentations, too.”

“That’s not the point. I’ve been here longer than him, I was doing everything before he arrived. You know that too.”

“Ray is smarter than all of us, Cora, stop being jealous.”

“And he’s also a man. If Asma Loxton had known there would be still misogyny on Mars, would she have sent a colony here, I wonder…”

“Does it make you feel better to blame everything on misogyny?”

“Definitely.”