Nyx hisses, her ears folding back and her tail floofing, as she goes to lunge at Heidi, “You were bein’ trickin’ us!?”

  The man pushing her wheelchair holds her down.

  Heidi pushes a button on her wrist computer, and her face changes as if putting on a holographic mask, “N-Y-X, you don’t think we’d let the largest group of surviving humans, especially those that try to hold back human evolution go unwatched, would you? They don’t even realize how many of us are in their government.” She looks around, “And what better place to hide than right under those that hate the work we do?”

  Nyx huffs, “Why be hidin’ at all?”

  “For samples and testing, but you’re just a test subject so you don’t need to know the specifics.” She waves for the man to follow, “The results of letting you live with those filthy pirates these last fifteen years have been enlightening. DNA damage from long-term radiation exposure, severe malnutrition, and psychological stress’s effect on the genetic modifications. It was worth the break in containment when you escaped, and the pirates had no idea what they had the whole time.”

  They enter a room, “You were bein’ watchin’ me the whole goddum time!?”

  “Yes, N-Y-X, nothing in human space goes unnoticed by us. We know where every ship is, every person, every theft.”

  Nyx feels something is off. If they had so much control, why did they need to hide? “The pirates were lookin’ for ya last year? Yer still hidin’ from someone?”

  “It is refreshing to see that your time among the refuse of society hasn’t dulled your mind, but you don’t need to know.”

  Nyx growls, “And what are you gonna be doin’ with Cai?”

  She stops and looks at Nyx, “He’s safe. That’s all you need to know. Though the fact that he came from nowhere and took you from the pirates was something none of us saw coming. A deep-space explorer not seen in a hundred years rescues an adorable little Felis from disgusting pirates?”

  They arrive at a door, “N-Y-X, you won’t see me again, but I wanted to see your face when you realized you fell so nicely into the net we laid out for you.”

  The man wheels Nyx into the room.

  Nyx looks back, “I’m gonna be killin’ ya if I’m ever seein’ you again ya sparkin’ bitch!”

  Nyx’s rage returns to her as she realizes she’s found the very people that murdered her friends. She’d been so distracted by Roxy and Zone, it hadn’t occurred to her. Now she is here. Now she needed to find a way to stop these people.

  She turns from her thoughts and looks at the room she’s entered. It’s sterile, with a bed with straps, a sink, various medical instruments, and various other things.

  The man stops her next to the bed, “Stay still while I strap you in.”

  Nyx looks at him, “Got it, ya piece o’ shunk.”

  She stands, her head still swimming, and she growls as he straps her to the table.

  He soon leaves, leaving her alone in the room.

  Memories from long ago return to her. Like the light above the bed, nearly blinding her. Or the metal tray to the side. And the needles. So many needles.

  “Subject N-Y-X! Has it really been fifteen years? I missed those beautiful eyes of yours, and I’ve just the regime that’s perfect for making them even more beautiful.”

  She looks to her side and sees a man has entered. He has black hair that’s parted neatly to the side. His face is kind, and he’s smiling as if he’s seen a long lost friend. Sitting above his brown eyes are magnifying medical loupes. He’s wearing a lap coat that hangs loosely over his tall, skinny frame.

  Memories flood her mind as soon as she sees his face. Memories of him poking needles into her eyes, injecting or sucking out cells or fluid, sometimes leaving her blind until the medicine they give her heals her eyes.

  “Dr. Yang?”

  “She remembers! You don’t know how happy it makes me feel! I always loved how spirited you were, and it looks like your spirit has only grown since I last saw you. A shame about the others, but there’s no way we could have left with you, you understand? Yes? And don’t you agree it was much kinder for us to put them down over a life with pirates or starving among people that hate your kind?”

  Nyx is terrified and mewls as she sees the tray he’s holding. He’s brought a tray filled with needles, some filled, some empty.

  He picks up an empty needle that’s no bigger than her pinky finger, “It’s going to be fascinating to see how that terrible life among the pirates has been on your beautiful eyes. Malnutrition, from the looks of it. Radiation from poorly shielded fusion engines? Cosmic rays?”

  Nyx tries to fight her bonds as Dr. Yang moves next to her, but all it does is make her tired.

  Dr. Yang grabs her head, “Now don’t move. I don’t want to blind you again, and I’m sure you don’t want to go blind for the next few weeks, do you? Though you still might go blind for a few days, but it’s an unfortunate necessity for the treatment.”

  Nyx stops moving, but she feels her whole body shaking as the needle nears her eye.

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  He forces her eyelid open, “Okay, try not to move too much, so the pain isn’t too bad.” He chuckles as he shoves the syringe into her left eye, “I remember one time you jerked too much and we had to replace your retina and I’m sure you don’t want that again as much as I don’t.”

  Nyx whimpers as she sees the shadow of the needle from inside her eyeball and feels it as he sucks some of the fluid out with it.

  He pulls the needle out a moment later, “There. That wasn’t so bad.” He places a piece of gauze over her eye, “Now for the other eye.”

  He repeats this with her right eye. She isn’t sure if her eyes are wet from tears, fluid from her eyeballs, or both. Probably both.

  “There. Now I’m sure you’ll love what I’m about to give you.” She can’t see anything with gauze covering both her eyes, but hears him moving the needles. “We were having difficulty getting your eyes to see properly in the infrared before, but this gene therapy will hopefully fix that issue. It’s seen excellent results with the AA generation children, but I’m hoping you’ll help me improve the results even more with my latest batch. Unfortunately, it might change those eyes from that pretty green. A necessary change to allow more infrared light into your eye.”

  He takes the gauze off of her left eye, and she sees another needle nearing her eye as he forces her eyelid open again. She feels pressure in her eyeball as he injects the gene therapy cocktail into her eye. The same thing for her other eye.

  He wraps the gauze over her eyes, “Good girl. It breaks my heart hearing your cries of pain, but just remember, this is necessary if we humans want a future among the stars.” He pats her head, “Try not to touch your eyes too much or you might hurt them. And you’ll feel a tingling as the nanites rewrite the DNA in your eyes and a fever as they move onto the rest of your body. I’ll check on you in a few hours to make sure there aren’t any complications.”

  She hears him leave the room.

  Soon after she hears someone else enter, and they undo her straps and help her into the wheelchair. She doesn’t resist. She doesn’t talk back as he takes her out of the room.

  “Nyx!” She hears Roxy’s voice. “Your modifications are to your eyes? Poor thing.”

  She’s helped onto the bed.

  She hears Zone’s voice, “I remember when they did that to me once. Infrared gene mods? Dr. Yang’s always raving about how close he’s getting when he checks my eyes.”

  Nyx sits up, “Goddum it!” She’s shivering, and it hurts to move her eyes. She can also feel it as her eyeballs tingle.

  She hears movement, and someone sits beside her and pulls her into a hug, it’s Roxy if the large chest pressing into her says anything. They’re soft. No wonder Cai likes them big.

  Roxy continues to hug her, “It’ll be okay. I always feel terrible for a day or two after they give me my gene mods. My body can’t produce melanin, so they keep trying new things on me too.”

  Nyx feels a sudden jealousy. Roxy is pretty, kind, and soft-spoken. She’s also got his favorite body type. If he saw Roxy, would he choose her over him?

  Zone speaks, “Not Twoey and me. They just watch us to see if we develop any diseases if we’re left alone. We were the first to get every gene mod at once so we could get cancer or go albino.”

  Twoey’s voice, “So. Bored.”

  Nyx lays down as her eyes transition from tingles to burning, and she feels liquid that she hopes are tears, soaking the gauze over her eyes.

  She feels Roxy place her head on her knees, “It’ll be okay.” A gentle patting of her head and scratching behind the ears, “I know the fevers. I’ll be here.”

  She hears Zone, “Roxy may be a pushover, but she’s always here for us. Right momma Roxy?”

  Roxy giggles, “Sometimes I do feel like your mom.”

  Nyx tries to distract herself from her burning eyes, “What are ya thinkin’ it’s like to have a real mom?”

  Roxy, “I don’t know.” Her voice is sad.

  “Probably less annoying,” comes Zone’s voice.

  “She’s less annoying than you,” comes Twoey’s.

  “Hey!” Nyx hears Zone stomp towards Twoey, “I got nothing on you!”

  Roxy giggles, “Those two are always fighting.”

  “What do you three do all day?”

  There’s a pause, “Twoey just draws. She’s working on an animated movie like the ones they made before computers. The three of us are doing the voices. It’s rather fun. Maybe you can do a voice too?”

  Nyx wonders what a movie is, but pushes the thought out of her mind, “I’m hopin’ to be outta here.”

  Roxy’s voice, “It’s not so bad. We get food. Have beds. And get to play.”

  Nyx can tell that Roxy is probably repeating a lie she’s told to herself many times over the years. She’d done the same trying to convince herself her siblings hadn’t died that day.

  Nyx cries, both from the growing pain in her eyes and with how much this reminds her of her time with her siblings.

  She doesn’t know when, it’s been maybe a few hours? And sometime during that time, Roxy started humming.

  Then, she hears the door open, the pain more bearable now but still unrelenting.

  She has no strength to resist and is soon in the wheelchair heading back to get her eyes checked, or so she assumes.

  Soon she’s strapped back to the bed.

  “Subject N-Y-X! Welcome back!” comes Dr. Yang’s syrupy voice, “I hope the pain hasn’t been too bad. It’s unfortunate we can’t use painkillers. Don’t want to risk any complications.” She feels the gauze being removed and the light above the bed blinds her, though she can only see blurry shapes now. “Hmm… It looks like the injection sites closed properly. Inflammation is high, but still at safe levels.” He shines a light into her eyes, “Still too early to see changes in the subject’s retina or receptors. Some discoloration of the iris of the left eye is already visible. The prediction is that it will turn blue. If the genes don’t properly take, red.” He switches to the other eye, “The right eye’s condition is the same as the left.”

  He replaces the gauze over her eyes, “That’s a good girl. Your eyes are coming along just fine. I’ll see you again in twelve hours. But before then, I’ll have the orderly bring you some food and something to help you sleep through the worst of it.”

  She hears another male voice, one that’s familiar, but she can’t quite place. It’s cold and speaks with authority, “How’s the subject doing?”

  “Quite well, considering. She was aggressive at first, but has become quite submissive. Her eyes are still perfect for testing my gene therapies, so I won’t bother you about making a clone of her anymore to replace the last one that lost her eyes.”

  “Good. If the results of this test are successful, we’ll be incorporating this modification in the the Generation AC children.”

  Dr. Yang replies excitedly, “Do you hear that, Subject N-Y-X? Thanks to you, the next generation of humans will be even better.”

  Nyx only mewls in reply.

  Both men leave, talking about something she doesn’t bother to listen to and she starts crying again. Where is Cai? She doesn’t feel safe without him.

  Before she realizes it, she’s back in the room with Roxy and the others. She’s not in the mood to talk, so after she eats, she takes the medicine they gave her, and she falls asleep.