Prologue

            I was in the hospital ward’s research wing by myself that evening; bent over my microscope like I usually was since arriving at Isis Antarctica. But tonight wasn’t like any other evening. Tonight felt different.

            I felt different.

            Pushing away my microscope, I rubbed my eyes. My irises burned, seared even, and a sharp tingle flowed over my brain like a thick glaze. The sensation made its way through my head and down my neck. To my arm. My hands… My fingertips…

            I popped my eyes open and the first thing that captured my attention was my water glass.

            I reached toward it slowly, fingers extended.

            A familiar mist flew from my fingertips and my heart raced.

            What the…

            The glass condensed, then the droplets crystalized over in a glistening sheet of ice.

            Holding my breath, I picked up the glass and turned it over. The previously lukewarm water didn’t splash out on the table. In fact, nothing did. The water was frozen to the glass. Completely solid.

            No way…

            Alarms drummed into the room like a nuke blast. The ward’s doors blasted open and in came a member of Commander Galia Eden’s security team. He was strapped with a gun almost larger than him, and he was pretty damn large. I knew that type of weapon well from my brief time spent in the Isis League. We used them if threatened by our own.

By Y-Class.

            “We’re under attack, Nate,” he said to me. “We need to get you to the panic level.”

            I was off my chair within seconds. “Who’s attacking us?”

            “The Nova Group. They betrayed us. Came down on the center in droves. Hurry. There’s still time to get you to safety.”

            Awareness of the danger of the situation spiked my adrenaline and my thoughts only went to one place. To one person. “Is Rory on the safe level?”

            He pressed his hand on the plate to reopen the ward’s door. “I’m unsure of her status, but I do know over half of us have been taken.”

            The door opened and I blew past him.

            “Nate!”

            “I have to check her quarters. Make sure she’s made it,” I called, not turning back.

            “Nate, there’s no time.”

            His voice grew fainter and fainter until it became inaudible. There was time. There had to be time.

            The halls were completely empty. If they were evacuated by our people or vacant in the result of capture I didn’t know. I just knew I had to find Rory before Nova did. I had to make sure she was safe.

            Out of breath and my muscles fatigued from the sprint, I made it to her living quarters. I called her name, scouring the area until only my eyes convinced me of the room’s emptiness. Convinced me of the truth.

            She wasn’t here. She was gone.

            A soft whimpering took my attention in the direction of the closet.

            I shoved it open in hope, but she didn’t meet my eyes. It was a small girl, blonde and curled in the fetal position as she cried against the wall.

            “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice breathy.

            Her head shot from the wall and her eyes flooded in relief. “Are they gone?”

            “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but the halls are clear. Are you the only one here?”

            She nodded. “I ran in here to hide.”

            “We have to get you to the safe level. Are you hurt?”

            She put her leg out and the blood staining her pant leg let me know my answer.

            Without thought, I picked her up and raced toward the closest emergency escape tunnel that led to the safe level. A select few of us were given the tunnels’ secret locations along with the security clearance to access them in case of emergencies. Since I was a former Isis League member I was one of those chosen few.

            I got to the wall where I knew the tunnel to be and placed my hand on what I knew to be the appropriate area. The small, circular mouth of the tunnel opened and I placed the girl inside.

            “I know it’s going to be hard, but you’re going to have to crawl. The elevator at the end of the tunnel will lead down to the safe level.”

            She nodded in understanding. Cringing, she got on her hands in knees, biting her lip as she moved away from me.

            I bent to follow her, but a sharp sear hit my brain again. I put my hand to my head and my fingertips burned in spasms. Pulling my hand away, a set of frozen crystals lining my fingertips met my eyes.

            Why was happening to me? How was this happening to me without… her?

            The girl calling me from the tunnel pulled me out of my thoughts, but what I saw ahead had me place my hand to the plate to close it from entry. The girl’s calls silenced, the wall separating her safely from the figure before me.

            I could only stare in horror at it.

            The figure was half metal. Rusty chrome for a leg. An arm. Where the hand should be was more of the foreign material, but this time a gun. It was connected to the wrist and no fingers could be made out. The entire image burned into the deepest crevices of my mind, but what had the bile rise in my throat was the figure’s face.

Its familiarity.

            There was a metal plate there, replacing a cheek and part of the chin, and the bionic eye lit in red took over part of the forehead and half the hair. Despite that, I could still make out the long waves of strawberry blonde. How it bushed out no matter how many times she’d comb it when we were children. The messiness followed her into adulthood. It was always there. Just like it was now.

            “Hello, Nate,” came a robotic female voice from her lips. They were half metal, half human just like the rest of her.

            The image would only be the subject of my nightmares.

            I shook my head, parting my lips. “Ali.”