The only thing that's halts the Typhon invasion here is not the cold. But because there isn't nearly enough human psych to salvage here; up in the arctic cold that the world deems safe that is available to the percentage of the world that can pay TranStar to be in this so-called safe haven. So small that it is no landmark in the overpopulated earth and the remaining, inhabitable parts of the globe that is teetering on the bare edge, but has yet to fall over.
Antarctica, how long would this uptopia of ice and snow last?
How did everything become like this? She sometimes wonders.
Where had they gone wrong?
When the Board of Executives gave green-light for the go ahead on the Neuromods project?
When they had begun construction for Talos I?
When a Typhon, the very first one to come in contact with humanity, tried to smash all of her internal organs and take over her mind?
When they authorized research on that alien life form that had held so much hope and wonderful mysteries of the world?
When she had first met Morgan in university as graduate students and been charmed by the charismatic young man who had held such a broad vision for the evolution of all of humanity that had seemed so bright?
When he first slid the ring that held so much promise and hopes for their future together onto her finger?
She doesn't know.
She doesn't even want to think about it anymore, it was such a mess. Everything was a dream— a haze— a nightmare in all its essence.
Her phone rumbles. Alex Yu, it reads. She picks up the heavy device that gave her a more comfortable feel of her past. Instead of using the issued Transcribe in the rest of the facilities, she chose to keep the old model of an iPhone. Danielle used to mock her for it and call her old-fashioned.
"Richmond."
"Hello, Chisato." Alex's baritone voice rumbles across.
And Chisato is glad that she didn't install a holographic visor onto her phone. The last thing she needs is to see Alex's smug face.
"Hello, Alex."
"How are you, sister-in-law?"
Spread salt in the wound, was it? "Cut the bullshit, Alex. This has something to do with Morgan, doesn't it? So talk. What happened?"
"The only reason I try to contact you is because of Morgan, and that Typhon. You've named it MoR8N, didn't you? How very much like you. But do remember that this is an equal trade agreement, the minute that Typhon dies, you will cease to have any contact or information about Morgan. Be careful."
"Was that a threat?" her voice is sharp. "Because I didn't forget our contract — it's the same with Morgan. The second William Yu and his Board decides Morgan isn't worth anything anymore, you'll shoot him and make the rest of the world forget. And then you'll try to take away the Typhon I have, no? And I suppose by then, the only option I have is to kill it and myself, as well as Igwe and Elazer and Ilyushin before you take the Typhon and a team of assassins are sent that won't stop until I have a bullet embedded into my skull as well as the rest of the Talos I survivors."
"I'm glad we agree on something for once, Chisato."
Agreeing to what? She's tempted to snark back. They've been forcing her hand all along, ever since she first came back, set foot on earth — half dead, with Morgan in tow, Dahl, and four other survivors who were either worse, same or hardly better than her and Morgan's condition.
And an alien.
And she's been fighting a losing battle since the beginning.
"Danielle Sho, Morgan, and the Operator holding the conscience of Dayo Igwe will accompany me to Antarctica next week for a TranStar conference. Be prepared, and I want to see your process in person while I'm there."
"And you find it suitable to tell me now?"
"You're not the only one on a tight schedule, Chisato. Little of the world has enough time, nor resources to spare; we're the same. With the rapid Typhon infections spreading throughout North America and the rest of the safe havens on earth. Los Angeles is in an uproar, and the world is looking to TranStar and my parents and Morgan to do something about it."
Were they now?
"Also, you must remember. You should lie low and avoid media during our visit— there'll be press streaming everywhere and if you're caught by any of the cameras, it's game over. It will be in all of our best interest for you to keep your current status and research under tight wraps."
"Ah, so that means I won't be able to see my best friend or my husband, does it?"
"Ex-husband," Alex corrects her.
She holds in a sardonic laugh "Of course, ex-brother-in-law."
"I will contact you again. If you have any emergencies, please contact my father's assistant— and no one else. Please avoid causing pandemonium if you can help it."
"Wouldn't dream of it." She replied sarcastically before ending their call.
Arrogant bastard.
Rubbing her eyes and turning back to her desk, she sees a tab blinking open on her desk, and the electronically-created image of Dayo Igwe stares back at her.
"Chisato? You're still awake?" He's startled. Most likely, he was going to leave a recording of himself on her feed and wait until she checked it. Out of all the people TranStar had transferred into an Operators, she and Igwe had the worst relationship. Their interactions all end with cold eyes and unforgivable words and a man with an impossible-to-achieve image who refused to back down.
She turns away from him. "Yes, I was waiting for Alex to call. I stayed awake for it— you know how he gets when I miss it, for whatever reason at all. And now that he has, there's nothing stopping me from getting some shut-eye."
"Ah, yes. Anyway, I was just going to inform you that I've finished the analyzation of MoR8N's progress on the simulation. There's nothing wrong with his vitals or his, ah... Brainwaves. Not sure what you'd call the uh, analytical engines in Typhons. But, uh, do you want to change the names? I don't think the executives will approve of... 'Subject 000-NULL - MoR8N - iD: 00048060719'."
His machine-manipulated voice is nervous.
She turns, hazel eyes narrowed at the hologram figure. Gold and dangerous. "You're a machine, Igwe. There's nothing more death they can do to you. Unless, even after all these years of being a machine and escaping from Talos, you're still afraid of death?"
His voice is cool. "Death would be a blessing, you must understand. A luxury that cannot be afforded by any of us. You, me, Alex, Morgan, the Typhon. We're all stuck here."
"I'm glad you're still aboard our agreement. Good day."
"You, too, Doctor Chisato Richmond Yu."
Damn. He knows to hit where it hurts.
But Chisato Richmond Yu no longer knew the feeling of pain.
It's been exactly two months since Morgan Yu opened his eyes for the first time in seven years.
There's a tear when he first opened his eyes. He tasted the saltiness of the tear that had slid down his face and then to his parched lips. His eyes are dry, but he realizes he's awake and in the blink of an eye, everything he's been dreaming about since he's been comatose are gone when he opens his eyes. And it's like they are being covered by an storm of dust and ruin, and the harder he thinks— the further those figures leave. And when he finally closes his eyes again, there are only sterile hallways and blinking computer monitors all dosed in saturated colours that made everything look beautiful until he receives violent flashes of the puddles of blood and Typhons and he remembers the nightmare of the wonderland and looks more desperately for the rabbit hole in his dream.
His memories are gone. Everything that happened on Talos I and after— he cannot remember. There are only the nightmares he receives in his dreams.
What happens after is a daze.
Fifteen minutes after he opened his eyes, a nurse walks in with a tray of syringes (most likely nutrients for his comatose body) and she drops the tray and screams when she sees his eyes are open. She then runs out, screaming Doctor Morgan Yu is awake and people are rushing into the room, some with tears streaming down their faces and others are praying and more are repeating that God had blessed them with the return of their hero.
That is what happens until six days later, his brother walks into his hospital room and there are tears swimming in Alex's normally firm gaze. He crushes Morgan into a hug and promptly sobs into his shoulder, seeping his hospital gown.
They stay like that for he doesn't know how long. But eventually, Alex looks up and tells him that it's been seven long years.
It's another two weeks later when he finally gets discharged. His apartment in New York looks the same— Alex probably issued orders for to be like that specifically.
But there are things missing. His apartment looked like this— the puzzle is still the same. But corners and edges are cut off on purpose so he'd miss the smaller parts of the bigger picture.
His room is practically devoid of personal effects other than a few picture frames. Most of them are the descriptor of his parents and him with his brother, But there are a few that are of completely random things— a flower, a book, and this one, the one on his desk, showing off a colourful firework.
Bang!
Boom!
The fireworks flash as the crowds begin to chant in the Time Square. The bright lights flicker with the fireworks.
"Three!"
A slim hand slips into his.
"Two!"
An arm wound around his neck, pulling him towards her. He leans in, inhaling the familiar, exotic, coconut-caramel scent.
"One!"
She tastes like honeysuckle and cocktail, he pulls her closer — hand tangling into dark locks as the other settles onto the fabric of the dress on her hips.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The crowd screams as the fireworks flash and roar, its noise somehow covered by the joyous shrieks of the crowd.
Harsh knocking on the door slams him out of his daydreams. Wiping a hand across his face, he goes to answer the door. Only to come in face-to-face with an angry Danielle Sho.
He 'reunited' had with his university classmate and Talos colleague after his discharge, only to discover the prejudice and the extreme dislike she held for the Yu family for some unknown reasons. Their conversation lasted only for a few minutes— however, it was long enough for Morgan to realize she knew just as little as he did.
She stands in front of him with her arms crossed.
"What, you aren't going to invite me or something?" She asks archly.
Morgan fights the urge to roll his eyes. What is she, a child?
However, his irritation quickly turns to curiosity when she slams a sheet onto the coffee table and sits down with a huff. He settles across her, setting down a cup of water, which she took a large gulp of and slammed back down in a similar manner.
"They're hiding something from us." She says hotly. "They said that six of us made it down alive from Talos alongside that pilot Dahl. But here," she gestures to the sheet she's printed out. "There are only five names: two other researchers named Dayo Igwe and Mikhalia Ilyushin. Me, you, and someone called Sarah Elazer, who had been the security chief. No one else."
This was certainly news to him. Other than the fact that there were other Talos survivors, there were nothing else he knew: other than after he had woken up, Alex had little time to make contact with him, much less discuss what had happened during the last six years.
But then, if there were truly a phantom sixth man, what else could Alex be hiding from them?