"I'm glad to see you taking such an interest in our work." Satya clasped her hands together and smiled. She had an awkward smile, Hana had noticed some time ago. Her tongue stuck out from between her teeth a little bit, and she tended to smile more with one side of her mouth than the other. It was kind of cute, Hana supposed. It didn't seem like she smiled much. Maybe she wasn't used to it.

Hana followed her through a wing of Vishkar she had never seen before. "This is our board room." Satya waved her prosthetic arm toward a room with a glass wall to the inside. Several Vishkar employees in suits sat around a table with a bunch of paperwork and holograms scattered across it. They seemed to be in the middle of an intense discussion.

"What are they talking about?" She almost didn't ask, but that hacker had told her to take in as much information as possible. She didn't care, but they probably would.

"I am uncertain." Satya tapped her chin. "I would guess perhaps it is the Dorado deal Vishkar has been trying to secure."

"Dorado deal?"

"Oh, we are in talks with the Mexican government to acquire their city of Dorado as a future location for one of our utopias. It has been overrun by gangs and criminals, and the city is looking to clean up its image."

Dorado. She'd have to remember that name for later. "Where else do you guys have projects?"

"As of right now our only completed cities are in India, and soon to be in Australia, of course. We were building in Brazil as well, but there were some…issues. Our development there is on hold right now."

"What were the issues?"

"There were some clashes with stubborn locals who did not want our assistance."

"Oh yeah?" That piqued Hana's interest. "Why?"

Satya shook her head. Her lips curled into a sneer. "They prefer to live in filth, and I will never understand why. It seems they consider it a sort of cultural badge of honor or something. Must be a sad existence to have so little real culture that you feel you must cling to dirt and poverty in its stead."

Hana whistled. "Brutal."

"It's true," Satya replied. "You learned that there is no purpose in trying to return to your 'Junker' lifestyle. Why can't they see that as well?"

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Hana stopped in the hallway. "I haven't given up on going back to my Junker lifestyle."

Satya frowned. "Really? You seem quite acclimated here."

"Well I'm not." She mentally slapped herself for being so impulsive. Just let her think you're coming over to their side. Then she'll be less suspicious of you. "I mean…I still haven't decided yet."

That seemed to satisfy the other woman. "I think you have," she said, flashing Hana that awkward little smile again. "There is no need to cling to your suffering from the past. It does not define you."

What Satya would never understand was that her suffering did define her now. That was who she was – scarred, homeless, orphaned, yet nonetheless a survivor. That could never be separated from her. The people who rejected Vishkar's interference in Brazil most likely felt the same way.

"This is the training room," Satya continued once it became clear Hana wasn't going to respond, "or rather, one of several training rooms. Occasionally a technological breakthrough will allow us to perform more effectively than we were taught at the Architech academy. So we train and practice here."

Hana glanced into the empty rooms with thinly-veiled disinterest. "Any major breakthroughs lately?"

"Not…very lately." Satya shook her head. "We have been focusing more on establishing a company identity to present to the world first. Most of our recent training has been of a Public Relations nature."

"What happened to you guys that's got you so desperate for good PR?" Hana couldn't resist asking.

"Evil people." Satya's tone took on a note of anger, surprising Hana a little. "People who do not want us to be able to help the world. They spread fear and misinformation and stubbornly refuse to accept change, no matter how positive."

It took all Hana had not to blurt out You guys are literally torturing my friend for a science experiment. "Oh," she said instead. "Are there a lot of, uh, evil people trying to stop Vishkar?"

Satya nodded. "But they are cowards. They cannot hurt us. They cannot hurt you, either – I will see to that."

Hana flushed a little. "Um, thanks. I appreciate that."

"It is my duty to protect the vulnerable, to help elevate humankind as a whole. You do not have to thank me, Hana."

Hana shoved her hands in her pockets as they continued onward. She wondered if it would ever be possible to sway Satya from her Vishkar loyalty. She would never fit in with the Junkers, but surely there had to be a better place for her somewhere out there. She had so much potential to be a good person. To do actual good for the world.

She remained quiet for the rest of the tour, letting Satya show her every inch of Vishkar in agonizing detail.

The second time the hacker appeared to Hana they didn't communicate through text. Instead they presented themselves directly to her, disguised by a black hooded cloak and a mask that resembled the skull logo from the first time. Their voice was distorted as well, making it impossible to tell their age, gender, or anything else, really. All Hana could glean from them was that they seemed to have some sort of accent. With all the distortion on their voice it was impossible to nail down where the accent was from.

"Vishkar is trying to reach a deal with the Mexican government to renovate a city called 'Dorado'." Hana sat in the crappy fold-out chair that had been collecting dust in the corner of her room and stared up at the hacker utilizing her holovid.

The hacker nodded. "I knew that already. Do you know how far along they are? They've been keeping some of their most precious sensitive information out of their system – probably handwritten and hidden somewhere. I think they know I'm on to them."

Hana shook her head. "I wasn't in the meeting room with them. That's just what Satya told me."

"Satya Vaswani, right?"

"Um, maybe? I don't think she ever told me her last name."

"She's got a real interesting story." The hacker lifted a hand, revealing a glowing purple glove with long pointed "nails" on each fingertip. With a wave of their fingers a hologram projection of several files appeared in front of them. "Constantly getting pulled out of class for behavioral problems as a kid…there's a bunch of teacher writeups about her having screaming meltdowns and refusing to work with the other kids. She was failing out of her classes until Vishkar came scouting to her school and apparently saw some potential in her. Realized she needed 'special education'. Guess she was poor as shit, too – according to Vishkar's records they were able to convince her parents to give her up to them so she'd have a better life, decent clothes, enough food, stuff any parent would want for their kid."

"So her parents gave her up to Vishkar?" Hana lowered her eyes. "That's sad."

"How is it sad?" The hacker's cool tone took on a harsh edge. "She got a VIP ticket right out of starving to death in rags. After that she got whatever she wanted. She's so freaking spoiled she can't even consider her own feelings and opinions ever possibly being wrong." The hacker waved away Satya's files. "She's one of Vishkar's most loyal guard dogs, and she'll be a problem for us. We're gonna have to take her out before we can bring Vishkar down."

"Wait, what?" Hana got to her feet. "What do you mean 'take her out'?"

"Whatever we have to do. Blackmail her, silence her…" The hacker shrugged. "Kill her."

"I'm not killing Satya! She's the only decent person here."

"What are you, friends with them now? Do I need to remind you that they're keeping your Junker buddies locked up to be experimented on?"

Hana swallowed. Reluctantly, she sat back down. "No. You're right." She rested her chin on her palm and sighed. "Maybe we can get her out of the way without killing her."

"I'd be all for that. I like to do things as quietly as possible."

Hana exhaled as she tried to think of any way they'd be able to steer Satya away from Vishkar's goals. She definitely wouldn't go down without a fight. She'd have to have a massively compelling reason not to continue opposing the Junkers – Hana would have to find some way to get through to her about it.

"I wonder if she knows what they're trying to do to my friends."

"Why wouldn't she?"

"She said earlier that she doesn't know everything that Vishkar does. She said something like 'One limb of the body doesn't have to know what the whole body is doing'."

"What? Who the hell would turn down information about their own company?" The hacker steepled their fingers, touching their glowing purple fingertips together. "Hm. That sounds more to me like she knows there's stuff going on that she'd rather not believe."

"You think so?"

"If you knew the company you were pretty much raised by and spent your whole life working for was up to some shady shit, would you want to face it? Wouldn't it be easier to just turn a blind eye and pretend you don't know about it? Especially if they're your meal ticket and your free ride out of being dirt poor."

Hana frowned. She couldn't totally blame Satya for that. She was clinging to the Junkers despite knowing they weren't the greatest of people. When you had nothing else, whatever you were able to cling to became your family. And separating from your "family" was one of the hardest things in the world.

"I could see to it that she gets a copy of some of that security footage I showed you yesterday," the hacker continued. "Plant the seed, you know? The seed of doubt."

"Could you really do that?"

The hacker laughed. "Hana, I can do whatever I want. Satya lives in Vishkar-sponsored housing on-site here. I can transfer the files from Vishkar's computers to Satya's personal computer like that." They snapped their fingers demonstratively.

"So you'll do it?"

"Yeah, sure."

Hana hesitated. "What do you want in return?"

The hacker snickered. "Wow, you learned to play by my rules super quick. Good girl!" They clapped sarcastically. "Just keep listening for any valuable info you might pick up inside Vishkar. Relay it all to me. That'll help to ensure our little partnership here is mutually beneficial. Ya know?"

"Okay. I can do that."

"Great. I'll transfer the intel overnight. Can't make her believe it, but we can drop it right in her lap and at least get her thinking about it."

"Yeah." Hana exhaled a soft, quiet breath. Come on, stop being such a wimp. Satya's part of Vishkar. You hate Vishkar. Their mind games must have been working on her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yeah. We'll get her out of the way. We'll…" Destroy her entire life for my own benefit. "…Yeah."

The hacker ended their communication without so much as a goodbye. Hana remained slumped in the chair for a long time afterward, her gaze on the floor.

Whatever Vishkar had done to her, they'd done it good and thoroughly. Boss had little idea how much time passed in her bizarre state of incorporeality. It was like they had sucked her energy right out of her body – or maybe converted her body fully into energy. She couldn't really tell.

There were multiple obvious downsides to losing access to your physical form, but there were a few upsides as well. One of them was the ability to exist in places your body could not – including multiple places at once. In fact, once she learned to filter the flood of information Boss found she could keep a constant metaphorical eye on a sizable area of "Vishkar Corporation". Quite a useful ability, though she couldn't actually make much use of any of the information she picked up.

Of course her first visit had been back to the room where Vishkar had done this bizarre thing to her. The tank that had held her body was filled with a radiant green light, the same shade her body usually took on when she was using her radioactive abilities, in a state of constant motion. In fact it seemed to be hooked up to a system of reinforced piping, made of that same translucent blue material, and was being transferred to and from other lab-like rooms on what turned out to be the underground level of the building. They're using me as energy! Or…something. She found her omniscience grew cloudier as she moved up through the floors of the building, farther away from the energy source. She must have still been attached to it in some form. Maybe the reason she was able to spread her consciousness out like this was because these white coats were stretching her all over the place.

It didn't take long for her to find her next biggest concern. It was curled up on a small bed in some kind of solitary cell, sleeping quite restlessly. Boss settled her consciousness beside Hana and watched her sleep for a few minutes. These Vishkar people must have cleaned her up. Her hair and face were spotless, and for once Boss was actually able to see her without those ridiculous oversized goggles she always wore. God, she's so cute. She didn't deserve to be locked up like this. She was a good kid thrown into bad circumstances.

Hana turned over in bed. She was hugging her pillow rather than sleeping atop it, and when she flopped over she gave it a tight squeeze. Don't be upset, Deevs. Boss made every attempt at contact with her, despite knowing she would get nowhere with it. I'm gonna find us a way out of here.

Either the reassurance somehow had its desired impact or it was a complete coincidence, but a moment later Hana released the pillow and settled into a quieter, calmer state. For as tough as she tried to be, it was so obvious Hana was just a naïve and terrified young girl. Boss could relate. She'd always tried to project an image of being strong and impenetrable – hell, she didn't even like to refer to herself by her real name because it felt so weak to her – but underneath that façade she was like a house of cards. A house of cards built by a drunk. On an active fault line.

She decided to remain with Hana as much as possible while also combing through other parts of the building. Junkrat, Roadhog, and Ana were all accounted for, though none of them looked too pleased with their situation. At night there weren't many employees around to spy on, so she couldn't get much out of that. Eventually she opted to return to "her" room, thinking that perhaps something there could help her.

Of course I have to be dealing with the neatest damn scientists in the world. Seriously, everything was put away. Not a single beaker was left lying about. Boss recalled her many labs at uni, the way they always looked like they'd been hit by an undergrad tornado. Clearly she and these folks did not go to the same school.

She moved toward her energy tank. Something was taped to the outside of it. She moved in close to read the note.

Subject 1

Do not disengage power. Ongoing test.

Samuels

She wondered if Samuels was the asshole doctor who did this to her. I wonder what'd happen if the power went out. Would she be sucked back into her body? Would she be thrown somewhere completely different? Would her energy just be dispersed into the aether?

She continued to search the building, desperate for some answers.

Another positive to being, well, forcibly disembodied was that the assholes who did it to her now had no idea she was hanging around spying on them. She managed to locate a sparse few night shift employees who were sitting in some sort of break room, drinking coffee and chatting. Boss settled herself right beside them and proceeded to eavesdrop on their entire conversation.

"Overnight should seriously be double time," a youngish man at the table muttered. "Time and a half just isn't worth it to botch my whole sleep schedule."

"I don't know why they even need us here. Everything's automated anyway." A young woman, also clutching a coffee, sighed.

"I mean, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry in case something goes wrong, but seriously, why can't we just leave the Architechs here overnight or something? I bet Satya would spend her whole night staring at one machine if we told her to."

They both laughed. Boss felt the disgust rise up inside her. These people are the worst.

"Oh my God, do you know about her and that refugee girl? Hana Song or whatever?"

Boss perked up at the mention of Hana. In the back of her mind a quick thought crept up. Her last name is Song? That's…fittingly adorable.

The man looked intrigued. "No, what happened?"

The woman chuckled. "Okay, Swarnali is terrible. She stuck Satya with her all day long one day – I can't even guess why, except that she maybe figured it would drive Satya to one of those hilarious tantrums she throws every so often when she has to get her hands a little dirty. You know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah, I was there for the infamous Big One during the Christmas party last year. The one where she ended up under the table crying because the lobby was messy."

"Oh my God, you were there for that?" The woman covered her mouth with one hand. "I only heard about that one."

"Yeah, it was funny, but so second-hand embarrassing. I ended up lying and telling my wife she was drunk because I didn't know what else to say."

"Ugh. Well anyway, Swarnali set her and this refugee girl up together to see what would happen or something, and would you believe it – they hit it off. Fast friends."

"No way."

"I saw them at dinner together two nights in a row. Swarnali can't believe it either."

So Hana's making friends here, huh? Boss guessed it was no surprise. Hana had that way about her. You just couldn't dislike her. Maybe that's why she'd been so popular online.

She couldn't help but wonder who this "Satya" was, though. Boss mentally filed the name away to investigate later.

"So is she gonna throw another fit now once this refugee…goes away?" The man lowered his voice. Thankfully Boss could get as close as she needed to, and could hear them both clear as day.

Taking another sip of her coffee, the woman shook her head. "No, this is the one that's staying. Apparently she's kind of famous or something. After the LumériCo fiasco they're probably gonna milk her for all the good press she's worth."

"Ah, yeah. That makes sense."

Boss growled, though of course it went unheard by everyone, including herself. None of my Junkers are 'going away'. Not if I have anything to say about it.

The rest of the Vishkar employees' conversation was as dull as they seemed to be. Boss eventually sought information elsewhere. She was curious about some of the names they mentioned. She didn't expect to find much, but looking never hurt.

The mysterious woman Satya didn't turn out to be difficult to locate. She slept in a satellite building separate from the main one, sort of like a house...an extremely utilitarian one. It was a bit difficult for Boss to transfer her consciousness there since it was a fair distance from her body, but she could get a clear enough view. Everything in the house was cold and sterile-looking. Everything was perfectly organized, perfectly straightened, more like a furniture showroom than a lived-in home.

She found Satya sleeping alone in a massive bed. Her lithe frame barely made a dent under the perfectly-smoothed, tucked-in blankets. Boss realized with some degree of surprise that the woman was missing an arm. Her left shoulder simply dropped off rather than extending into a limb. A bright white prosthetic one sat perfectly centered on a desk not far away.

Boss hovered at the foot of the woman's bed for some time. Why did she live here? Who lived at their workplace? Boss briefly recalled her agonizing stint as an office intern in college. You couldn't have paid her to spend her nights there. Was this woman some kind of prisoner like the Junkers?

No, probably not. But she certainly wasn't taken very seriously by her coworkers despite her apparent dedication to the job. Maybe you're a shitty person too, but nobody deserves to get laughed at when they're having a breakdown. At least it sounded like a breakdown from the way those shitheels had described her behavior. And if Hana likes you, well, you're probably not that bad. So I'm doubly sorry.

A faint humming sound in the corner of the room alerted Boss. The computer on the desk suddenly whirred to life, with some sort of bizarre screen scrolling through hundreds of lines of code. Boss watched it curiously. Her vision was strained at such a distance from her body, preventing her from reading the fine print on the screen, but it didn't look like something good. Satya was still fast asleep and thus didn't notice the odd happening. After about thirty seconds the monitor faded to black, and the computer shut back down again.

Hm. Weird.

Her extended consciousness, still hovering around her friends underground, detected similar goings-on at a few computers in the main building. The computer beside her holding cell was doing the same thing. At such close proximity to her body Boss could actually catch some words on that screen – it was accessing restricted folders and uploading their contents to somewhere else. Maybe this is some kind of automated system backup that Vishkar runs?

Before the files could finish uploading, suddenly the room went dark. The power was out for only a couple of seconds before it blinked back on, but the interruption terminated the uploading process. Boss highly doubted a place like this had a faulty power supply. It seemed more like some sort of kill switch had been flipped. Like someone with limited computer knowledge had been desperate to cancel whatever was going on.

Hm. Maybe this place has more enemies than just us Junkers. It wouldn't be too surprising considering they were literally experimenting on people and plotting to wipe out the remaining population of the Outback with experimental nuclear testing. Who knows how many other groups they'd done this to before the Junkers?

Boss was interested in investigating the rest of the building after that, to see if she could get any explanations from employees. But as she tried to warp her consciousness to another part of the building, she found she was stuck…in the tank from before. She reached out and pressed against the glass with both hands – wait, since when did she have hands again? She gasped. The power went out. It must have shut down the machine they were using on me.

She had reformed her body. All the pieces Vishkar had chopped her into mustn't have been able to maintain a form in the physical world. She had to be all together to function. And now she was. Awesome.

After fumbling around in it for a few minutes, she managed to get reacquainted enough with her body to stand up and center herself. They were testing me as a source of energy. Now that I'm all together again…I wonder if I could short the power out myself?

Boss clenched her fists as they gained their familiar sickly green glow. She concentrated all her thoughts on spreading her energy back out like before, this time picturing it exploding out of her with enough strength to disrupt the power flow of the building. They want to use me as a power source? I think I can give them that.

Her whole body flared into vibrant green light as she pushed it to levels she had never dared to before.

If Satya watched the footage the hacker had sent her, she didn't say anything about it. She did, however, act noticeably different around Hana. It started when Hana met with her for their usual lunch date the next afternoon. Satya was a lot of things, but one thing she wasn't was a liar. She was honest to a fault, often brutally so. So when she spent the entire lunch avoiding eye contact with Hana, it said all Hana needed to know.

"So…" Hana eventually said, "How are you? Sleep well last night?"

"Oh…" Satya toyed with her fork. "Er, yes. Fine. I mean, I am well. I slept well. And yourself?"

"I slept okay. Thanks." She smiled at Satya. Satya kept her gaze averted. "By the way, I wanted to thank you again for asking about the medical stuff for me yesterday. It means a lot that you're looking out for me."

Satya's shoulders tensed. "…Of course. You're welcome."

"You know, I was really worried for my friends at first, since I didn't know how Vishkar was treating them." Hana kept Satya pinned with a syrupy-sweet smile. "But you guys treat me so well that I don't feel so worried about them anymore. I'm sure they're in good hands."

Satya lowered her eyes to the table. "Vishkar tries to do what is best for all of humanity," she murmured, almost too quiet for Hana to hear.

"Well I appreciate it. My friend Boss, um, Vanessa, she's been through a lot. I think she wants to get back to her parents at some point. They're gonna be so excited to find out she's still with us."

Satya bit her lip. "Hana…"

Hana feigned innocence. "Hm?"

Satya took a deep breath. With some reservation she said, "Hana, your friends may not ever return to their families. It would seem Vishkar has a greater plan for them. One that benefits the human race as a whole."

Hana stared at her for a long moment. "What do you mean?"

Satya straightened her spine, the usual pose she struck when she was about to rattle off some B.S. she'd swallowed from Vishkar years ago. "Sometimes we must make sacrifices for the greater good of humanity, for our species to be elevated and placed upon the true path of greatness for which we were destined. Unfortunately not all of us are worthy of the true reality."

Hana continued to stare at her, chewing audibly. After she swallowed her mouthful of food she said, "You're saying a whole bunch of words, but none of them really mean anything."

"What do you mean? I am being perfectly clear."

"Sum it up in ten words or less."

Satya pursed her lips. She spent a few moments tapping her fingers on the table, clearly parsing it out in her head. "Vishkar understands that sacrifices must be made to advance humankind."

"What kind of 'sacrifices'?"

Satya didn't seem to catch on that Hana was purposely playing dumb. "Some of us must…perish. It teaches the rest of us the way."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Hana's eyes widened. She touched her fingertips to her mouth. "You're…you're not gonna kill my friends, are you?"

Satya stared at her for a long time. Hana noticed her teeth catch her lip again, as she tried to keep her expression rigid and unfaltering. Hana's own lip quivered a bit, partly an act and partly out of genuine emotion.

"Please don't let them hurt my friends," she whispered.

Satya visibly swallowed. "I am…sorry, Hana. I do not know for sure what Vishkar will do, but whatsoever they choose will be done for the good of all of us. You must trust me on this."

A fat, round tear found its way down Hana's cheek. It was followed by a twin on her other cheek, leaving two glistening trails down her face and two tiny splotches on the table beneath her. Satya at first withdrew, but then cautiously reached her organic hand toward Hana's. The gesture reminded her of how Ana had reacted to her crying so long ago. That memory only stirred up more tears.

"Please, Hana–" Satya touched her hand lightly, "This is not – this is highly unprofessional. Please, collect yourself."

"Unprofessional…" Hana sniffled, but it did little to hold back the tears or mucous that was quickly reducing her to a gross, sobbing mess. "S-sorry. Don't want to be…unprofessional."

Satya glanced around at their neighboring tables. Thankfully the dining area had largely cleared out, but the stragglers were purposely ignoring Hana anyway.

Satya leaned in closer, lowering her voice to nearly a whisper. "On occasions where I would allow myself to be overwhelmed by my own emotions, that was how my colleagues would pull me back to reality." Satya seemed uncertain of her own words. "It is unprofessional. Unprofessional and a sign of weakness."

Hana took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself somewhat. "You've cried in front of your coworkers before?"

After a moment of hesitation, Satya eventually nodded. "It is my own flaw. I cannot be as perfect as I wish to be, although Vishkar helps me to reach my greatest potential."

"Is my friends' greatest potential being dead?"

"I know it sounds strange, but…"

Hana folded her arms up tight to her chest and stared down at her feet.

"Oh, Hana..." Satya clasped her hands together and rested her elbows on the table. "I know it is difficult for you to understand. Truthfully, it is difficult for me to understand as well. It is hard for me to justify sacrificing even a single life, even knowing it may improve the lives of many others."

"It doesn't have to be like this," Hana mumbled. "You could stop them."

Satya shook her head. "I am but a tool of Vishkar's ambitions. I willingly accept that role, but with it comes drawbacks. Tools are not made to defy the will of the one who wields them."

"So you'd stop them if you could?"

Satya didn't seem to have an answer for that.

"The only reason I ever went along with you guys is because you said my friends would be safe. I never should have trusted you." Hana got up from the table and started to walk away. From behind her she heard Satya murmur something. She glanced over her shoulder just long enough to see the other woman still seated at the table, her eyes cast downward.

Maybe she could get through to Satya. Maybe.

It was late in the day when the commotion started. It was well-contained, and Hana may not have noticed it if she hadn't been scouting for that hacker. There was just the slightest hint of something in the air. "What's going on?" she asked Swarnali, who was brushing through the snarls in Hana's hair and treating her, as per usual, more like a doll than a human being.

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on."

Hana turned in her seat and leveled the woman with a flat stare.

They'd spent enough time together that Swarnali must have known Hana would not give up on asking. "It's your friend Ana," she finally said. "I guess she isn't well."

Hana froze. "What do you mean she isn't well?"

"I'm not sure. She complained of chest pain. We're having our in-house doctor look at her."

"You have an in-house doctor?"

Swarnali nodded.

"What do you need that for? Is it just for doing under-the-table medical examinations on your hostages?"

Swarnali winced at the harshness of Hana's words. "No," she replied, "we offer full medical care to our staff through the program. Extending care to criminals is just an act of altruism on our part."

"How noble of you." She bit back nastier words. So kind of you guys to check out the old woman you've been holding against her will for a month. "Can I see her? You told me I'd be able to see my friends while I was here."

Swarnali hesitated. "I'd have to obtain permission first. You might be able to see her, if she's feeling well enough."

"How bad is she?"

"I don't know. I haven't personally seen her."

Hana swallowed. They might have already started experimenting on her. Wouldn't the hacker know that, though? Maybe they did know and just weren't telling Hana yet.

"Can you ask if I can see her?"

"Later. I'm sure they won't let you see her now, while she's been examined."

Hana scowled. "Right. Later."

Of course they wouldn't let her see Ana. It had been foolish to even ask.

"They said they're keeping her in the examination room overnight to 'make sure she's all right'." Hana kept her head bowed as she spoke to the mysterious figure on her holovid, who was becoming more and more of a familiarity in her bland, monotonous existence with Vishkar.

"Her record says she's stable. Seems like they can't find anything wrong with her."

Hana paused. "Are they making up the record?"

"Could be. Could also be your friend is making up that there's something wrong with her."

"Is there any way you can get into contact with her? Or get me in contact with her?"

"No way, amiga. That hospital room is monitored like crazy. I'd get my cover blown instantly."

Hana's shoulders sagged. Would Ana really lie about being unwell? What would be the point of that? It must be Vishkar lying.

"Vishkar's probably covering something up. I hope they're not testing on Ana…"

"Well at least you have me to help you out. And I'm a fair, reasonable person who only asks for information in return." The hacker snickered. "Maybe I can help Ana out if you get me some info about…whoa, wait, what's going on?"

Hana's head snapped up, fixing on the hacker. "What?"

"There's something weird going on in one of the labs nearby…" The hacker leaned sideways, apparently studying something off-screen. "That's weird, it almost looks like–"

The holovid made a loud popping sound. The screen burst into nothing but noisy static, then winked out and left the holovid black. Unsure what to make of it, Hana took a few steps backwards. As she backed up against her bed something clicked somewhere in the building. With a quiet whirr Hana's room fell into darkness.