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Savvine met his eyes, jaw clenched, blood boiling behind her composed exterior. ‘Play all the games you want, Eugene,’ she bit out. ‘But you might regret this a lot sooner than you think.’

‘Oh, I adore your spirit,’ he said, circling her like a predator admiring its prize. ‘But don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t snatch you just for sport.’

‘Then what do you really want with me?’ she asked coldly.

He paused, tilted his head, and tapped a finger to his chin. ‘I want to exchange you for something more valuable.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘What’s that?’

Eugene smiled slyly. ‘Can’t say. Not until I decide how to play this little symphony.’

‘How is my family, Eugene?’

His eyes glittered with cruel amusement. ‘Oh, they’re well. Quite the vibrant little colony.’

He flicked his fingers, and a holo-stream flashed before her, projected from the embedded screen on the wall behind him.

It showed the interior of theEterna, darker than she’d ever seen it.

The grand halls, corridors, and common zones had been converted into eerie communal spaces filled with sleeping bodies.

People lay huddled under thin pallets, dim portable lights casting long shadows as they slept on floors, clustered in corners, or sat silently.

‘Why aren’t they in their homes and beds?’ she demanded.

Eugene sniffed. ‘So they can rest easy? Slip through back channels? Whisper in nooks and rally resistance?Nada. I want them where I can see them all. Or rather, where they can be observed at all times by my new toys.’

With a swipe of his hand, he shifted the holo angle, revealing hundreds of crat cyborgs in white and silver armor marching in precision formations through the ship.

They patrolled doorways, hovered in air vents, and lined walkways like sentient shadows with teeth.

Savvine leaned forward, stomach twisting. ‘How are you feeding them? Do they have clean water? What about the hospital? The NICU?’

‘I’m not all heartless,’ he replied breezily. ‘The sick remain in the medical wards. The infants are safe in their little bubble boxes, all monitored. But the rest are with me, right under my nose, where they belong. They’ve been enjoying rations once a day. I don’t want them getting too strong to start a rebellion.’

Her voice dropped to a knife’s edge. ‘Where’s the real Eugene?’

‘He’s on a short holiday. Think of it, his entire life’s a vacation.’

‘Helena?’

‘She, too, has taken a short ride to a pleasure ship resort.’

The faux mob boss cackled, his mouth curling into a grin as he began to hum an old Earth melody about taking a beach vacation.

The tune twisted through his synthetic throat, warped and edged with static.

It soon grated on Savvine’s nerves. ‘Please shut up.’

In an instant, he was on her, quicker than thought.

His hand cracked across her face with an unnatural speed.

The sound echoed in the glacial air. Her head whipped sideways, her lip tearing open, a splash of red splattering her chin.

She took an inhale and absorbed the wave of agony.

Rearranging her face, she turned her head back, locking eyes with him. ‘Is that all you got?’