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TWENTY-EIGHT

AEON

The blaring alarm from my communicator cut through the afterglow of our passion like a blade. My body still pressed against Olivia’s, skin against skin, but the moment fractured as reality crashed back in.

We scrambled from the tangled sheets, a chaotic dance of limbs and hastily grabbed clothing. I yanked on my dark tactical pants while scanning the room for my shirt. Olivia hopped on one foot, struggling with her boots, her hair wild from my fingers moments before.

“Here,” I handed her the blaster she’d been practicing with today. The weapon looked strange in her hands—a doctor holding a gun—but these weren’t normal times.

She grabbed it and checked the charge with surprising competence. “I still hate these things.”

“Hold on to it anyway.” I strapped mine to my thigh holster, the familiar weight grounding me as my mind raced through defensive scenarios. “Stay behind me when we approach.”

The sunset bathed everything in blood-orange as we sprinted across the settlement, past the hydroponics dome and the medical bay. Olivia kept pace beside me, determination replacing the vulnerability I’d witnessed in private. My heart pounded, not from exertion but from knowing what awaited us.

When we reached the clearing near the landing zone, the ship had already landed—sleek, unmarked, but unmistakably CE technology.

My colony stood ready: Commander Helix at point position, her blonde hair catching the fading light; Sage to her left, calm but alert; and Tegan with his hand hovering near his weapon.

Behind them, forty newly trained defenders—both cyborg and human colonists—formed a protective semicircle around our settlement.

The ship’s door hissed open, revealing the last person I expected to see.

“Naomi?” Olivia whispered behind me, her voice cracking with emotion.

Dr. Naomi West stepped out, flanked by four CE operatives in tactical gear. The betrayal in Olivia’s voice told me she hadn’t expected to find her friend in such company.

Without thinking, I moved further in front of Olivia, my body a shield between her and the weapons I knew those operatives carried. She didn’t fully step back—stubborn woman—just shifted slightly to the side so she could still see.

“Olivia,” Dr. West called out, her voice floating across the clearing. “I’ve come to secure your release from these rogue units.” Her gaze flicked to me, cold and calculating. “My associates are equipped with the latest CE weaponry if it should come down to force.”

I felt Olivia stiffen behind me. Commander Helix caught my eye, her expression clear. This was my call. The responsibility of my people’s lives—and the unborn children we were fighting to protect—weighed on my decision.

Olivia’s warm hand pressed against my lower back, hidden from view—a silent communication. Whatever I chose, she was with me. The realization burned through me with greater power than any weapon CE could design.

I took a step forward, my hands raised in a gesture of peace, keeping my movements deliberate and nonthreatening. The setting sun cast irregular shadows across our colony, turning the jungle around us into a tapestry of dark silhouettes.

“Dr. West,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through me. “We can discuss this civilly. Olivia has been providing critical medical care to our pregnant colonists. Her expertise has saved lives here.”

One of the CE operatives—a stocky man with a permanent sneer—stepped forward, a neural disruptor prominently displayed on his belt. His stance was aggressive, his hands hovering near his weapon.

“Civilly?” he spat. “You kidnapped a human doctor and expect civil treatment? These units have clearly gone rogue.” He gestured broadly at our assembled colonists.

“They’re unpredictable. Dangerous. What’s to stop them from turning on us right now?

Or attacking Earth later when they decide they’re angry about how they were treated? ”

His words hit me hard. The accusation wasn’t new, but hearing it spoken aloud in front of my people stung. We’d fought so hard to build something peaceful here, something worth protecting.

Another operative—taller, with cold eyes—stepped forward beside him.

“We have the reactivation codes loaded in our neural disruptors.” She patted the sleek device on her hip.

“One wrong move and every cyborg here returns to factory settings. Memories erased. Identities wiped. Compliance reinstated.”

My blood ran ice cold. The reactivation codes were ready and here right now.

The ultimate nightmare. The thing we feared most since gaining our freedom.

Those codes could undo everything we’d built—our community, our identities, our very selves.

All gone with the press of a button on their neural disruptors.

My eyes met Commander Helix’s across the clearing again. Her subtle head tilt indicated she was prepared to follow my lead, whatever I decided next. Sage’s expression remained calm, but I noted her right hand had moved closer to her concealed weapon.

The jungle around us had fallen unnaturally quiet, as if even the wildlife sensed the tension crackling through the air. Sweat beaded along my spine despite the cooling evening air.

How had we come to this? Fighting for our right to simply exist? To create a future for ourselves away from those who viewed us as property?

I channeled every negotiation technique I’d ever learned, searching for words that might defuse this powder keg.

Diplomacy had never been my strength. I was designed for battlefield medicine, for quick decisions under fire.

But right now, words were the only weapons that wouldn’t get everyone erased or outright killed.

The twin suns had vanished completely, plunging us into the ethereal glow of Planet Alpha’s twin moons. Their combined light spilled across our colony, illuminating the tense standoff with an otherworldly blue-silver sheen.

I stepped forward slightly, feeling forty pairs of eyes at my back—my people, my responsibility.

The weight of their trust burned into me with more intensity than the neural disruptor soon to be pointed in my direction.

Olivia stood just behind my right shoulder, her breathing steady despite everything.

Her presence gave me strength I didn’t know I needed.

“Dr. West,” I said. “We’re not returning Olivia unless we have guarantees—not just for her safety but for our colony and our unborn children.”

Helix moved up alongside me, her stance projecting authority despite being shorter than the CE operatives. “We’ve built something here that deserves to exist,” she added.

I scanned the faces of our visitors, searching for any flicker of understanding. The stocky operative’s hand still hovered near his weapon, but Dr. West’s expression had softened almost imperceptibly.

“Look around you,” I gestured to our settlement—the domed buildings nestled among the jungle trees, the garden plots, and the medical bay where Olivia had saved several lives. “This isn’t a military installation or a rebel base. We’re building homes. We’re creating families.”

The night air felt heavy with humidity and tension. Jungle insects resumed their chorus, oblivious to the human-cyborg drama unfolding beneath the moonlight.

“We didn’t choose to be created,” I continued, fighting to keep my voice level as emotion threatened to crack it open. “But we’re choosing how to live. We breathe, we bleed, we fear, and we hope—just like you. The only difference is you were born and we were built.”

Olivia’s hand found mine in the darkness, her fingers intertwining with mine. The touch sent electricity up my arm, centering me.

“Three weeks ago, I made a decision I regret—taking Dr. Parker without consent. But I did it because our pregnant colonists needed help and because their unborn children deserved a chance to enter this world safely.” I squeezed Olivia’s hand.

“I was desperate, and I made a choice based on survival, not cruelty.”

Dr. West’s gaze flicked between Olivia and me, noting our clasped hands.

“We want peace. We want to raise our children in freedom and to teach them both their human and cyborg heritage. To show them they belong to this universe as much as anyone born on Earth.” My voice grew stronger with each word.

“If you use those reactivation codes, you’re not fixing malfunctioning machines.

You’re committing genocide against an emerging people. ”

Silence descended. My words hung in the night air, floating beneath the twin moons like a prayer.

The CE operatives remained stone-faced, but Dr. West’s expression was unreadable, her eyes fixed on Olivia rather than me. Not a muscle moved among them. Had they even heard me? Could they see past their conditioning to recognize our humanity?

Sage shifted almost imperceptibly beside me, ready for whatever came next. Tegan’s hand moved closer to his weapon. The jungle around us seemed to hold its breath, waiting.

My heart hammered wildly against my ribcage.

I’d laid bare everything—our fears, our dreams, and our right to exist. If they couldn’t see our humanity now, would they ever?

It had taken Olivia weeks to understand us, to see beyond her preconceptions.

Could I really expect these people to grasp it in minutes?

The silence stretched painfully. No response came.

I felt a drop of sweat trail down my back, and my grip on Olivia’s hand tightened slightly. The moment balanced on a knife’s edge—tipping toward either violence or understanding.