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As Maliek tried to process this new bit of information, and what it had to do with him, the facility disappeared. They emerged in a new facility, this time with silver covums.
“I don’t understand,” Fejan said to Igata.
“An anomaly appeared in our DNA, making it impossible for the Bazij to have new children.” Igata led them past covum after covum. “Scientists struggled for years to identify the problem. The lone solution they’ve devised is to mix our DNA with other races. We recruit new people—”
“This is not recruiting,” Maliek said through gritted teeth. That’s what this was about? They were stealing his DNA to allow their species to reproduce? His, Jana’s, and everyone else they’d locked into the sims.
Igata shrugged. “Call it what you want, we’re ensuring the survival of our people.”
Maliek stared at her, dumbstruck by the callous disregard for what they were doing to him and others. Stealing his DNA. Using him to procreate against his will. It was something he’d never considered possible before, and it left him with a powerless dread clamping down on his chest.
They stopped before a covum.
“Initiate erasure protocol,” Igata commanded.
The needle-fingered droid stepped forward once more. The covum became transparent, revealing Fejan’s body inside.
“No,” she gasped. She slumped forward, only the droids keeping her from falling in a heap on the ground.
Maliek kicked the droid holding his right arm to dislodge it. He got in only the one ineffectual kick before his ankle bracelet sealed his feet to the floor. He struggled to free himself, but the droids’ grips on his arms tightened until he cried out in pain, relenting.
Rikus materialized beside Fejan. He held a device in one hand and with it stabbed a droid holding Fejan. The droid seized up and toppled backward to the ground, immobilized. Rikus stabbed the second droid, dropping it as well and freeing Fejan. She fell into his arms.
“I’ve got you,” Rikus said, cradling her.
“All you’ve done is seal your own fate with hers,” Igata snarled at Rikus.
“Rikus, get the needle droid,” Maliek shouted.
Rikus’ head shot up, focusing on the droid bent over Fejan’s covum. He dropped Fejan and lunged at the droid. He passed right through it, as if the droid was only a hologram. Or rather, Rikus was—an avatar witnessing the real world. They all were. Only the one droid was in the real world.
It inserted its needle in Fejan’s covum, which filled with the white liquid as Rikus tried in vain to attack the droid. With another moan, Fejan vanished. Rikus howled in anguish, running for her too late. He dropped to his knees screaming. Seconds later, he too faded away.
Maliek stared in shock at the spot. They were gone... just like that.
“This is what your resistance has led to.” Igata glared at him as though he’d orchestrated a major crime.
The facility blacked out, and they reappeared in another one.
Was this all his fault? If he hadn’t agreed to Jana and Fejan joining him, would they have lived their lives in peace? Rikus, too? Fejan had said otherwise in the park, but would she have made the same decision if not for his arrival?
The droids dragged him to a bronze covum. The cover turned transparent, revealing his unconscious body inside. Seeing himself like this left him with a weird sense of unreality, as if he’d gone to another dimension. Igata smiled as the needle droid approached the covum.
Terror filled his entire body. He was helpless to stop it. He would die. And watch it happen as an observer. Would he feel anything?
On his left arm, his wrist-comp remained. The Bazij hadn’t bothered to remove it from his body when they rooted him. An idea formed in his head.
The droid injected the white fluid into the covum. A fogginess enveloped his brain, as if he was being drugged. He had to act fast.
Message Devonta and Katherine Johnson, he thought, staring at the wrist-comp. Would it still accept his thought commands even if his consciousness wasn’t exactly in his body? It was his only option.
Help! The Bazij kidnapped me. I’m locked in a secret closed sim on Melathia.
His surroundings blurred. Sleep tugged at him, but he fought it.
Investigate Velos at Space City Sims. Please hurry!
With the last of his strength, he thought to send the message to his parents.