Ethan woke to a loud scraping sound, sharp enough to slice through his skull. He opened his eyes and scanned for the source. But the noise had already stopped.
Ethan rubbed his aching temples, and memories came back.
"AIMI, apply the revised genomic lattice. Advance the primary trigger by zero-point-six-three milliseconds. Commence synthesis of Aeternum Serum V3.3."
The memory of the lab rose around him. The white, sterile lights, cold counters, the slightly audible hum of the sequencer tower.
AIMI's hologram emerged beside him, her form building itself from pixels into a tall, slender, blue-lit silhouette.
"Recalibration complete, Doctor," she said. "Overall serum stability increased by zero-point-zero-five percent. Trigger-node volatility reduced by two-point-six. Cellular overgrowth probability now registering at point-four."
"This progress is not adequate." Months of refinement and simulations, and the serum had not reached his desired threshold.
Ethan stepped to the observation window, a crystal wall separating him from XE3495B. The most beautiful and the most terrifying planet they have ever found.
The bluish-green forests glowed with luminous threads. Alien creatures stitched themselves back together after injuries that would kill anything evolved on Earth.
Creatures that refused to die. A natural archive of immortality.
AIMI's voice cut in again.
"Doctor… incoming transmission. Titan Foundation Fleet commander Ralvek."
Static swept across the speakers before a heavy voice settled into the room.
"Dr. Vance. You are ordered to evacuate. Planet XE3495B will be sterilized in ten minutes."
"You intend to destroy the only stable immortal ecosystem we have ever encountered!
Do you understand the scale of this action?"
"The risk has developed beyond our level of acceptance, please retrieve the essential data and proceed to the space elevator for evacuation procedure."
"Titan Federation misused my research on the Andraste Moon," Ethan said, calm but cutting. "You created an outbreak you lacked the means to contain. And now you plan to erase the only planet that holds the secret to immortality!"
Ralvek said nothing more and cut the transmission.
AIMI flickered beside him.
"Doctor… neutron reactors are surging. Cannon charges exceed normal thresholds. They are preparing to destroy the planet's core."
Ethan looked upward. Blue veins spread through the sky, an ominous glow threading across the clouds.
"They always choose destruction over understanding. Idiots."
He grabbed the containment case holding Aeternum 3.08 and ran out of the lab.
His coat fluttered as he ran through the glass corridor. Before him, the space elevator stood piercing the clouds.
AIMI drifted beside him, her projection glitching from interference.
"Doctor, at your current velocity you will not reach the elevator before impact."
"I am aware," he said, breathing turning rough. "Continue monitoring blast progression."
The sky brightened. Blue lightning crawled through the cloud layers, the air trembling around him.
A bolt of light descended, brighter than any star. It tore the sky apart and drove itself into the planet's crust.
Shockwave slammed into Ethan, hurling him across the deck, the containment case tumbling from his grasp.
Metal struck his ribs as he landed, shock rippling through his body.
The case shattered from impact and the vial broke open.
Blue-silver serum burst across him, burning through the cuts on his arms, flooding into his mouth, searing his eyes.
"DAMN IT."
AIMI's hologram reached toward him, her form breaking apart, voice fracturing into static.
"Doc…tor…"
Her final syllable dissolved into silence.
Light engulfed him. The sound collapsed into nothing. Gravity folded in on itself. The planet burst open.
Ethan woke again to the scraping sound.
This time he remained awake. His head throbbed with a dull ache as he opened his eyes. He searched for the source and found it.
A ceiling fan, ancient and crooked, hung from above, and one bent blade was grinding into the plaster with every rotation.
"What is this place," he muttered.
As his awareness widened, another sensation hit him. The smell reached him first. Iron. Feces. Urine. Rot. The thick, suffocating stench made the air feel heavier.
Bodies lay scattered throughout the room. Dozens of them. Most wore similar uniforms, suggesting they were part of the same group. Red armbands marked with a black cross clung to many of their arms, although some corpses no longer had arms attached at all.
Something had torn through them brutally. Limbs were ripped open, torsos split wide, and several bodies bore unmistakable signs of having been eaten.
Inspecting the scratch wounds and the big bite marks gave Ethan goosebumps.
A group of rats scurried away from a shredded corpse as Ethan sat upright. Ethan jumped back, but the effort launched him farther than expected. His body felt unnaturally light. He crashed into the wall with a force that should have shattered bone, yet the pain faded almost instantly.
He stared at his hands. Small scratches from the broken concrete formed on his skin. The skin stitched itself closed under his gaze.
"What happened to me?"
Instinctively he called for AIMI, but the silence was absolute. No hologram appeared. No voice answered. The realization settled in his chest. His link to everything familiar was gone.
He examined himself fully. His muscles were defined and proportioned. His legs felt coiled with power. His most private anatomy looked exaggerated beyond reason. He was no longer the middle-aged, half-bald scientist who spent more time in labs than in daylight. His new body looked engineered. Intentional. Too perfect.
Looking at his reflection in the shattered mirror, even his face looked like a Fibonacci circle.
He rose and began exploring the facility. It was a compact structure made of crude metal and sand-colored stone. The technology was astonishingly primitive. Every console, every device, every piece of equipment seemed centuries, even millennia behind his era.
The weapons lying around were simple ballistic firearms. Metal bullets. Gunpowder. He recognized the crude design from a museum he once visited.
The smell of decay grew worse as he moved from room to room. Chunks of flesh and dried blood stained the floors and walls. Several doors had been torn off their hinges. It looked as if something had rampaged through the entire place without resistance.
He searched the rooms for anything that could help him survive outside the facility.
He found preserved rations, a metal canteen with drinkable water, two functional firearms with ammunition, and a set of clothing that roughly fit his new physique. He also discovered a large jacket that, though oversized, still suited his taste.
After gathering what he could, he exited the facility. The moment he stepped outside, cold desert air swept against his face. The silence stretched in all directions. Under the moonlight, the landscape revealed itself as an endless desert with no sign of civilization.
He looked back at the building and considered the carnage again. Could he have done this? Had the serum twisted him into something uncontrollable? He pushed the thought aside.
Even with his enhanced strength and speed, the level of brutality inside exceeded anything he believed any human could produce. Something else had been present. Something powerful and hungry.
He refused to wait for it to return.
Ethan adjusted the jacket over his shoulders and began to walk. The moon hung above the desert in a calm, steady arc. He chose to follow it because it was the only constant in this strange, primitive place.
Ethan moved through the desert for almost two hours, guided only by the moon and the cold air sliding against his face.
The silence was broken only by the crunch of sand beneath his boots. Eventually, a deep rumbling sound reached his ears. It was heavy and mechanical.
Ethan climbed over a sand dune. Below him, a squat, oddly balanced vehicle crawled across the desert trail… belching thick black smoke from a pipe at its rear.
Human silhouettes stood on the back platform.
Ethan felt a flicker of relief. He ran toward them, waving.
The vehicle slowed, then came to a complete stop.
The driver leaned out of the cabin, eyes wide with fear as he stared at the stranger approaching from the dunes. He shouted something, but Ethan could not understand a single word.
Two men jumped down.
One held a rifle pointed directly at Ethan.
The other approached slowly, speaking in a language Ethan did not recognize.
Ethan listened, observed their gestures, and pieced together the intent.
"They want a name," he murmured.
He placed a hand on his chest. "Ethan."
The two men exchanged glances. Their confusion deepened. Their gazes fixed on the red cloth with a black cross on the left hand of his jacket.
Ethan assumed they were asking about the symbol, so he ripped off the cloth and handed it to one of them. Their eyes widened at the red strip.
The one with the rifle circled behind him. Rough hands searched his clothes.
They took his food, his water, and the two small handguns he had tucked into his belt. The other man stepped forward and tied Ethan's wrists with coarse rope and pushed him toward the back of the vehicle.