Drool slowly drifting from the corner of my mouth to the pillow my head is resting on. My alarm suddenly goes off, it’s beeping bringing me back to reality. I open my sluggish eyes before sitting. I grab a tissue to wipe off the drool from my face and get up. I pick up my phone vibrating on my desk, yelling to me it’s seven in the morning. With a quick slide of my finger, the phone turn silent. I follow my usual morning motions. I sit at my desk, turning my computer on, before heading to the gym room, where I take a short shower to help me wake up.

My jaw hurts from all the yawning I do. Back from the shower, I walk pass my office to reach the refectory. At this time of the day it’s already quite busy. I swiftly grab a coffee with a toast or two and quickly go back to my office. Once at my desk, I log in, and start checking the mails I didnt have the time to read yesterday’s evening. I siff through them, while drinking my black unsweeten coffee.

  • “Nothing of notes,” I unconsciously say quietly.

Suddenly, a new mail pops up. Reading the sender’s name sends a shiver down my spine.

FROM: Koha Silver ｢ANGEL ARCHPRIESTESS｣
TO: Victor Talon ｢AKASHIC PLANE LEAD RESEARCHER｣
COPY: Security Force ｢STRUCTURE A08｣
SUBJECT: RE: Monthly research report / SACM Project / 202█-██-20

May Her gaze graces you today, dear Dr. Victor Talon.

I am most pleased with your team’s progress. I put in an express order for your team to use live subjects for the Genesis Akashic Vector internalisation experiments.

You may have noticed your local security force is also targetted by this email. We have received troublesome security audits regarding one of your team member. She might have created an algorithm beyond our comprehension, but it doesnt mean we need to turn a blind eye to her shady dealing.

As such, you already have your first live subject: Sammy Konn. Security Force, go to living quarters A08-C602, arrest her for acting against the Order, and put her on standard subject digestion procedure.

Victor, please coordinate with your local security force to start live subject testing as soon as possible.

I am expecting a great lot from your team.

May we make the stars fall, to bring Her back home.

Koha Silver, Angel Archpriestess.

Cold sweat drops from my forehead as I read through the content. “Sammy..?” Her name resonates in my mind. I shake my head. “Living quarters A08-C602… She has her own room in the facility?” Something usually left to the most important members of the Order. “Even I dont quality to have one.”

  • “What the fuck is going on?” I exclame to myself.

I get up quickly, dash through the door, walking as fast as possible toward room C602 in the north-wing of the facility. People from my research team notices me on the way, and tries to say hi, but my mind is boiling, and I cannot spare a moment.

I arrive in front of the room and doesnt hesitate to knock loudly.

  • “Sammy? Are you here?” I yell.

I wait a few moment in the sill air of the empty living quarters. These rooms are usually left empty unless a delegation from HQ visits. I bite my nails, a nervous reaction, waiting desesperately for an answer before the security force arrives. Suddenly, the door’s lock is removed with a heavy mechanical sound. The door slides open upward. Sammy is standing in front of me. She is drenched, her hair letting quite a bit of water fall on the ground. A single towel around her neck covers her chest.

  • “Do you realize what time it is?” she replies, clearly annoyed.
  • “I need to talk to you. Right. Now. Please let me come in.” I add, my syllables following a chaotic pattern. She raises an eyebrow, waiting for a bit, thinking.
  • “It better be important.” She steps to the side.

I walk in feverishly, not even looking at the luxuous furnitures. I stop in the middle of the room, my back turned to Sammy as to not look. I hear the door close and the heavy lock is put back into place.

  • “I just received a mail from our Archpriest. You are being arrested and put in as a cobaye for my team.” I say quickly.
  • “What?” She replies.
  • “It’s not a fucking joke, Sammy. What on earth did you do?!”
  • “Nothing! Why would Koha arrest me?!” She says, confused, as she walks to be in front of me, her facial expression betraying her usual stoic attitude.
  • “She said you acted against the Order. Called them ‘shaddy dealings’,” I answer, nevously.

Sammy looks perplexed. She stares at me before her eyes looks to the bottom left. She thinks, or tries to remember if anything fit that description. Her though process is interupted as knocking on the heavy metal door echoes in the silent and spacious room.

  • “Sammy Konn, this is your local Security Force. You are under arest from direct order of Koha Silver, our Angel Archpriestess. You have thirty seconds to come out.” A deep voice pierces through the thickness of the door. Sammy’s face turns from confusion to fear. She steps closer to me.
  • “Please help me, I swear I did nothing wrong,” she says quickly. I think for a short moment.
  • “I-I’ll try. Go get changed,” I whisper to her.

She dashes for the bathroom and closes the door. “I’m fucking dead, arent I?” I walk to the door. I open it.

  • “Hello good sirs,” I say nervously as the door opens.
  • “Dr. Talon, what are you doing here?!” The lead security officer stands in front of me, weapon armed and aiming inside the room.
  • “I-I saw the same mail as you! I was so excited I… I wanted to bring Sammy to the lab to start the experiments right away, yes,” I reply, fumbling over words.
  • “This is not standard procedure Doctor,” the lead officer responds, unimpressed.
  • “Our experiment doesnt require much preparation. Just have the subject sit down and turn the machine on, you know? I think standard subject digestion was way too much for our case.” I add, more confidently.
  • “Plus, our Archpriestess did say I needed to coordinate with you sirs, to start testing as soon as possible. I’m only doing her biding,” I finish, with a slightly smug face. The officers look at each other.
  • “Very well then. We’ll notify our Archpriestess about this,” the lead officer responds calmly. They all disengage their weapons, putting them back in their holdsters.
  • “Understood. May we make the stars fall.” I say.
  • “May we make the stars fall, Doctor.” They reply as they leave.

I press the button next to the door frame. The door closes. The lock is put in place automatically. I let out a loud sigh. “I’m fucking dead now!” The bathroom doors opens, startling me. I turn around to face it in an instant. I see Sammy dressed in her usual brown sweater and black jean, her hair still wet.

  • “You… did it?” she asks, impressed.
  • “Yeah, what on earth did I do? As soon as our Archpriestess hears this I’m turning into biomatter for the biological team to play with.”, I say as I put my hands over my face.
  • “Well then we are in the same boat. Let’s leave this place.” She goes to a desk on the other side of the room, grabbing a few things that she puts in her pockets. She ends her search with a handgun. She pulls the top of it back and let it go, making the hammer clang. “Do you know how to handle a gun, Dr. Talon?”
  • “N-No, I never did. Just call me Victor. And how do you have a gun here?” I reply, taking a few steps back, afraid.
  • “I smuggled one in. Those security guy arent the most well paid you know, and faith isnt that sacred for many.” She puts it under her sweater, held by the belt around the top of her jean.

She walks to the door and presses on the open button without hesitation. She steps outside her room before looking back toward me and tilting her head in confusion. I stand in the middle of her room, still. “What have I done?” I stand frozen, realizing that just how far my curiousity led me this time.

  • “What are you waiting for Victor? Let’s get going.” Sammy says, reassuringly, trying to show a slight smile to comfort me. I sigh, defeated.

I follow her outside of her room. She closes the door, and once closed, start walking in direction of the labs. I follow her in silence, trying to compose myself as to not look suspicious to the people we walk by. We meet a member of our own team here and there, stop to say hi and chat a bit about the project. I refrain myself from talking about this morning’s email. We arrive in front of the refectory’s door. Sammy turns and takes it. “What?” I follow her in as she walks to the food dispencers.

  • “What are you doing Sammy?” I ask in a whisper.
  • “I’m hungry. Cant escape on an empty stomach, can I?” I grumble quietly and follow her.

We grab some breakfast and go sit in a corner of the refectory, alone. We eat in silence. She suddenly breaks it.

  • “To reply to your question of yesterday, and since we are complices, the reason I managed to create that algorithm is that I’m not entirely human.” she says quietly, between two bites of her scrambled eggs.
  • “You cant just say that so casually without any explanation.” I reply, unimpressed.
  • “Im the result of a previous research team’s work. From what I found yesterday, it was the Heavenly Materials Research team that created me.” She takes another bite of her food, chew and swallow it, before continuing. “They captured an honest to god angel. Wanted to see what happened when you mixed its divine blood with the one of humans.” I listen in horror. I put my fork in my plate, as her words immediately satiated my appetite.
  • “What are you ropping me into…” I say quitely, my head low, burried in my hands.
  • “Hey, you’re the one that came to save me, remember?”
  • “I only wanted to know what the hell you did to get on our Archpriestess’ bad side as that could fuck up my team’s research. And now I do. You were looking around Order’s databases to recover documents you werent meant to see, werent you?” I reply angrily.
  • “I’d like to see what you would do if you were in my place.” She adds with a small voice with hints of sadness.
  • “F-Fine. But now what do we do?” I say, trying to change the subject.
  • “Assuming your credentials are L4 or higher, we can retreive a map of the A08 facility to find a way out. Except if you wanna try the front door, with the heavy security gates.”
  • “Every document access is logged and traced. It would only put me-” She interrupts me.
  • “You already helped a convict escape an arrest from the security force. You’re as fucked as me now, so drop your bullshit already,” she says with a grave tone.

I grab my fork again. We stay silence while we relunctantly finish our plates. Once done, we both bring our dishes to the dish returnal area before leaving the refectory quietly. We walk up the hallways up to my office and gets in. I enter first, followed by Sammy who shuts the door behind her, locking it.

  • “Okay, get on your computer, we need document STR-A08-001,” she orders confidently.
  • “If you know the filename, dont you have the document already?”
  • “They all follow the same pattern. STR for structure, followed by the structure name, and document 001 is always reserved for the map.” I can feel annoyance in her relunctant explanation.

I open an access terminal on my computer and input my credentials. I type in the command to retreive the map and press enter. The layout of the facility is displayed on my monitor. The familar passageways overlayed with ventilation and pipe diagrams. Sammy leans forward before tapping on the screen, where a ventilation access shaft is. It is nearby, within the storage of my team’s laboratory.

  • “Look how lucky we are!” She exclames. “It will be easy for us to reach that room. Let-” She is abrubtly stops, as footsteps can be heard outside the door. We both look at each other, remaining perfectly silent, anticipating for what might come next. A knock on the door startle us, our mind imagining the worse.

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