The roar of departing planes deafened me.
Helicopter blades churned through the airport air.
The wind howled.
Summer rain came down mercilessly.
I could barely see a few meters ahead.
Kiara parked in an abandoned area.
"We're here."
She opened the trunk, revealing the rest of the arsenal.
She took I'll Devour You and a machine gun.
Strapped on a bandolier.
Two grenades at her belt.
Checked the holster at my waist.
Installed a noise suppressor in my biochip.
The android looked grim.
We were behind a fence.
Twisted wire. Rusted.
She pointed to a black jet on the runway.
We slipped through an opening in the fence and walked toward the aircraft.
She held a revolver.
I followed, lost amid blinding lights and violent wind.
Even with the suppressor active, the engines disturbed my ears.
An Aether Network officer was coming toward us, saying something I couldn't hear.
Kiara quickened her pace.
I struggled to keep up.
The officer drew closer.
She raised a weapon at us.
My heart accelerated.
I tried to speak to Kiara.
My own voice vanished in the noise.
BANG!
Kiara shot her right in the middle of the forehead.
The gunshot reverberated through my chest like thunder.
My eyes widened.
A strangled cry left me.
My knees nearly gave out.
My breathing stopped.
The body fell inert.
No blood.
No final breath.
Only a body on the asphalt.
I looked at Kiara.
Her smile pierced me like another bullet.
We reached the plane.
The door shut immediately behind us.
The interior was brightly lit.
Large, comfortable seats.
I sat down and removed the mask.
Kiara entered the cockpit.
Started the aircraft.
"Estimated flight time to Cairo, Egypt: fifteen hours.
Have a pleasant trip."
The TE confirmed Brazil–Egypt airspace clearance and initiated takeoff.
The android placed the weapons on the table and sat across from me.
Legs apart.
Elbow resting on the armrest.
"W-why?"
I swallowed hard under Kiara's intense stare.
"W-why did you do that?"
She rolled her eyes.
"You still have a lot to learn."
"S-she was Aether Network.
Why did you do that?"
"She was more than military."
"What do you mean? She—"
"She was one of Saymon's androids."
An android?
Wait.
I hesitated.
Of course.
When she was shot, no blood came out of her head.
"I shot her because I wanted to.
If we'd gotten close enough, she would've recognized me."
Kiara smiled with malice.
"This was more fun."
I frowned at her ferocity.
"What? She'll reboot in minutes.
I hit the forehead, far from the core."
She said it with effortless obviousness.
And she said androids?
It was impossible for a human to be connected to more than one android.
The only way to connect to more than one was through the Motherboard.
But those were linked only to other nanotechnologies.
"You're saying that…"
I searched for words through the dizziness.
"Saymon has more than one android connected to him?"
Kiara nodded.
"That's Saymon's special ability."
A faint wave of vertigo darkened my vision.
"That should be impossible…" I murmured, mind spinning.
Kiara only laughed.
A dry sound, empty of humor.
"A lot of things that should be impossible happen every day."
I swallowed hard.
How did he have more than one android linked to him?
The overload alone should have been unbearable.
An android's nanites connect to human atoms in the process.
Scientists had conducted hundreds of tests trying to overcome that.
The results were always disastrous.
Every volunteer died from atomic detonation.
How could he withstand that amount of nanites?
If this were true, it meant an enormous breakthrough for nanoscience.
Kiara must have noticed my agitation.
She placed a warm hand on my knee.
"Better try to rest.
Once we land, we won't have much chance."
"And Maia?
Did she have that too?"
Something unsteady flickered in Kiara's eyes.
She quickly turned serious again and looked out the window.
Even though she ignored me, I didn't care much.
The deeper I moved into that world, the more I knew the answers would reveal themselves.
The sound of the plane lulled my senses, but the storm inside me remained unsettled.
What are we going to retrieve in Egypt?
What am I becoming?
And… do I really want to know?
I tried to relax.
And fell asleep.