Home / Sci-Fi / HELIUM-3 / Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Author: Zaya Nebula
last update2025-05-12 02:21:20

POV: Lena

He hated me.

Sitting in the sterile, antiseptic-smelling office, trying in vain to forget what had happened just an hour ago, images of Danny’s attack still haunted me.

He was strong. Too strong. He was becoming a super soldier, which meant Kovac would be pleased. In addition to the weapons we were ready to build, there would be a chance to create even more, to truly turn this country into a supreme empire.

But at what cost?

Kovac stood with his back to me, staring at the only photograph on his polished steel desk. I didn’t need to look to know what it was: Piotr, in cadet uniform, smiling with that innocence only the doomed still carry.

“He had your eyes,” I said, the first words spoken after several seconds of silence since I had taken the seat across from the metal and mahogany desk.

Kovac didn’t turn.

“And his mother’s hair. That burnt-sand color.” His voice was rough, as if it hurt his throat to speak. “He was clever. Agile. Extremely smart… but not enough.”

The air con
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  • Chapter 32

    POV: DannyI woke up with the taste of metal and static in my mouth.The ceiling above me pulsed in shades of blue and violet, the fluorescent lights leaving ghostly trails every time I blinked. My body felt heavy as lead, but my mind... my mind was clearer than ever.The voices that used to echo in my head had quieted to a constant whisper, like a radio tuned between stations."You're more stable today."Sofia was sitting in a chair beside my bed, watching me with those calculating eyes that seemed to see straight through flesh and bone. She held a steaming cup of coffee that smelled like old fuel and reheated grounds."Stable isn’t the word I’d use," I replied, trying to sit up. My muscles protested but obeyed; an improvement compared to the paralysis from before. "How many days this time?""Three." She took a sip of the awful coffee without flinching. "You had a violent seizure after the injection. Technically, you should have died."I looked at my arms. The blue veins now formed i

  • Chapter 31

    POV: DannyConsciousness returned like a tsunami of pain. Every nerve, every muscle, every cell in my body screamed in agony.My lungs burned as if they’d been filled with liquid nitrogen, my veins throbbed with sharp pulses of pain radiating from the places where Helium-3 had crystallized beneath my skin.I opened my eyes slowly, my eyelids as heavy as steel doors, and was met by a low ceiling of rusted metal groaning under the pressure of the complex."He's coming to."The voice was rough, tired, but unmistakably Sofia’s.I turned my head, a movement that demanded all my strength, and saw her sitting on a makeshift chair next to my cot, her face marked by weeks of deprivation and stress."You're damn lucky, kid.""How... long?" My voice came out as a raspy whisper.Sofia leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees."Three days, almost four. You were in a coma induced by your reaction to AZ-7."She grabbed a water bottle and held it to my lips. The cool liquid slid down my throat

  • Chapter 30

    POV: KovacThe bluish light of the preservation chamber hit me like a blow when the doors slid open for me.I didn’t hear Minerva’s welcome signals. Only silence.I had to steady a tremor in my hands as I crossed the threshold, each step echoing on the metallic floor like a hammer striking my coffin.The air was cold, cold as the space between stars. Cold as Piotr’s body when all the tests failed; when I saw that despite the blood in his eyes, he was irredeemably human. And weak.Lena was there.Dead. Lying on the surgical steel table, her hands crossed over her chest like in prayer.Someone had prepared her: combed her hair, closed her eyes, dressed her in a white linen gown that seemed to absorb the chamber’s bluish light. Her skin, despite the makeup, still showed signs of damage: bluish, thick veins that would’ve turned her into crystal if she’d survived a little longer.She looked asleep. Slowly, I touched her petrified face. There was no softness left in her cheek. No vitality l

  • Chapter 29

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  • Chapter 27

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