Page 45 of Human Reform
The darkness closed in from the periphery of my vision.My last conscious thought was of Alora’s face smiling back at me this morning in my bed.I hoped I’d remember what it felt like to love her.
Then everything went black.
I woke up to brightness and confusion.
“Subject’s neural framework operational,” said a voice from somewhere.
I blinked, trying to orient myself.I was in the central processing hub, seated at the main console.The screen showed a successful implementation of some kind of patch.
I knew my name—Daxon.I knew my purpose—Core Logic Overseer on Planet Alpha.I knew my duties—maintain security systems and oversee neural framework maintenance.Well-worn facts all slotted perfectly into place.
But why was I here?Why had I implemented a patch to my own neural framework?
I checked the time—twenty minutes had passed.Why couldn’t I remember what had brought me here?
The door to the hub burst open, and a woman rushed in, her face flushed and her gray eyes wide with what looked like panic.Long dark brown hair cascaded down her back, and her fitted white T-shirt and beige tactical pants hugged her curves.Something about her seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
“Daxon!What did you do?”Her voice was breathless and accusatory.
I stood up, instinctively defensive.“Who are you?”
The color drained from her face.“You don’t… you don’t know who I am?”
“Should I?”I asked, scanning her face for some point of reference.Nothing clicked.“Are you new to the colony?”
She stepped back as if I’d struck her.“It’s me.Alora.”Her voice cracked on the name.“We had…” She gestured helplessly.“We had sex last night, and now you don’t even know my name?”
I frowned.That couldn’t be right.I didn’t do that sort of thing.I had no attachments and no intimate relationships.My priority was the colony’s systems.Nothing more.
“I think there’s been some mistake,” I said, straightening my shirt.The Planet Alpha emblem felt firm and reassuring against my chest.“I should get back to my workstation.”
As I moved past her, she grabbed my arm, her fingers digging in with surprising strength.
“Look at me,” she demanded, her gray eyes boring into my blue ones.“Really look at me.”
I studied her face.She was objectively beautiful with delicate features and faint freckles across the bridge of her nose, but nothing sparked recognition.
“I apologize for any confusion,” I said formally, withdrawing my arm from her grasp, “but I have duties to attend to.”
A single tear slid down her cheek, but her jaw set firmly.“You stubborn, self-sacrificing idiot,” she whispered.“You actually did it.”
NINETEEN
ALORA
Daxon studiedmy face with those impossible blue eyes that had gazed at me with such warmth just hours ago.Now they were cold and distant—belonging to a stranger who wore my lover’s face.
I wanted to grab him again, shake him until he remembered me, remembered us, but my body refused to move.I stood frozen in absolute shock as he straightened his broad shoulders, the Planet Alpha emblem over his heart mocking me with its presence.
Without another glance, he walked out of the central processing hub, leaving me alone with my crumbling reality.
More tears spilled down my cheeks, hot and fast.The contrast between the man who’d just left and the one who’d held me this morning was devastating.Just hours ago, his eyes had crinkled at the corners when he smiled at me, his large hands warm and possessive as they traced patterns on my naked skin.Now he’d looked at me like I was nothing—worse, like I was an inconvenience.
“Damn you, Daxon,” I hissed through my tears, finally able to move.
Why did I run?Why had I done exactly what I’d been doing for the past three years and fled the moment something threatened to hurt me?If I’d stayed instead of storming out like a petulant child, he wouldn’t have done this.He wouldn’t have erased every moment we’d shared.
I rushed to the main console where Daxon had been sitting.A portable drive still protruded from the console port, its small indicator light blinking steadily.I yanked it out, closing my fingers around the small device that had cost me everything.
