A trace of sorrow flickered in Valentina’s eyes. She wanted to scold Tuan for his reckless behavior, but the words refused to come. The immense strain of the past two days weighed heavily on her mind, leaving her already slender body looking even more worn and fragile. Everything had come crashing down at once, giving her not a single moment to rest. The silence, broken only by a quiet sigh, filled Tuan with overwhelming guilt.
“I’m sorry for making you worry, Vale,” Tuan said softly. “I couldn’t control my emotions. It's hard to sit still and do nothing when you see your loved one die so cruelly right before your eyes."
As he spoke, the scene that had once been projected on the small screen resurfaced vividly in Tuan’s mind. The searing heat filling the room, the anguished screams of the people around him – he could even recall the stench of burning flesh with terrifying clarity.
“Then what were those final words supposed to mean? Were they a message Dr. Giáng Tiên left for the two survivors? Or… was she my mother?” Tuan froze. “That can’t be right. Wasn’t she merely the one in charge of my project?”
Those thoughts continued to spiral relentlessly in his head until he suddenly realized that he was still holding Valentina tightly in his arms. Flustered, he awkwardly nudged her shoulder away and turned his face aside, trying to hide the embarrassment and shame creeping across his expression.
By then, Valentina had stopped crying. Her deep blue-violet eyes were now crystal clear, like a stormy night sky just washed clean by a heavy rain. Countless points of light shimmered within them, and now and then, one could almost imagine a shooting star streaking past. Her broad forehead and delicately shaped brows gave her an air of sharp intelligence, no less than that of her peers. Soft pink lips and a small, delicate nose neatly completed the adorable features of her round, youthful face. She wiped away the dried tear tracks on her cheeks with the back of her hand, her chestnut-colored, shoulder-length hair swaying gently with each subtle movement.
“How are you feeling now?” Valentina asked. “Does anything still hurt? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I’m better,” Tuan replied, forcing a smile. “This tuna still has an entire ocean to swim through. No way I’m dying this easily.”
As if to prove that he had fully recovered, Tuan took a deep breath and thumped his chest several times. Unfortunately, he hit a bit too hard and ended up choking, coughing repeatedly until even Valentina – who had been worried sick – couldn’t help but laugh.
After that thoroughly embarrassing display, Tuan finally took the time to properly observe his surroundings. He was sitting on a medical bed inside a stark white room, eerily similar to the laboratories on Mars that he and Valentina had once endured. At the center stood three medical cocoons arranged with their tops facing inward like the petals of a flower, a dense network of tubes running from them up into the ceiling. Tuan had previously been treated inside one of those cocoons and had only recently been transferred to the bed.
Synchronized with the three medical cocoons were three biochemical incubation pods standing upright in a row at the corner of the room. Each was filled with a special solution designed to sustain life for crew members who were too severely injured or no longer capable of maintaining normal bodily functions. In addition, every pod was equipped with an automatic cryogenic freeze-and-thaw system, allowing the occupant to enter a state of complete suspension to survive the endless stretches of deep-space travel. In critical situations, these pods could also serve as literal lifeboats – saving their occupants when faced with life-or-death scenarios that could arise at any moment.
“What happened while I was unconscious, Vale? And… who is that robot guy? I’ve heard you mention him several times already,” Tuan asked.
“The robot guy is the one who was sitting right in front of us when the spacecraft took off. You remember him, don’t you? He, you, and I are the only ones left alive now, Tuna. All of humanity died the moment that horrifying catastrophe occurred.”
“So that mysterious man back then was a robot!?” Tuan thought in shock, while Valentina continued speaking.
“You’ve been unconscious for more than two days. When you ran out of the room like that, I tried to chase after you to pull you back, but the robot guy stopped me, so I had no choice but to stay where I was. Not long after that, the booster separated, and our spacecraft kept heading toward the acceleration gate ahead. The instant the ship entered the gate, it shot forward at an insane speed. After about a minute, it came to a stop on the dark side of Jupiter. The robot guy docked the ship there for a few days, waiting for you to recover before piloting it toward the next planet.”
“So I was this close to not being able to sit here anymore…” Tuan lowered his head, his voice choking. “I was so reckless… I’m sorry, Valentina.”
