Chapter Text
"Subject 002, your new appendages have integrated and adjusted perfectly with your own body."
Professor Lucius Lu's voice was as sterile as the pressurized air in the examination room—devoid of warmth nor any empathy, focused only on the success of the biological graft. His perfect weapon.
Caleb Xia didn't flinch. He lay on the cold alloy table, his gaze fixed on the flickering fluorescent lights above. He had learned long ago that in EVER’s research facilities, silence was his only remaining armor. If he showed even the slightest ripple of emotion—disgust, horror, or the white-hot rage simmering beneath his ribs—they would only mark it down as a "psychological variable" to be corrected. The Toring Chip within his head will do its work and correct his mistake.
Appendages?
The word echoed in his mind, both clinical and dehumanizing. Is that why his body felt so fundamentally wrong? Ever since the last time he had a major "surgery"—which was nine months ago, there had been a strange, heavy ache in his pelvic area as well as his chest, a shift in his hormonal equilibrium that made his skin somehow feel too tight. He had assumed it was just another round of Evol-enhancement, attempt integration of the Toring Chip with some new f*cked up side-effects, or another upgrade of his bionic arm.
He wanted to ask about his new appendages when one scientist, Dr. Ypiretos Yong, stepped forward. Unlike Lucius, who viewed Caleb as a machine, Yperitos’ eyes held a glint of something else. Something more... humane. A scientist feeling sorry for what he did? Like Josephine Zhang back then? What are the chances?
"Biological integration is at 50% success, Professor Lu," Ypritos said, his voice smoother than the hum of the laboratory equipment. He looked down at Caleb, the transparent tablet clicking under his fingers. "002’s internal reproductive suite is fully viable. We’ve finally achieved a true biological miracle: a self-contained evolutionary loop."
Caleb’s breath hitched. Reproductive suite? The realization hit him like a physical blow. They hadn't just simply modified his body; they had turned him into a living incubator. He was a soldier, a protector—and in his heart, he was Lilian’s. The thought of Lilian, of the life they were building back in Linkon, felt like a dying star—bright, beautiful, and light-years out of reach.
"Stand up," Lucius commanded. "We shall begin with the introduction phase."
"Introduction phase?" Caleb managed to swing his legs over the side of the table. His body felt extremely heavy, his center of gravity subtly shifted—a strange sensation for a man who could manipulate the very force of gravity itself. Pain is all he felt all over his body but he endured, masking his own pain with indifference.
"The gestation was accelerated via your own genes and the unique nature of your Evol," Dr. Yperitos explained. "Since your body was recovering from the grafting process, we utilized an external artificial womb for the final trimester. The assets are quite remarkable."
Yong signaled to the back of the room. A pressurized door slid open with a hiss, revealing two glass-walled pods being wheeled in by automated droids.
Caleb froze.
Inside the pods, nestled in bio-gel, were two infants. They were tiny, with tufts of dark hair and skin as delicate as porcelain. One was sleeping; the other was awake, staring at the ceiling with wide, dark eyes.
"Your progeny," Lucius said. "Created from your very own DNA and a refined strain of your Gravity Manipulation Evol. They are a lot similar to clones but they are no mere clones. They are the very first artificial humans created with no DNA from an opposite sex. They are purely your own flesh, blood, and Evol. You, 002, are also the only one capable of stabilizing their fluctuating internal pressures."
The connection was instantaneous. As Caleb approached the artificial children, the air in the room seemed to hum. A localized field of softened gravity enveloped the pods, a subconscious reaction of his power reaching out to steady them.
"They... they have my Evol," Caleb whispered.
"They are your Evol," Yperitos corrected softly. "And EVER has no intention of letting their newest assets go to waste."
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[5:55 pm, Caleb's mansion in a private artificial island near Skyhaven...]
The flight back to his house was short but heavy. He dreaded on how to tell Lilian about his... children. He doesn't know how she will even react to seeing him with them. Through Dr. Yperitos’s "oversight," Caleb had been granted an early and brief leave to "settle his affairs." Yperitos had even helped him sneak the infants out in specialized transport cases, claiming it was for "environmental acclimation."
Caleb just needed to get home. He needed Lilian. She was his anchor, his pipsqueak, the only person who could make him feel human again.
When he reached home, OTTO greeted him home. The familiar scent of yellow rose hit him. He knew that she was in here. He carried the two transport cases inside, his movements stiff. He just needed to set them down, hold her, and find a way to explain.
"Caleb? You’re back early!"
Lilian stepped out of the bedroom, a soft smile on her face that instantly began to wither as she saw the two high-tech, medical-grade pods on the floor. The infants inside were stirring, their soft, rhythmic breathing audible in the sudden silence.
"Caleb..." her voice was a breathy whisper. She walked toward the pods, her eyes wide. She looked at the babies—their tufts of dark hair, the unmistakable curve of Caleb’s own jawline mirrored in miniature. "What... what is this?"
"Lilian, please, let me—"
"Whose children are they?" she snapped, her head whipping up. Her eyes were already brimming with tears.
"They're... they're mine," Caleb said, his voice cracking. "But Lilian, it’s not what it looks like. They were—"
"It’s not what it looks like?" She let out a sharp, hysterical laugh, backing away. "You’ve been gone for nearly a year, Caleb! I had mourned for you back then! After your return, we've been together for a year. You even went on missing for days to weeks for your 'classified missions'. And you walk in here with two newborns that carry your face, and you tell me it's not what it looks like?!"
"Listen to me for one second!" Caleb reached for her, his heart hammering. "There was no other woman. I didn't—"
"Then who carried them, Caleb?!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "Who gave birth to them? Did they just appear out of thin air? Or did you have a whole other life while I was sitting here waiting for you to return back safely? While I was worrying if you were even alive?!"
"No one carried them! They were—"
"Don't!" she cut him off, pushing him with so much force that he nearly landed on the children's mechanical pods. His body screamed in unbearable pain and agony yet he forced himself not to make a sound. "Don't lie to me! Don't make it worse by making up some classified military story to cover up the fact that you have a family I knew nothing about. I looked at those babies, Caleb. I’m not blind. They are yours."
"They are," Caleb whispered, the weight of the secret—the modification of his own body—clogging his throat. He wanted to tell her he was the one who had been changed, that they were made from him, by him. But the words felt too monstrous to say. His own tears fell freely from his face.
"I thought we were going to be together forever," Lilian said, her voice dropping to a cold, dead tone. "I thought you were the one man who wouldn't lie to me. But you’ve been living a double life the whole time, haven't you?"
"Lilian, I love you. Only you. Please, if you just let me explain—"
"Get out." She pointed to the door, her finger trembling. "I don't care where you go. Go back to whoever you were with. Go back to the Fleet or EVER. Just get out of my sight."
"Lilian, I have nowhere else to go! They're hunting me—"
"Then run," she whispered, turning her back on him. "Run like you’ve been running from the truth this entire year. We’re done, Caleb. I never want to see you again."
The door to the bedroom slammed shut. Caleb stood in the center of the living room, a man stripped of his honor, his body, and now, his heart. He didn't know then that Lilian’s fury was just a mask—that while he was being poked and prodded by the EVER scientists, she had already sought comfort and pleasure in the arms of a stranger, a man she’d met at a local bar to soothe her loneliness.
He didn't know that her accusations of "cheating" were just a convenient escape for her own guilt.
He looked down at the twins. As if sensing his despair, the gravity in the room fluctuated, making the furniture creak. The boy was crying now, a thin, wailing sound. The girl just stared, her dark eyes reflecting the flickering neon lights of the city outside.
"My children, huh?" Caleb whispered, his voice hollow. He knelt down, placing a hand on each pod. He focused, gently lightening the gravity inside the pods to make the babies feel as though they were being held in a warm, weightless embrace. They calmed instantly. "Looks like it's just me and you two against the world."
He grabbed the handles of the pods and walked out into the cold night, leaving the only woman he had ever loved behind in the ruins of their life. He had forty-eight hours to disappear before EVER or Farspace Fleet realized Subject 002 or their precious Colonel wasn't coming back.
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To be continued...
Next chapter: Running Away