"Those palaeoviruses are an issue which only concerns me – and me alone," Apollo went on talking to Eros with an insufferable air of superiority. "I'm not going to fire you. Count yourself lucky, Eros Nevermore. I'm just going to consider this act of defiance as a tiny flaw in you. For your father. I had great esteem for him. I'm gonna miss him so much now that he's dead!"

Apollo sighed briefly after that. I saw his facial expression become sadder. I kept spying on both of them while I was sitting on the cold, white tiles of the lab's floor, behind the last aisle.

"I wasn't a son to him. I was a trophy," Eros replied in a heartbroken, frail whisper, then.

Apollo smirked.

"I pity you a great deal, Eros. It's such a shame that you've lost such an amazing role model," he added in a condescending tone.

I saw Eros' entire body tense up. Apollo didn't seem to know Eros hated his father to the core.

"Yes, you've got good looks, youth, and your family is rich, but you need someone to look up to, don't you? You need someone to guide you in a similar way your father did."

Apollo rose his right hand to cup Eros' chin. He even lifted Eros' face slightly up.

"That's why I am not letting you out of my sight," Apollo went on with an affable tone of voice that reeked of self-interest. "Why should I let such a young, tender leaf fall from the tree? Look at you! You even look like my own son, a demigod in the flesh! You're not as impressively clever as I am, but you're... good."

Apollo was disgustingly offensive in every word he said, in every move he made. I worried about Eros. He had been sheepishly obedient to his god, only to be mistreated and misjudged like that.

"You could get far in the future, my young demigod." Apollo's voice became a threatening, husky whisper all of a sudden. "If you don't anger me anymore, that is."

"I don't wish to, Great Apollo." I could tell he was stressed out.

"Your talents aren't as great as mine, remember. You've still got a lot to learn from me." Apollo sighed, and then he proceeded with great enthusiasm: "Your raw talent must feel like an arrow flying in the air, ready to hit its aim, doesn't it, Eros? Don't you love it when you strike right at the centre of your aim?"

"I do."

"Then, follow my commands to the letter, and you'll be able to enjoy that feeling for a long time, young archer." Apollo patted Eros' shoulders with vehemence with that sentence.

I watched Eros intently while he was being showered with such threats and condescending remarks. It was admirable that he was able to withstand all that.

Apollo then took some steps away from him, and that was when I lost sight of him.

"Those palaeoviruses are an ignominious triviality," Apollo insisted. I didn't believe him, and judging by the hard look on Eros' face, he didn't buy it either.

However, hearing Apollo mention the viruses again triggered my need to fulfil Agape's commands. I needed to get her the relevant info, and get Taro some samples, as well. My heart was racing, spreading a cold sensation all over my body because I didn't want to do it.

I hesitated. I noticed that the freezers near me had no lock whatsoever and that I could access the ones at the bottom. Neither Apollo nor Eros would see me opening the door of those freezers because their height reached right below the counter's one where I was hiding.

Against my better judgement, just as Sigi had made me realise only the previous night, I rummaged in those freezers, and I was already regretting it, but I admitted to myself that I feared Agape's wrath on me a lot more than the consequences of stealing those viruses – at least for the time being.

I saw some vials on which I recognised Eros' handwriting. The numeric codes on the tag didn't make sense to me. That meant that I could be wrong. Those vials could contain dodo's DNA instead of the palaeoviruses. But I had to risk it.

Hate filled my whole being inside-out when I stuffed some vials right between my breasts, fastened tightly against my skin thanks to my bra. I hoped that my body heat didn't ruin them. I needed to get out of the lab and get to Amanita as soon as possible.

I was also hoping not to get Eros in trouble with Apollo if those missing vials meant angering the Living God again.

"Thalis, and the whole world by extension, need to be run with an iron hand, not those viruses," Apollo had said in the meantime. "That's my first and foremost concern right now. I'm announcing a curfew on the news this evening. I've been supervising the improvements in the 3D printers and the androids, and I've also been developing new technologies that shall make these rebels' life hell."

I silently wished for him to keep talking while I softly closed the freezer's door. If he had known that a rebel was listening to that conversation, he would've freaked out.

"I shall be presiding the public executions tomorrow evening." Apollo's voice sounded majestic yet cruel. "We've got many of those rebels already even though the check-ups aren't over yet. They have been brutally tortured and put in isolation while waiting for tomorrow's executions. To be honest, I can't wait to get it over with," he added with disgust.

What?! I didn't know that!

Sigi had not mentioned any rebels getting caught the previous night. He had mentioned Agape's and Taro's check-ups going well, but that had been it. Therefore, I assumed they were innocent traditional humans, the ones who would take the fall for us. Great, more guilt on my conscience.

"Great Apollo, forgive me for my curiosity, but... I can't help but wonder." Eros' voice sounded cautious yet inquisitive. "If the additional check-ups are due to finish tomorrow and you've already caught many of them, if not all of them already, why are you implementing such extra security measures? It makes no sense. We shall get all of them, right?"

"Don't be a fool, Eros." Apollo chuckled then. "I know for a fact that those we've caught so far are innocent."

What?! He knows?!

"I know the real rebels have found a way to fool the system," Apollo explained a lot more casually than I expected. "So, I was expecting them to do it again. If they've been fooling the GSNS until now, I assume they have got the means to keep doing it. Only one true rebel has been caught so far. That was a few days ago. This is his nanochip."

I got Apollo in view once more. He was holding a chip in his hands. Ray's nanochip!

"No matter what I do to this chip, it doesn't reveal the truth to me," he went on with dissatisfaction. "Any trace of hacking is gone. And the clone police weren't able to get the truth out of him. They ended up beating him so badly that they killed him. So, he took the secret to the grave."

Ray, my new friend, had preferred to die to save the rest of us. I felt triggered by the need to not let him down, to honour his memory. My mind started to taste sour like revenge, and I didn't like it. That wasn't me.

"That's why I'm implementing further security measures despite completing the check-ups tomorrow. This war isn't over."

I saw Eros getting paler when Apollo said that.

"Anyway, I've got a new project for you, Eros," Apollo said with pride. "I need you to find a way to improve good, old-fashioned Kevlar by using webs from these rare species of spiders."

I heard the sound of a box being left on a table.

"If there's one thing I regret from the war, it's losing the people who were about to achieve that breakthrough. They were close! Here, read this article about it from Science and Tech Illustrated."

"But... it says here that I'm already on it. That's not true! It also says that I shall deliver positive results in a month! Where did this information come from?!"

"From me, of course. And... well, maybe you need to start right now," Apollo replied as if he was mocking Eros, but he went on in a far more serious tone: "I need this new tech developed as soon as possible, Eros. I want it to improve the protective gear for my clone security forces, and also to strengthen building materials so that they can resist any bombing in the future. Too many clones have been murdered already.

"Make it a reality, Eros. It's your responsibility now to protect clones with this project, while I work on other mind-blowing weapons."

A cold sweat ran down my back. Then, Apollo showed something on a tablet to Eros. The reaction of the latter was priceless: wide-open eyes and shock in all his facial features.

"What is that... beast?!" Eros asked as if he was out of air.

Oh, my dear Lord! What beast?!

"An ace up my sleeve that I'm gonna release soon after the check-ups. These rebels are going to get what they deserve." He made a brief pause, only to leave the tablet on a table next to him. "I need you to keep an eye on the ball, Eros. No distractions. I need this new version of Kevlar to teach those motherfucker rebels a jolly good lesson. They are going to freak out soon enough – thanks to both you and me."

And Apollo was bound to freak out when I would tell the rebels about it all and we would get ready to counterattack. He was right about one thing, though: that war wasn't over.

"But..." Eros tried to complain.

"And remember," Apollo added in a funny yet haughty tone of voice. "No more defiance. For no reason whatsoever. You're mine. My trophy."

His last two words had been uttered while getting his face extremely close to Eros' in defiance and superiority. He was even displaying his teeth to him.

"Yes, Great Apollo. I shall deliver what you ask for. You have my word." That was Eros' dutiful reply: a sheepish whisper loaded with fear.

It broke my heart. We were friends. But we were also enemies.

How was I supposed to protect him from Agape now that I knew he would collaborate with Apollo so closely? I was sure that if I told Agape and the rebels about what I had just witnessed, they would probably plan Eros' murder.

His mother's heart would break into smithereens. His dodo would probably remain in the lab, hatch alone, be left unattended, and die. He'd be dead as a dodo – just as his dodo, too. I couldn't let that happen.

Eros was far too valuable. I was sure that he was destined to reach scientific stardom. He might even reach the status of one of those geniuses who had changed the world in the past, and he would probably get a statue of him in the entry hall down below.

For what, though?

For giving extinct species their life back?

For devising a vaccine that would save all our lives despite defying Apollo?

Or for ensuring rebels like me would go extinct?

We couldn't have it all, Eros and I. I felt like a train made of confusion and regret running on the tracks of a damned friendship.

I closed my eyes and felt on the verge of tears right there and then while sitting on the cold tiles on the lab's floor and hiding from both Apollo and Eros. I realised the hardcore truth. Which truth? Well, easy.

Where did my loyalty stand? Where did his? I couldn't picture Eros being willing to create tech which would be used to kill people. Where and when would we dare to draw the line? My mind kept torturing itself with all those doubts.

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Did you enjoy the way Eros' relationship with Apollo mirrors Daphne's with Agape? Things are getting thornier, messier, and more heartbreaking, aren't they?

Stay tuned to know more!

XOXO

MS