Her thoughts scattered every which way, Jade opened her eyes to a dim light.

“Welcome back, Master Assassin,” someone said. A man. The voice was vaguely familiar.

Jade raised her head only to find it strapped down. She couldn’t move her legs and arms either. Panic settled in her chest, and she couldn’t breathe. Jade frantically arched her neck, trying to find the owner of the voice.

“Your heart rate is too elevated. I’ll give you something,” the man said.

A long, mechanical arm crossed over her and descended toward her arm, a needle whirring at the end of the metal appendage. She made to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. The needle lowered until it pricked her skin. Cold liquid spread through her veins, and as it reached outward, her eyelids felt heavier until she couldn’t keep them open any longer.

When Jade woke the next time, dizziness made her see double. Two mechanical servos hovered over her, their rusted triangular heads merging at the center. She blinked once. The servos became four, their tubular limbs mixing as they moved swiftly around her.

“Good, you’re calmer,” a man said.

Jade’s scrambled memories told her it was the same voice she had heard earlier. “Where am I?” she thought she said, but her tongue felt double its size, and it stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“Don’t try to talk. The cerebral chemicals are still working,” he explained.

Jade’s heart jumped in her chest as she gasped for breath.

“It’s better if you sleep some more.” An ominous whirring followed the words.

Like déjà vu, a long, metallic arm slid over her. Her chest rose and fell, and her vision blurred at the edges. The now-expected piercing sensation came, and her mind soon drifted to dreamless shores.

* * *

Jade vaguely remembered waking up several times, and each time, she felt increasingly more aware of her surroundings until she opened her eyes and recognized where she was.

The tang of expired antiseptic and the clogging smell of dust in the air were exclusive to Vivaldi & Sons’ fine establishment. She had been here once to escort a recalcitrant assassin for an Academy’s prescribed neural procedure. The medicus and his associates, none of whom were his biological progeny, dealt with innovative technology and illegal treatments. Vivaldi himself had lost his license several decades ago and holed up on Belarus, where he opened shop again for clients who were either desperate or rich, or a combination of the two.

“Why am I here?” Jade asked, knowing she wasn’t alone in the room.

The sound of regular breathing came from behind her, giving away the medicus’ position.

“You paid me to perform an erasion,” the man said, walking around the medical bed.

“Why?” Jade frowned.

The Academy had sent her to Solaria to kill the High Lord, a dragon shifter who liked to ride without his escort. She remembered flying to the planet and picking a safe location to hide herself if things went south. A single memory stood against the murkiness of her recollection. She flew by her target’s house to study the geography of the place. Megalithic Rocky Domes followed the winding path of a river. Green waters. Pink rays. Purple clouds. The smell of the wilderness filling her nose. A sense of peace descended upon her.

“Why am I here?” she repeated her question. What had happened that she traveled so far away from her target?

“Let me unbuckle you,” Vivaldi said, his hands reaching to the strap at her wrist and freeing her. He repeated the operation for her other wrist, her ankles, and finally her head. “How do you feel?” With a gentle touch, he helped her sit on the medical bed. “Still dizzy?”

She breathed in and out, getting her bearings back. When the room stopped dancing around her, she looked up at the medicus. “I’m fine. Do you have anything for me?”

An erasion cancelled memories but didn’t alter someone’s personality. Jade wouldn’t have gone through the procedure without leaving precise instructions for when she woke. And if the Academy had sent her here, then her escort would have provided instructions as well. Just like she had done for the other assassin.

“Of course.” Vivaldi clapped his hands to draw the servos’ attention.

There were four of them in the small, crowded room, and they all moved at once.

“Letter,” Vivaldi said, and one of the servos turned on its wheels and left, while the other three froze on the spot.

After a few seconds, the sputtering and whirring resumed as the mechanical servo reentered. The medicus plucked an ivory envelope from the servo’s hooked fingers.

“I’ll give you some privacy.” He handed Jade the letter. “If you feel faint, just call,” he added, walking toward the opposite corner.

Jade looked at the paper resting on the palm of her hand. Her fingers trembled as they traced the edges of the letter.

“Whatever it is, face it,” she said out loud, opening the envelope.

Words covered one side of the paper. Her hasty calligraphy smudged the ivory letter. She had been in a hurry. Or emotionally distressed.

You were compromised.

Your target is a no-go. He saved your life and you owe him a life-debt.

Run and hide from the Academy.

Leave Belarus as soon as you read this note, but avoid a vessel named Jewel—hide from them.

Do not ever come back to either Solaria or Celestia.