Page 185 of Everdoll

She chanted my name in a sing-song melody, and my eyes widened in shock. “Raymond? Have you been his doctor since childhood?”

“Since the moment he was born. Eleanor was a close friend of mine.”

“Then… you know about the Dolls, too.”

An eerie, almost enchanted expression settled over her face. “I was the doctor for all of them.”

As she walked toward the corner where the blanket lay, I pushed myself up. Or rather, I attempted to. My legs were completely numb, leaving me slumped back onto the floor after a short scramble.

“Are you piloting this ship?”

“Do you want me to turn back?”

“I don’t want to. You will. You have a new deal.”

“We didn’t make a deal. You just threatened me.”

I let out a slow breath. This woman cared about her family, so instead of power plays, I needed to appeal to that.

“You’ve looked after Raymond since he was a child, haven’t you? You were close to Eleanor too. Are you really going to stand by and let him die?”

She pressed her lips together. “Ray can handle this. And I understand what a person is capable of for the ones they love. That’s why I need to take you to Crysa.”

“And if it were your daughter? If she had been carrying a burden this heavy without telling you… if she walked to her death on her own two feet, just so you could be safe? What would you do?”

“I would…” She exhaled. “I would stop her.” When she looked at me, her expression had already made up its mind. “I’ll take you to him.”

“Don’t worry,” I said in return. “I’ll make sure your family is safe.”

She smiled faintly, rose, and walked back toward the wall console. Glowing keys lit up the dark, and the massive screen came to life with a view of the endless galaxy. Were we really this far from Mars? I had always assumed Crysa was just a sanctuary floating above the planet.

“Who… were they?” I felt the ship shift beneath us as the doctor sat back down in her spot. “The Dolls? Are they still alive? What was their purpose?”

“They were children who should have died.” Her cold, blank face and emotionless voice gave me goosebumps. “Penelope, Hafsa, Bugan, Angelica, Viktor, Liam, Johanna… and Raymond. These were the ones left alive. All of their parents were people with connections in the committee. With a project named Dolls, they wanted to raise immortal children. From inside the womb. Same old story. Every expectant mother ate an element called Umbra.”

“Umbra began from there?”

She gave a small nod. “But there was no such element; everyone was deceived. They were fed human remains buried on Mars. Its toxin-filled soil. A child absorbing perchlorate salts stops producing iodine. Raymond was one of the lucky ones. There were those born with scaly skin. Babies with only a torso and a head…”

I covered my mouth with my hand. So that was what Eleanor meant by the curse. “What happened next?”

Dr. Aneta sighed. It was as if she didn’t know why she was opening up to me either, but she continued. “The committee didn’t stop. They continued conducting experiments on the babies born alive. Many babies opened their eyes on the operation table.”

Operation table…

“However, their bodies couldn’t handle it. Most of them needed external support. For Raymond… his retina was damaged. And he had undeveloped bones in his arm. Eleanor made him an arm out of metal.”

“Are you saying all of it was for his own good?”

“It did well to him. Out of all the survivors, Raymond was the only one whose body was able to accept it.”

“You call this accepting? I saw the video. He was destroyed!”

“Eleanor never liked taking risks. If she had known he would die, she never would have done any of this. She wanted the child to survive.”

Gathering my strength all at once, I stood up. When the injured boy sleeping in the corner came into my line of sight, I lowered my voice.

“Am I supposed to believe this nonsense? What’s next? You’re going to tell me Eleanor was actually a loving mother?”