Parasite║LGBT+ Romance 🏳️‍🌈

14: Underground

07:44, Fifthsol 6th M6, 2226

I hadn't imagined that the Kida Biotechnology building could be any more beautiful, but its interior makes my breath stall in my throat. Shiro guides me into an airy foyer where bright atrium lights bathe us. My head twists to take in the foyer's loveliness until azalea-pink suits begin to crowd my vision. Kida employees knit tightly around us.

A guard nods at Shiro and offers a clipped "Welcome home, Respected," before turning on their heel. We hobble after them through labyrinthine corridors that dim as we retreat further from the glass and chrome of the foyer. A smooth downward journey in a goods lift to an underground lab complex, and I'm totally lost. It hadn't occurred to me that the brick and glass of the Kida building had been the exquisite tip of the iceberg, with the majority of the building's colossal footprint lying deep underground. Though Shiro seems to know every twist and turn of his subterranean home, I'd never find my way out unaided.

Three sets of security doors later, we emerge into a blindingly bright lab. Roaring fume hoods and glove-boxed chambers line one side of the vast space, whilst flask-stirrers tinkle on hotplates on the other. Labcoated workers busy themselves shuttling trays of tubes into incubators and pipetting glistening liquids into vials.

I whisper to Shiro, "Is this where the meatware polymers are made?"

"I don't know. My Dad never taught me what happens here. He made me work on the computing systems on the atrium level."

A worker shuffles after a trolley of vials. I recognise the laser-straight hair and the face lined with worries. Daiyu.

A sudden fog of rage descends on me at her selfishness. How can Daiyu bear to see out her final weeks as a Kida minion when she should be with Jaya?

"Daiyu! How could you?" I circle my arms wildly, taking in the lab around me. "You left Jaya for this?"

She pauses for a moment and offers me a languid stare. The proud set of her features has gone. Her face sits slack on her skull like she's dead inside. This isn't the Daiyu I knew.

"At least let Jaya know that you're OK!"

A flicker of recognition appears in her eyes. She whispers, "Jaya."

"Yes! Jaya's threatening to storm in here and get you out! They could lose their job because of you!"

"Jaya," she mutters, then continues to load the trolley before trundling away towards the lab spaces beyond, still whispering "Jaya" under her breath.

Shiro tugs me along. "You can't help her, Heems. Most people end up like her once their meatware dies."

"Why is she all... messed up? I thought that Kida could fix meatware, not make it worse! Daiyu can't even talk!"

"Meg will explain everything, I promise."

I shrug out of Shiro's grip. "What are you?"

"Our Dad left us in this mess. Meg's trying to help as best she can. Anyone whose meatware malfunctions gets taken care of, I promise."

"Taken care of? Daiyu's doing simple jobs here, but it's like... like her brain is ruined!"

"The final stage of meatware malfunction sometimes leads to... impaired cognitive function. But Meg has a place for everyone here."

"It doesn't make sense. I've treated so many radiation-sick patients and not a single one had cognitive impairment, ever."

Fear creases Shiro's features. "Then we need to tell Meg. I can't help you, but Meg can."