He paused briefly, then continued.

  “As you can see, L.A.B was originally established to terraform Mars, laying the groundwork for expansion to other planets. But over time, it gradually turned into an experimental facility for a series of top-secret United Nations projects – including experiments on the human body. At the time, Dr. Giáng Tiên was a leading expert in molecular genetic biotechnology. She was invited to work there and quickly became one of its core figures. She frequently traveled between Earth and Mars to recruit personnel. I was dragged in by her as well, and in the end, I became the test subject of the very project I was responsible for.”

  “Why did you accept it, Brother Dol? Weren’t you scared?” Tuan asked.

  “Brother Dol?” Arnaldo thought to himself. “This kid…”

  “First,” Arnaldo said aloud, “I accepted Dr. Tiên’s offer because she promised that I would have full access to all equipment at L.A.B for my own purposes – as long as I completed my project.

  “Second, at that time, I was suffering from stage-three cancer. I believed that in a secret facility like L.A.B – one that conducted human experiments – there had to be unconventional treatment methods capable of curing my illness completely. That was the last source of hope I had left to keep myself alive.

  “With those two reasons, I agreed to work at L.A.B and became the chief engineer of Project BURAN. The core objective of that project was the mechanization of the human body – to create a bio-mechanical being whose internal organs were entirely replaced by machinery. My colleagues and I worked day and night. When my condition worsened, I volunteered to become the project’s first – and only – test subject. Only my brain was preserved; every other part of my body was discarded. That’s how I escaped the death sentence hanging over me, and continued conducting countless experiments to gradually adapt to my new body.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Some time later, L.A.B’s leadership contacted the head of Project BURAN and requested that additional processors be installed in my brain to enhance my capacity for information intake and problem-solving. They needed someone who could analyze and process millions of data points rapidly, yet still retain enough humanity to make decisions in the crew’s best interest. They didn’t dare implant them into you two, fearing it would slow your reflexes. So they turned to me – and that’s why I’m standing on this ship today.”

  Arnaldo finished speaking and smiled as he looked at Valentina. After listening to his story, she felt her heart ease just a little.

  “If you didn’t need to go through selection, then why didn’t they send more people? Why only the three of us, Brother Dol?” Tuan asked, puzzled.

  “Studies have shown that humans, as we are now, can’t survive long periods in space. Cosmic radiation and countless other hazards far exceed the limits of what an ordinary person can endure. That’s why the United Nations transformed L.A.B from a terraforming facility into a secret human-body research center, while publicly condemning individuals and organizations that secretly built ships to flee.

  “On one hand, they did this to ensure that everyone focused all resources on the shared mission – because they knew that even escaping the Solar System didn’t guarantee survival in deep space. On the other hand, they needed L.A.B to create a new generation capable of adapting to the harsh conditions of space, in order to preserve humanity if disaster struck.

  “I didn’t need to go through selection because I’m a machine, and far less affected by cosmic radiation than ordinary humans. As for why they didn’t choose more people – our aerospace technology simply isn’t advanced enough to build a ship that can carry many passengers and still be fast enough to escape in an emergency. The priority of selection was to maximize survival odds when fleeing Mars. That’s why the United Nations limited the number to two – one male and one female – with me included as a fortunate exception.”