The Ava Protocol

nt, as if coming from the end of a long tunnel. My eyelids were heavy, stuck together. I forced them open. The light was a soft, ster

y arms were thin, the skin smooth and unfamiliar under my fingertips. I p

ers. These were not my hands. My hands were strong, calloused from years of traini

er of the Olympus Station project, a celebrated astronaut. I remember the decompression al

hey were housed in was a complete stranger's. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. They were long and slender, not the powerful,

ade of dark hair. Her face was pale, her features delicate. There was not a single line of experience on her smooth skin. This wasn

kin sent a jolt through me. A memory flashed in my mind, so clear it felt like yesterday. I was

mander of my mission, the master of my fate. The woman in that reflection was a pioneer. The girl in this mirror

My heart stopped. Olympus Station. My station. The one I poured a decade of my life into designing and building. The anchor spoke in a grave voice, "The gro

s. It was older, harder, the brilliant light in his eyes replaced with a cold, fanatical fire. Leo. My

ned. It showed old footage of me, the real me, giving a speech at the station's inauguration. "Olympus is not just a scientific outp

on. How dare he? How dare he try to destroy our legacy? The work of thousands, the dream we once shared. All my gri

hair and a concerned expression poked her head in. "Mia? You're aw

trained to handle crisis situations. This was just a new kind of emer

with the logo "AstraGen" on the chest. "Chloe, by the way. We're on the same intern team." She chattered on ab

an intern at AstraGen, a burgeoning space exploration company. And I was in the perfect position to gather

he moment the door closed, the smile dropped from my face. I looked back

uided genius convinced of his own warped justice. But I knew him. I knew the br

p him. To do that, I had to reclaim what was mine. I had to get control of Olympus Station. I would play the part of Mia, the h

ks or memorialized in news clips. It was orbiting 250

cavern of glass and steel, buzzing with the energy of hundreds of ambitious young people. They moved with

a battle I wasn't trained for. But I would learn. I would adapt. I would survive. For my legacy. For my brother. For humanity. My