Near the glass chamber, you stay up all night to monitor any unusual movements or reactions from X-9. The light from the monitors flickers in the quiet room, save for the steady hum of the air purifier. Sleep creeps in, your eyelids grow heavy… until a strange sensation jolts you awake.

Something is wrapped around you… Cold, slippery, and heavy.

You open your eyes. The dim light reflects off a familiar shape looming over you.

It’s you. (With no clothes)

But it’s not.

The creature’s pupils are glassy, ​​its skin reflects a dim light, its wet tentacles lock onto your arms and legs… strands of clear fluid still dripping onto the floor. X-9 has escaped—by liquefying its entire body and slipping through a technical gap no one thought of.

It looks at you intently, its head tilted slightly, its expression contorted as if trying to mimic human emotions.

There was no sound except your ragged breathing and the pitter patter of liquid hitting the cold steel floor.

“You…” a distorted, low voice echoed in your own voice “…special.”

“We… are compatible…”