The thought made him nervous. He had only begun to scratch the surface of the aliens’ chemistry and composition. Their fragile bodies weren’t what scared him, though—it was the fact that he still wasn’t sure who or what was giving them orders. Without specimens of the Sentinels or the worm-like creatures that Overton had described, Emanuel had no way to determine which, if any, was the dominant life-form. It was more likely that they hadn’t even seen the superior Organics yet.

And why would they have? If these aliens had the ability to travel across the vast distances of space, why would they risk harm by showing themselves?

Emanuel suddenly felt weary. Humans were never much of a threat to the Organics in the first place. If anything, humans had been a threat to themselves. After all, that’s why he was standing in a biosphere designed to help mankind venture into space, the last place they hadn’t destroyed.

He peeled back another layer of veins and pushed the questions from his mind. Focusing on his work was the only thing that calmed him. It was also the only thing that helped prevent his thoughts from turning to Sophie. He fumbled with the scalpel and tore several of the veins open. Blood splattered onto his faceplate.

“Shit,” he said under his breath. “Alexia, are you seeing anything worrying?”

“Dr. Rodriguez, my scans aren’t picking up anything that registers in my database as toxic. However, there are several elements that are unidentified, and therefore I can’t advise on their effect on human biology.”

Emanuel watched the blue liquid trickle down the glass protecting his face. He could no longer feel his heart beating, or the air coming through his nostrils. The sight of the alien blood so close had paralyzed him with fear. “Dr. Rodriguez, is something wrong?” Alexia said.

He shook his head. “Well, I think it just sank in that I’m dissecting an alien life-form, but I’m fine.”

Alexia did not respond, and Emanuel wiped the mess off his face guard. Then he snapped his gloves tightly around his wrists. He compartmentalized the fear by reassuring himself that his work was extremely important to the future of the human race.

He retrieved a vial of the Spider’s blood and used a pipette to transfer a sample under the electron microscope. He magnified down to a single cell, moving from one cell to the next.

Hours of studying the sample resulted in little new information. He already knew the blood contained mostly water, but it was the other elements that interested him.

Resisting the urge to remove his glasses and rub his tired eyes, he instead sent the data to Alexia. “Let me know if you see anything I’m missing here,” he said, stretching his back and letting out a groan.