Where the Glass Ends
Adrian Acario has spent years behind reinforced glass, studied like an animal for the miracle in his blood. The woman responsible for his captivity is the same one who comes back to set him free.
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Alternatively, there is an expanded novella version of this story you can find here: Subject A-17: Behind the Glass - A Sci-Fi Romance Novella
The Laboratory
The laboratory never truly stopped.
Even in the dead hours after midnight, the place hummed with a low mechanical pulse.
At the far end of the room stood a thick wall of reinforced glass. Behind it was Specimen A-17.
Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting a sterile white glow across rows of stainless steel tables and glass enclosures.
Monitors blinked steadily in the dimness, their green and amber readings tracking a myriad of numbers that meant life or death.
Dr. Kalia Mina moved through the corridor slowly, the heels of her shoes muted against the polished floor.
Most of the staff had already gone home. Only a skeleton crew remained somewhere deeper in the facility.
The corridor opened into the containment wing.
Kalia paused at the threshold and for a moment she simply watched the monitors. His heart rate was stable, body temperature normal and his cellular activity—still extraordinary.
The screens loved him and the world did too, they just didn’t know his real name.
Adrian Acario.
Once, she had spoken that name with affection and with warmth. Now it existed only in the deep spaces of her mind, hidden from the surveillance microphones that listened to every corner of the lab.
Inside the glass enclosure, the man sitting on the metal cot lifted his head slowly.
His shoulders were leaner than they once had been, the hard lines of his body sharpened by captivity, but there was nothing weak about him.
His eyes locked onto her and the reaction was immediate.
The metal legs of the cot scraped loudly against the floor as he pushed away from it and crossed the enclosure in three long strides.
His palm struck the reinforced glass with a thunderous crack.
The sound echoed through the lab.
“Still working late, Doctor?”
His voice carried easily through the communication speakers embedded in the chamber walls.
Kalia said nothing.
Another blow hit the glass.
Harder.
“Or did you just come down here to admire your prize?”
The collar around his throat emitted a warning pulse of blue light. He ignored it and his hand slammed against the barrier again.
The shock came instantly and a violent burst of electricity tore through the collar with a sharp crack.
His body locked for a split second before the current forced him to his knees.
Kalia’s fingers tightened around the tablet in her hands.
The monitors flickered and she noticed his sudden heart rate spike and adrenaline surge.
He sucked in a rough breath as the electricity faded. Slowly, he pushed himself upright again.
When he looked at her, the fury in his eyes had morphed into something colder.
“You know,” he said hoarsely, “most people visit the animals they cage a little more often.”
Kalia forced her voice to remain steady.
“I know you’re important, A-17.”
The words sounded rehearsed, almost like a line pulled from one of the briefings the board delivered every week.
He stared at her and he said nothing, then he laughed. The sound was bitter enough to sting.
“Important?”
He leaned forward until his forehead touched the glass.
His breath fogged the surface between them.
“I remember when you called me something else.”
