Free The Forbidden Zone by Victoria Zagar

literally exploded. They might have been drones, but they were still the only people he'd known for a long time, and they didn't deserve the kind of pain and confusion they were obviously suffering now. Saidan pushed past me and into the building. I followed, carrying the box of supplies and samples as if it was all business as usual.
    The scene inside was chaos. Blue blood splattered the walls. Windows had been blown out, and broken glass lay scattered across the floor. A janitorial team was working on the clean-up. A Valerian doctor knelt down beside an injured drone. I thought he was going to patch the drone up, but he simply pinned a number to him, stood up, and walked away.
    "Saidan? What's going on?"
    Saidan lowered his head. "The numbers mean there's nothing they can do. It's a number in the line to be euthanized."
    "Euthanized?" We had voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill on Earth, but nothing like what I was seeing. "His wounds don't even look that bad!" I moved to go to the man's side, but Saidan grabbed my arm and shook his head in a warning. I was torn between my conscience and my safety. I was no doctor of medicine, but I knew enough that I might have been able to patch the drone up. I stood there, completely stunned. The drone passed into unconsciousness. I knelt down beside him and felt for a pulse. I didn't know where the Valerian pulse might be, but Saidan's had been strong as he'd lain beneath me. I felt nothing and realized the drone was dead. A doctor pushed Saidan aside and regarded me with a quizzical expression.
    "We are much more fragile than you," Saidan said. "It does not take much to kill a Valerian. Even a small amount of blood loss can lead to death. With our somewhat limited medical understanding, sometimes euthanasia is the kindest option we have." He walked away. I heard broken glass crunch under his feet as he walked into the lab. I followed, leaving the doctor with the deceased Valerian scientist.
    One stood in the center of the room, assessing the damage. Her face was impassive as she directed drones to clear up the mess and remove the dead and the dying.
    "What happened here?" I preempted Saidan's question. I knew it would sound better coming from me, the always-curious off-worlder.
    "A gas explosion." One pointed to the propane tanks in the corner, or what remained of them. "Apparently Nineteen Twenty-Nine left the flow of gas on and lit a match." She shook her head. "A waste of time and research. We won't be replacing your team. The Sisters have shown me that your continued research on the Forbidden Zone has been fruitless."
    Saidan hung his head. I wanted to go to him, to put my hand on his shoulder and support him, but that wouldn't have been acceptable. Instead, I had to stand still and pretend to be impassive while my lover's heart was breaking.
    "What will happen now?" I asked.
    "You will be reassigned. There is other research that could use your attention, off-worlder. Nineteen Twenty-One, you will be confined to your room while an investigation is carried out. You should have left a competent individual in charge while you left the city to collect samples."
    "We were close to a breakthrough," I said. I would have said anything in that moment to preserve our project. No Forbidden Zone meant no more time together. I knew that we might even be split up and placed on different projects.
    "How so?" One turned to me with a penetrating gaze.
    "We found life." My lie came easily, born as it was from desperation and a lack of respect for the system. "We tested one of the new samples in the field and we found something." Saidan must have known I was lying but he was silent and impassive, trusting me to carry out the bluff.
    "Show me." The Ice Queen loomed large over me while I pulled a sample from the box, one I was pretty sure had been contaminated by my sloppy work. I was counting on it now. I walked over to the intact side of the lab and dropped it in a petri dish. "Sisters,