I opened my eyes and saw only obscurity. The canopy's curtains dampened the sparse lights in the room. However, I could still feel Anaissa's embrace over my bare chest and her not so lady-like snore. I smiled, at ease, and let my heart calm down after my bad dreams.

I was able to feel them still, pieces of my thoughts, spinning wildly around me. I couldn't see them like the first time she'd opened my vision; but the resonances they caused in my mind were really annoying and tensed my body.

I softly moved Anaissa away and left the bed in silence. Perfectly awake and feeling strangely lazy, I wandered, barely dressed as I was, into the large hall of the palace. The first time I was there, I hadn't understood the purpose of that empty space. The second time, I didn't get the meaning of all the shapes and words I now looked upon. Now that I had a better understanding of Snow, I could start to piece things together.

I still didn't get it completely, but I could feel that dome as a kind of lookout over the entire Earth. If someone had the sensitivity for it, they could feel cities on the other side of the world; hear voices from far away; follow the flight of a migratory bird on its yearly rite journey; or predict the fall of a coin from the pocket of a clumsy kid right in Colony 32...All at the same time, without moving their eyes.

Though I had come from several stars over, I didn't consider myself a traveler. I didn't find the charm in learning other cultures. It was hard to learn earthly manners in Colony 32. But I found that observing from this strange watchtower, completely detached from what I saw, was interesting in its own way.

When we had time, Anaissa and I hung out together in her home. If she ordered me to study, though, I retired to her bed to keep reading her extensive collection of books on anatomy, biochemistry, biology, physiology, genetics, and some bits about pharmacology. And, while I was busy with the enormous task of understanding the human body, she went down to the last room.

She called it "the Aleph". She never explained to me what the word meant, and I didn't pry, but it seemed a mythical reference from the place she came from. Day after day, when she wasn't beating people into submission or watching the ins and outs of Colony 32 from the shadows, she searched the world for something. Whatever it was, she was more interested in confirming its absence than actually finding it. And, because she never got to see it - what she didn't want to see - she was pretty happy. Still, she kept at it. Sometimes, I couldn't tell if she was determined or obsessed.

Instinctively, I found myself watching the space elevator climb into the sky. At least once per day, my brother loaded a massive cargo hold on Earth, ascended over the atmosphere and, far from the planet's gravity, unloaded it way up there in the First Orbital Ring. Then he repeated the process up there for the cargo ships, which came and went using the Earth's rail gun system. I always found it funny that the main way to connect cities on Earth was by the use of electric cannons to impulse ships from one elevator to another over the planet. The lack of gravity and friction did the rest, without needing gigantic engines like those used for travel between the Earth and the moon, Mars, or the asteroid belt, among other places even further away.

Eight orbital rings were already too complex for me. And, from what Ellie explained to me a few times, ours wasn't even the most complex system among the advanced civilizations.

My brother sent plants, locally produced food, animals, raw ore, processed materials for colonies' construction, and even common dirt, if needed. He knew what he moved, he didn't ask any questions, he was serious about his job, and his strong body helped him a lot. Compared to an earthling, he was tireless. Probably, I myself would have been the same; that's why he first thought I would be interested in his boss' offer.

...his boss... no wonder Uruk trusted him and the boss trusted him in return: he was another Thaebian. Older, stronger, and quite intelligent and organized, a born leader in short; he organized everything, from the shipments to the entire hierarchy of his company. And, sadly, he wasn't a good man. Neither was he one to see clearly, even with the Aleph.

The dealer I crushed in the cage? One of his goons. One of not so many at the moment, maybe ten among more of one hundred honest workers. Two of them manned a really advanced half autonomous laboratory to create those thin and paper-like drugs, the rest infiltrated other companies or even governmental offices with that filth and, one way or another, they kept Colony 32 under control. The drug itself sold well but the real benefit came from the control it gave over other people. That boss was playing the long game, one where control of the masses' wills was the final objective. Heck, I knew this only by watching over Colony 32, but I was pretty sure he'd already extended his influence to other places already.

I could hardly grasp his entire plan from the Aleph. The visions became confusing when I tried to look further away, but I was sure about one thing: he already had total control over Colony 32. Officials would always look the other way; other companies were now dependent on that physical enhancement drug to keep their businesses afloat and, little by little, more and more users needed that addictive filth to keep living. It was true that it generated a rush in its users, it was true that it lasted a long time, more than a week from what I gathered, it was also true that it buffed the user's bodies... but the side effects were no joke. The strength didn't come from thin air: the drug literally consumed their users to get the energy necessary to make the body function at that absurdly high level. It could turn you into a super human for a week, but after that, no matter what you ate, your body wouldn't be able to keep up and would crash.

The thin body of that client I had seen in the Black Circle was the consequence of three sheets of that drug. Only three weeks and that guy was worked down to the bone. And, if I could understand well what the Snow was telling me, he wouldn't last much longer.

It was frustrating. Outrageous. And, even if I raised my voice, It wouldn't do any good. Some would say to me to stop being a pest; others, that they needed to be strong to get any meager job in the city; others that they needed the drug to live... and, heck, the sentence, "you can't understand it" would come eventually.

Maybe I was a foreigner, but I had lived a good portion of my life on Earth. Those people weren't strangers to me: they were my neighbors. I couldn't just ignore this problem.

"Spying on your brother again?"

I jumped, scared. I was so focused on analyzing the problem, I hadn't noticed Anaissa behind me, nude as I was.

"Watching the chains you mentioned... still I don't get this Aleph of yours".

"Some people swim into the net, I dig into the world" she laughed. "But no matter where you look, you'll always find something putrid".

"Can I ask you something?" she didn't reply but her eyes flashed to me the instant I finished my question. "What are you trying to achieve here?"

"Do you ask that as a foreigner to another foreigner?" her smile yelled intention. "I could say that I love freedom and hate the kind of scheme that organization is trying to set up in the city".

"You could say that, yes, but I see there's more intention behind all your efforts".

"Can you? Well, I can't deny there's something more personal to this than you know", she calmed down her sardonic smile for a bit. "Reminds me of my life before I had this cute little mask you like so much" she said as she waved to all her body. "Long before I had this sexy bod and these dumb tattoos, I lived in a country where drugs were a problem. Never experienced it myself, but it was serious. I know what this kind of damage can do to a nation, and I see that Colony 32 is following that path. I have the power to solve the problem and, as far as I know, there's no one able to stop my plans here, so I'll do whatever I want, whenever I want, whoever I want, and I'll punish whoever deserves it. And, girl", she recovered her usual aggressive smile, "I love a good ol' punishment".

I couldn't help but smile. Her feminine body had nothing on her tomboyish ways. I was about to get her hand to lead her back to our room when she said:

"Why are you here, then?"

"You know, I..."

"Stop right there" she didn't let me even start. "Think about it carefully. I know the excuses you've told to yourself, what you've convinced yourself to believe", she was serious. No smiles this time. "Those aren't the entire truth. You're interested in my dealings with this world, you're following in my steps, as if you want to do something yourself. And you can: I would never stop you from trying. But, I wonder, why? I know you trust me to the bitter end and, still, you want to act yourself, even if I can break those chains myself".

I kept holding Anaissa's hand but, until I had an answer for her, I didn't resume our walk back.

"Some people are born into a family. Others choose it. I'm a chooser, and my family is huge, dear lover".

She kept her silence, but her smile told me more than anything she could've said.