There was no steering wheel or helm in the boat. At least, not that I could see. There was a bedroom with two bunk beds near the entrance to the cabin, then a relatively spacious living room and kitchen area, while the very back had a tiny bathroom and a relatively large bedroom. Twelve meters might be small in yacht terms, but there was plenty of space in the living room to put all my random shit. It just took an hour or so… It was getting colder and the wind was picking up. That blizzard was coming.

“Alright, I love you… And thanks for helping me move all this stuff. I’m not saying you guys should move to a tropical island, but at the very least, pick a nice place in the south. Somewhere that never gets cold.” As I said that, I hugged both of my parents one last time. My mother even hugged Ana for some reason.

And then I boarded the boat, with the cabin doors closing behind me. It was actually kinda hot inside of the yacht, so I had to take off my jackets and pack them away with my other clothes that I never planned to wear again. There were windows all around the top of the stairs, though tinted, so I was able to see my parents standing on the pier and waving to me as the boat started moving away.

I took the black burner phone out of my pocket and called my mother, who answered almost immediately. Then I told her, “Will the two of you stop screwing around? It’s like zero degrees! Go back to the van. I love you both and I’ll call you when I get there safely, alright?”

“Hahaha~! He said-” I hung up before they could break my speakers with their loud laughing and shouting. Then I put the phone in my pocket and went back down the stairs, into the hallway of the cabin. Ana was already in the bathroom, completely naked and sitting on the toilet and well, shitting. There was actually a shower in the bathroom, though it was pretty small, only big enough for one of us at a time. I wanted to wash both my bodies immediately, but I held back and focused on other things.

“This boat is really fucking fancy.” I murmured as I walked over to the box from ∞. It was pretty small, but really hard to open. I tried to break the tape with my nails, but eventually gave up and used a knife instead. I literally had like a whole plastic box of just kitchen knives, with a few cleavers and butcher knives as well.

I didn’t bother touching the passports, IDs and other ‘junk’. My only interest was the fancy cellphone. I cleaned my hands off with an alcohol wipe, then used one to clean off the brand new touch-screen cellphone. It was black and about average size, not particularly fancy… It wasn’t even locked or anything like that.

It had all the basics, like a calculator, settings, notepad and a calendar. It didn’t have a contacts folder or any sort of messenger function; I couldn’t even call people on it. There was really only a single thing that it was meant to do…

[∞: We are surprised that you have not shown any symptoms of seasickness. You nearly vomited on the short ride over to the Wharf… Multiple times.]

“Yeah, I’m ninety-percent sure it’s the toxic fumes or whatever, rather than the movement.” I snickered as I walked over to the white marble kitchen counter, wiped it off and placed the phone down there. Then I washed my hands off in the sink. It was only of those short-neck ones, with a single lever-like handle that can move in different directions.

[∞: You seem to be hypersensitive to carbon monoxide, methane and other common airborne toxins. It is unknown whether this particular trait is an adaptation or a disability. Regardless, the actual danger to your health is minimal. Most of your problems are psychological.]

“Yeah, I heard that one before… Like all the fucking time from my parents. You might be right, but what does it change?” I snickered, grumbling “I know that washing my hands so often is actually detrimental to my health, yet I can’t focus on anything until I do it… Speaking of which, how clean is the bed in the bedroom?”

[∞: Until you brought your luggage onboard, the entire ship was extremely sterile. So much so, that it would be possible to operate in any room, without the risk of infection.]

“That’s good enough for me. I don’t wanna know ‘how’ you cleaned it, nor do I wanna think about whether there are tiny roaches or rats crawling on me in order to monitor me outside… Ugh… I just thought about it.” I sighed, then started taking off my clothes and shoving them into one of the least clean bags. My shoes were left near the door, with the socks still inside. I went over to the bathroom that smelled like shit, but I already could smell it regardless, since Ana had been there the whole time.

At that moment, I saw the mirror above the sink, suddenly transform into an LCD screen. Or maybe it was one the whole time?

[∞: Biotechnology is our main focus, but in order to create cybernetics, we first needed much more advanced conventional technology. Computers small enough to fit anywhere, but powerful enough to function as we required… There are small tracking devices within both of your bodies, in the event that either of you were lost or captured. However, our technology has not reached the point where a single miniscule tracking device can monitor everything happening around a person. Aside from cybernetic insects and animals, we also have robotic versions, though they are less effective. Both are programmed to emit a sound that causes humans to ignore their presence.]

“Where the hell? I didn’t see any new scars anywhere…” I murmured to myself, then went straight into the shower. The sink was actually across from the toilet, so Ana could still read it from there.

[∞: A rather old trick is to place implants in old scars, in order to lower suspicion. It is especially fortunate if they have a condition such as cystic acne, as they would not expect a painful cyst to actually be an implanted tracking device.]

I switched to Ana and snickered, “So that’s why… I was wondering why that ‘boil’ on the back of my neck would never pop, and it eventually just kinda went away. But I can still feel a hard thing there, where my lymph node used to be…”

Back when I was like fifteen or sixteen, I had a really swollen gland on the left side of the back of my neck. A few inches behind my ear. The doctors wanted to biopsy it to make sure it wasn’t cancerous or whatever, but I figured they might as well just remove the whole thing. It was benign, yet it still would have been extremely painful if I had left it in there. I still used to break out around that spot a lot before and after the surgery.

“Well whatever… I never really understood those people in shows and movies that freak out when they’re being watched. Like seriously, it ain’t a big deal. I’m definitely not gonna try to surgically remove a tracking device from my own body.” As I muttered to myself, back in my original body, I turned on the shower.

“Oh wow, I can’t believe the water pressure is so high…” Of course, I did understand that it probably wouldn’t last very long. So I quickly washed off my whole body with soap, then got out of the shower and left the bathroom, completely forgetting that I didn’t bring a towel in there with me. I decided to head over to the bedroom, while Ana was wiping her ass and flushing the toilet. She went into the shower immediately afterwards.

“Woah~!” I almost lost my balance for a moment, because the boat suddenly picked up speed. The water was dripping all over the white carpet, but it wasn’t my yacht so I didn’t really care if there was any damage. I mean, Infinity International seemed like they could afford pretty much anything, so I wasn’t too worried about getting in trouble.

There was actually a sunroof in the bedroom, in a sense. A large portion of the ceiling was a tinted window, while there were some portholes on both sides of the room. It was kinda-sorta bright, even without turning on the lights on the walls. The bed itself was extremely plain looking. Queen sized; big enough for two normal sized people to sleep comfortably on. There weren’t any fancy decorations anywhere, the only other notable thing in the room was the large flat-screen television on the wall near the foot of the bed. Without me even doing anything, the TV turned on and a string of words appeared.

[∞: So long as no significant variables occur, you should arrive at Puerta De La Muerta in roughly 16 hours… Have you been refraining from sexual intercourse intentionally? Although you have not ejaculated in quite some time, the deal from yesterday is no longer available.]

“Nah, I would’ve asked you first if that was why.” I snickered, shaking my head. Then I looked down at my penis. Before sighing, “As you can probably tell… My dick has a cut on it. Right at the fucking edge of the head. Probably a combination of the dry air in the basement, too much soap, accidentally scraping it with my teeth and well, just having way too much sex. Ana is in a lot better condition, but she also doesn’t need to cum as much as ‘me’? Like, she doesn’t have testicles, so it makes things a bit easier. Of course, I’m definitely gonna have loads of sex in a few minutes anyway, regardless of the consequences. But earlier today, I was just too anxious about moving and going outside, so I didn’t have time to think about anything else.”

Aside from that, I was also really fucking thirsty. I didn’t forget to bring two of the pitchers my father usually made tea in, but I obviously had already emptied them out before packing them away. All I really had that was readily available was… Water. Regular, bottled, water. My arch nemesis…

[∞: Interesting… Have you ever tried meditation? In our studies, we have come to realize that the human body is rather inefficient if left on its own. However, by focusing the mind on specific issues within the body, it is entirely possible to speed up recovery. We have a new task for you. Meditation… Meditate for several hours; simply relax your mind in a comfortable position. Sitting is unnecessary; laying down is more effective. If you fall asleep, it will also be counted as completion of the task.]