As they went out through the facility’s gates, a security drone drifted overhead, shadowing their car in a silent, watchful glide, like a vulture scanning for weakness. Rosa’s hands tightened on the wheel, her eyes darting to the rearview mirror, waiting for it to peel away. At last, it veered off, likely reaching the edge of its range, and only then did she allow herself to breathe easily. She said nothing, and Selina remained quiet as well, though she shifted restlessly in her seat.
The rest of the drive to Rosa’s house was fraught with silence, the hum of the car's electric engine the only sound. The intercom's eerily concocted message swam in the noise inside both their heads
When Rosa’s home eventually came into view, it appeared almost surreal against the rugged landscape - a former silver mine transformed into a home with unique character. The stone façade retained elements of its industrial roots, with the original chimney now a square watchtower standing over the house. At the heart of the structure was a large glass section, as if a massive aquarium tank had been elegantly lowered into the architecture. This impressive expanse allowed natural light to flood the interior, creating an inviting atmosphere and offering breathtaking views of the surrounding scenery.
As they pulled up, Selina gasped, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Oh wow, this is your secret hideaway? It’s stunning! I feel like I’m in a dream!”
Rosa smiled dismissively as she unlocked the door with a wave of her palm. “That’s the point. No AI, no network… no LumiGard.”
Just inside was an airy entry hall, its polished slate floors reflecting the soft glow of strategically placed lights. A floating staircase, illuminated from beneath, led elegantly to the upper level, creating an illusion of weightlessness. In pride of place, under a broad skylight, stood a large moon globe on a broad matte black stand. The globe, crafted from brushed aluminium with intricate lunar surface details, gleamed softly in the ambient light. It was mesmerising, capturing the rugged craters and smooth maria of the moon with remarkable precision. Selina approached it, her gaze shifting from the captivating view outside to the elegant globe. She reached out, her fingertips grazing the cool surface as she admired the craftsmanship. “This is incredible, Rosa. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Stepping into the main area, the impact of the walls of glass round the living area was immediate. The stunning view of a valley leading down to a secluded sea cove was perfectly framed by the glass overhang, making it feel like they were suspended in nature. Selina wandered over to take in the view.
“What is this place?” she asked, marveling at the seamless integration of the outdoors and the elegant interior. “It’s like a work of art!”
Just then, the serene vista was startlingly animated by the breathtaking sight of myriad starlings sweeping through the valley, a living tapestry in motion.
“Look!” Selina exclaimed, her voice bubbling with excitement. “They’re forming 3D shapes! It’s like a living sculpture!”
Rosa joined Selina at the glass wall, equally entranced. “I love watching murmurations,” she said, her eyes following the fluid motions. “They seem to like this place. I’ve taken so many pictures and videos. It fascinates me how they form such intricate patterns. It’s a wonderful opportunity for pareidolia pattern spotting. You wouldn’t believe the things you can see in those formations.”
As the birds twisted and turned before them, Rosa felt herself drawn into their mesmerising dance. Their movements seemed almost choreographed, a living entity, sensuous, hypnotic in the sky.
Shifting patterns emerged and dissolved, each formation more beguiling than the last. One almost resembled a hand - elongated, skeletal, ominous - stretching toward her, suddenly becoming an avalanche of chaos, a swirling mass of claws and darkness surging in a terrifying tsunami right for her. Rosa's breath caught in her throat as taloned black fingers exploded through the glass wall, and...
She staggered backward, pulse pounding in her ears as millions of glass shards flew around her, falling, twinkling away, vanishing into nothingness. Selina, however, didn’t seem to notice, still transfixed by the ballet of birds, her gaze fixed in the sky. “It’s incredible!” she breathed, her thrill untouched by the chaos.
Rosa blinked, struggling to collect her senses, a chill creeping up her spine as the remnants of the vision settled and faded. Selina was leaning forward, watching the aerial display disappear over the trees, her fingers brushing against the window, which unexpectedly darkened at her touch.
Rosa's thoughts sank back to their earlier conversation, the weight of unease deep in her gut. What if these glitches weren’t coincidences? she thought. She remembered Selina’s cynicism but couldn't shake the feeling that they were caught in something deeper, a narrative in which Gum had a key role. Questions swirled: What were the limits of AI intervention? Could it manipulate thoughts, even memories, in ways they couldn't comprehend? They’d barely scratched the surface of the implications lurking beneath the surface of their research. Implanted memories take time, heavy suggestion, and reinforcement, Selina had said. But what if their experiences - everything they’d seen and felt - were already too entangled with the AI's machinations?
Forcing a smile, Rosa turned toward the kitchen area, seeking the comfort of fresh coffee to steady her racing heart. “It’s smart glass,” she explained, her voice slightly shaky. “It adjusts for privacy and temperature control, so we can enjoy the view without sacrificing comfort.”
Selina pulled her eyes from the view to Rosa, clearly impressed. “So, it’s not just pretty - it’s functional too? That’s amazing!”
Rosa shrugged, her composure slowly returning as she took off her coat. “That was the hope,” she said, waiting for the disturbing thoughts to fully disappear. “I've been fortunate. My grandfather…” Were her obsessive tendencies spiralling? Selina took Rosa's hesitation for a moment of grief and so didn't enquire.
Rosa put a finger to a flush, touch-sensitive panel, activating a state-of-the-art, coffee maker. As the coffee brewed, ambient lights automatically softened, casting a gentle glow across the minimalist interiors.
She began lighting a few candles placed strategically around the room, filling the air with the earthy aroma of sandalwood and lavender, contrasting the high-tech setting with a touch of warmth.
A sudden flicker of movement caught Selina’s attention - a fox, with a soft, reddish coat and bushy tail, padded gracefully into the room. It paused to sniff the air, sharp eyes keenly assessing the scents around him. Then, he slunk over to Rosa with a deliberate bounce in his step, weaving between her legs before nuzzling her hand, looking up with an alert, curious gaze.
Selina blinked, startled, before a smile crept across her face. “Is that… a fox?”
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Rosa knelt to scratch the creature's head. “This is Georgie,” she said with fondness. “He’s a regular. Comes and goes as he pleases through his own little flap. I think he's adopted me.”
“I'd always assumed Georgie was…”
“A cat?” Rosa replied, grinning. “That would be more normal.”
Georgie’s nose twitched as he caught a scent drifting from the counter, moving on soft paws towards the kitchen, his tail giving an inquisitive flick. He was entirely at ease, moving with the quiet curiosity natural to a fox, scanning the room before returning to Rosa’s side, then settling into a cosy corner beneath the table.
Selina settled into a soft chair, kicking off her shoes and pulling her knees up, absorbing the high-tech ambiance and sleek design of the room. She gave the place a cautious last look, as if expecting the fox to jump on her at any moment. But as smooth jazz floated softly through the room, her usual scepticism softened a little. “I have to hand it to you - the view’s stunning, and the atmosphere is top-notch,” she admitted, a note of genuine appreciation in her tone.
Rosa smiled as she moved to her workspace, a desk crafted from engineered slate, its surface embedded with micro-conductive filaments that gave it a faint, metallic sheen under the light. The thin, polished slate felt cool beneath her fingers, responding to touch commands with a quiet hum as an ultra-slim monitor rose from the desk’s edge. The screen flickered to life, displaying an image of a muscular Bollywood hero in a protective stance - her firewall interface, a playful bit of coding courtesy of her hacker-in-training nephew. Rosa blushed slightly at the sight, a touch self-conscious.
Selina glanced over and smirked. “Nice bouncer you’ve got there.”
“Uh, thanks,” Rosa replied, flustered, trying to minimise the app. Georgie stood up again, circling, unsettled, then padding over to Rosa’s feet and winding between her ankles as she began opening her research files.
“We need to check if this has happened before, if anyone’s reported things like implanted memories, AI influence - anything.”
Selina sighed, a hint of exasperation creeping back into her tone. “Look, if it were that easy, we’d already have seen cases in the literature. But here we are - just two researchers with some weird coincidences. Let’s focus on what we can find, not what we fear might be happening.”
The younger woman leaned back, typing on her phone. Says here, implanted memories take time, heavy suggestion and a lot of reinforcement. You don’t just plug into a rig for five minutes and suddenly come out with them. I’m pretty sure we can scratch that off the list.”
“But what about that rogue intercom, and what we saw in the data hub? The files, the records… that image of us?” Rosa’s hand rested on the desk controls. “It was there, wasn’t it?”
Selina shrugged. “Could be someone on security or in IT playing a prank. Then again, weird tech glitches happen all the time in high-level systems. We shouldn’t jump to wild conclusions.”
"Wild conclusions. The thing is watching us, talking to us. What does it take to get you to see that?" Selina smiled softly, concern marking her features. “You’re diving deep into the hypothetical. You said it yourself - this is a company AI. It’s supposed to assist, not control. We need to look at the facts, not our fears.”
Rosa ran a hand through her hair, frustration bubbling up. “The facts are that it knew we were there. It recorded us and repurposed our conversation. And those words… ‘Find mass.’ What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know, but if we’re going to get to the bottom of this, we need to focus. What could ‘mass’ mean in the context of the AI? Data? An object? A specific project. Let’s try looking up ‘mass, ’” she suggested. "I'd say whoever is playing us with that intercom wants to lead us to some joke about a mass of something; we just need to get it."
They both began to Google the term, but all they turned up were definitions and academic papers on different interpretations of “mass” - none of which seemed relevant to their situation.
But Rosa’s mind was already racing elsewhere, considering another avenue. “What about the Paignton Zoo experiment… Could it be worth looking closer at that?”
“Rosa, it was just a performance art piece, not some classified AI project.”
"Yes, but why does everything revolve around Gum? You know, I've seen so many versions of him, I'm almost at the point of wondering if he really existed."
As Rosa continued her search, the firewall window flickered, drawing her attention. A horde of tiny, pixelated monkeys appeared at the edges, clawing at the muscular hero’s legs. “What’s happening?”
Selina walked over and leaned in, frowning.
“Something’s attacking my firewall,” Rosa whispered, staring as the monkeys swarmed the hero on the screen. Georgie, the fox, crouched under the desk, low to the ground with his ears pricked and nose twitching. His tail swished in slow, deliberate movements as he tilted his head, listening, his sharp gaze flickering with wary curiosity.
Selina shook her head, watching the hero’s brave attempts to fend off the monkeys. “This doesn’t look like your typical network breach Mind you, your firewall doesn't look like your typical firewall.”
The muscular bouncer fought back valiantly as the monkeys gathered round him in droves, a frenzied swarm of tiny, pixelated creatures clawing and chattering as they snatched at his arms and shoulders. He grabbed a couple by the ankles and began using them like nunchucks, scattering his attackers like autumn leaves. However, they moved with eerie precision, coordinated in a way that the firewall seemed ill equipped to handle. Rosa swept her mouse about, trying to find a way to bolster the defender, pulse quickening as he seemed to struggle, slowly weakening against the relentless onslaught.
“We’re going to suffer a breach,” Rosa whispered, barely able to look away from the screen. The animated figure’s bravado was fading, his pixelated face etched with strain as he faltered against the monkeys’ weight. The little creatures covered him, weighing down his arms and legs, swarming over his head and shoulders, gnashing with tiny, determined teeth.
“They’re... eating through it,” Selina murmured in disbelief. "With lots of tiny..."
"Monkey bites?" Rosa finished, eyes wide as she watched. Georgie decided he'd had enough and scampered for his foxflap and the safety of the night.
Rosa watched, helpless, as the animated figure was gradually swamped. “They’re tearing through it,” she murmured, her fear growing as the hero finally disappeared beneath the swarm.
Selina leaned close to the screen. Which suddenly went blank. "You powered it down?"
"Well, I didn't want to see what happened if the things broke through. Now do you believe something serious is up?"
Selina’s eyes lingered on the dark screen, her expression unreadable. A faint tracery of uncertainty tugged at her lips, and her eyes moved from the dark screen to Rosa, think. After a moment of silence, she leaned forward, hands resting on the desk, fingers spread as if bracing herself for impact. “All right, fine,” she admitted. “Something’s definitely off here. Whether it’s an elaborate prank or something more serious, we can’t just brush it aside.”
Rosa looked hopeful, the tension in her shoulders eased slightly as she took a deep breath. Selina straightened, meeting Rosa’s gaze with a newfound determination flickering in her eyes. “Let’s figure this out. Together.” The sincerity in her tone marked a shift, a silent promise to confront whatever lay ahead alongside her friend.
Finally, she glanced at the window, noting how the sky had long since turned to ink. It was close to midnight, and exhaustion was settling in. She tightened her high ponytail, sighing. "I should head home. Not sure Mitchell would appreciate me ghosting work for two days in a row. This whole thing is… well, you have to admit, it’s a bit out there." She glanced at Rosa, half expecting her to back down.
Rosa nodded but leaned forward, determined. “I know. But if we’re ever going to make sense of this, we need to dig a bit. I think we should go to Paignton and find out what happened to Gum. If that experiment ties back to LumiGard’s behaviour, then it’s worth the trip. If nothing else, it'll help me re-establish my grip on reality again.”
Selina hesitated, her gaze dropping to her phone. “Even so, I can’t just skip work without a word.”
Rosa paused, then suggested gently, “Why not request a personal day? Just be upfront - it’s for critical research. You’re helping me get to the bottom of something urgent, and if this turns out to be a dead end, you’ll be back at work soon enough.”
Selina considered this, her resistance slowly giving way to curiosity. “Alright,” she said finally, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. “But if this is a waste of time, I’m coming back here to make you regret it.”
Rosa grinned, relieved. “Deal. Meet here around eight tomorrow morning? Then we’ll head to Paignton and, hopefully, get the answers we’re looking for. I'd better drop you home.”