The holo-displays remained dark, the last image of Rosa and Selina etched on both their minds, like an after-image from a light bulb.
For a moment, the only sound in the data hub was their breathing. Rosa's pulse raced. Was this all some elaborate mistake, a trick of the monitors?
"That shot," Rosa whispered, her voice taut with unease. "It... Were we supposed to see it? LumiGard... it was watching us, Selina."
Selina crossed her arms, shaking her head. “Let's not jump to conclusions. I mean, sure, that was... weird, but come on - an AI actively spying on us? That’s not how this stuff works.” Despite her scepticism, her frown deepened slightly as she studied the walls, searching for any clue about how their picture had been taken. “Look, I get it, it’s creepy, but there are far simpler explanations.”
Rosa glanced back at the dead monitors, heart still pounding. “Simpler explanations? You saw all that stuff the AI showed us. And a shot of us, in real-time, on every screen in the hub? How is that not deliberate?”
Selina hesitated, pulling her phone out of her pocket and typing rapidly. “Let me just... look up something. You’re thinking LumiGard's messing with us?”
Rosa began pacing, arms tightly crossed. "Think about it! Yesterday, I went under, fully under, into VR - controlled by this thing! I see monkeys typing in my dreams, then it spits out the same image, typing the same thing, only in Morse code! Like it's pulling things from my mind and mirroring them back. And that snapshot of us? That wasn’t random; it was put there on purpose. What if it’s feeding us these images, planting thoughts... shaping what we see, what we think? What if it’s... ?”
Selina sighed, scrolling through her phone. “Okay, I get it - you’re worried it's messing with your perception or causing, what - disorientation? But let’s not get carried away. Something like dissociation could explain some of what you’re feeling, sure, but planting stuff?” She glanced at Rosa, trying to gauge how far down the rabbit hole her colleague had gone. “It’s more likely VR is just amplifying patterns and making you see connections that aren’t really there. Believe me, that’s unsettling enough on its own.”
“What if it’s more advanced than we know?” Rosa pressed. “I haven't a clue what LumiGard is capable of. Have you? That snapshot...”
Selina frowned as she continued her search, finally landing on a research paper. “Okay, listen to this: 'Studies on post-VR disorientation suggest that implanted memories require longer exposure to virtual environments, often reinforced through repetition.' You haven't done anything long enough for anything to be 'implanted,' have you?”
She lowered her phone, giving Rosa a pointed look. "It's just not how this works. You're probably just over-stretched from too many late night sessions, what with that and the day job filling your mind with nothing but monkey stuff. What we saw could’ve been a glitch or the datahub motion sensors clicking off a still for security reasons, I'm certainly not convinced LumiGard is planting ideas or controlling what we saw."
Rosa didn’t respond right away, the silence filling the room like a tangible weight. The knot of anxiety twisted tighter in her chest. This went beyond just her imagination running wild.
As Selina scrolled further through the article, she nodded knowingly. “Right, so here’s the thing - VR can definitely lead to dissociation, derealisation, and even depersonalisation, but those effects usually come from real prolonged exposure.” She paused, reading a bit further. “It’s unsettling, sure, but it’s not something that happens quickly.”
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Rosa stroked her earlobe, her voice tense. “But what if that’s exactly what I’ve been feeling? After that dream, and seeing that snapshot... it's like I’m doubting what's real. What if LumiGard’s up to something subtler than we understand?”
Selina glanced back at the article. “Look, I get why you'd think that, but it doesn’t add up. AI isn’t advanced enough to purposely cause derealisation or implant memories and it certainly doesn't know about any dream you've had. What you’re feeling could just be a normal reaction to the stress of the job. Don't you have a big presentation coming up?”
Rosa leaned against the nearest workstation, hands trembling slightly. “I don’t know, Selina. This whole place feels cold now. I want to get out. We’re on someone's file. You can’t just dismiss that.”
"We?" Selina’s mouth opened in surprise, then her expression softened as she put away her phone. “Okay, I’ll admit that all this is unsettling, and maybe there’s more going on than I thought. But before we spiral into conspiracy theories, think it through. Leaving now, rushing out, might get you into even bigger trouble. You... we... don’t want the higher-ups to think we’ve been snooping around.”
“But staying here... it feels...” Rosa faltered. “Do we know who installed LumiGard? What its purpose is? We might not be safe here.”
Selina nodded slowly, patiently acknowledging Rosa’s concerns. “Alright, I hear you. If something weird is happening here, I’m not ruling that out, what’s the plan? Run home and hide? That doesn’t exactly solve anything.”
Rosa shook her head. “No, but maybe... I just need to get free of LumiGard for a while, get home and think.”
Selina huffed, clearly still sceptical but also wary of what they had both witnessed. “Alright. Let’s go to your place. If it makes you feel safer, fine. But we’re not running because we’re scared of some AI ghost story. We just need a plan.”
Rosa was already partway through the door, when a faint sound stopped her in her tracks. By the entrance, an intercom sparked to life with a faint click. Its white panel bore an android hand symbol, with an amber orb embedded at the center of the palm, dark like a dormant eye.
Through the speaker came a faint crackle, barely audible, almost dismissible as random noise. But as Rosa’s throat tightened, the sound resolved into something closer to speech - soft, fragmented, and disturbingly familiar.
“… deliberate… feeding… get out…”
The words were thin and clipped, as though filtered through layers of static, but still recognisable as her own voice. Rosa’s heart skipped as the pitch shifted, then stilled, Selina’s voice emerging next, hollow and faintly distorted.
“…datahub… spy…”
Both women held their breath as the words continued, jagged montages of their own voices, disjointed yet unmistakable. An assemblage of things they’d said moments ago, each phrase laced with the strange resonance of... intent.
She shot Selina a wary glance. “Did you hear that?”
Selina nodded, arms wrapped tightly about herself, her expression blank, gaze fixed on the intercom. More fractured syllables followed, slipping in and out, as though the device were sorting through their words, stitching their conversation together into something manufactured.
“… it… watch… us…”
The amber orb pulsed with each sound, casting faint glimmers across the wall, intensifying as if it, too, were listening. Rosa felt a prickling at the back of her neck. Then, as the intercom fell silent for a long, agonizing moment, the amber light sharpened, focused like a pinpoint eye trained directly on them.
The next words were clearer than any that had come before - each syllable exact, purposeful, combining syllables of both their voices to form a final, chilling command.
“Find... mass.”
The orb in the hand-shaped emblem glowed a shade darker, a fierce ember that seemed to fix itself on Rosa, as though the thing were aware of her hesitation, her unease.
She barely noticed her fingers slipping from the door handle. The silence following the command felt more oppressive than any sound, each of them standing motionless as the orb’s glow slowly dimmed, fading back to its usual placid amber.
Rosa finally moved, opening the door and pulling Selina with her, both of them slipping out into the corridor. Rosa felt the weight of that command echoing, pressing down like a brand, heavier than just words.
Find mass.
Together, they left the data hub, moving swiftly but quietly through the polished corridors of the facility. The occasional soft whir of a security camera tracking their movements only heightened the sense of unease. Every step closer to the exit felt like a small victory, though Selina’s eyes lingered warily on the smartglass walls, still doubting that anything so nefarious could be happening.