Nova took a deep breath, her fingers hovering over the makeshift interface. She pushed forward, through the glimmering, ethereal molecules of the projected wall. Each cell in her body crawled and vibrated with a low hum, a chorus of anticipation and trepidation. The wall, a foot thick at least, felt strangely porous as she stepped through. The cold, unyielding steel permeated her senses, mixing with the warmth of her blood in a way that felt deeply unnatural, causing her to jump forward, almost losing her balance.
She stopped abruptly, steadying herself. Mila stood before her, a silhouette against the dim light of the corridor. A firm hand landed on Nova's shoulder, grounding her. "Disable the cameras leading to the interior," Mila's voice was a low, urgent whisper. "It's a fully connected system. Get a replay loop going and cover our infil."
Nova understood. A silent acknowledgment passed between them as she placed her hand over Mila's, a brief touch that spoke volumes. She knows about the cyberware. Or at least knows of my hacking abilities. With a mental command, she pulled up her OS, the familiar interface overlaying her vision. She reached out, virtually, and connected to the Baixu security network. The connection was seamless, effortless.
Her awareness contracted, the physical world fading as she plunged into the digital realm. The hum of the network filled her being, and her physical body went numb. She was vaguely aware of another steel wall, of wind on her skin, a rough hand – Kade's? – guiding her forward.
Then, she was through. The physical world dissolved entirely, replaced by a breathtaking vista. Gone was the dark ocean of her previous hacks, and in its place stood a majestic, ancient castle, perched atop a hill overlooking a vibrant landscape. Rolling farmlands stretched as far as the eye could see, crisscrossed by rushing rivers that glinted like silver ribbons in the soft light. Verdant forests, a tapestry of green and blue, filled the horizon. Trees, ancient and towering, reached towards the sky, their leaves rustling in a gentle breeze. It was a scene ripped from a forgotten era, untouched by cybernetics or the harsh realities of their world. It's beautiful... I wonder where the OS gets this from.
She turned, realizing the castle wall extended in both directions, encircling the entire landscape. Above, a vast, star-studded sky served as a breathtaking canopy. Each star, she instinctively knew, was a camera within the Baixu facility, connected by a network of thin, luminous lines that pulsed with soft light.
The OS, anticipating her needs, highlighted her objective. She gazed upwards, drawn to the celestial tapestry above. With a thought, she leaped, soaring through the air like a phantom, and landed softly on a star, her bare feet sinking slightly into its glowing surface. The star pulsed beneath her touch, displaying a live feed from one of the facility's cameras. A circuit board materialized before her, wires neatly arranged in multicolored docks. This was the camera's digital heart. Her fingers danced across the board, guided by the cyberware, expertly rerouting signals and weaving a seamless loop of pre-recorded footage.
She lingered for a moment, jumping between stars, each representing a different camera feed, absorbing the layout of the facility, searching for any useful intelligence. Then, a faint, rhythmic tapping, like a distant heartbeat, pulsed through the network.
"Nova? Nova?" A hushed whisper, barely audible, echoed in the real world, pulling her back from the brink of the digital abyss. "One more thing, Nova."
The breathtaking landscape vanished, replaced by the stark reality of a sterile white room. A door on the right led to an unseen hallway. They were huddled behind a cluttered desk, piled high with dusty documents and discarded electronic components. Wires snaked across the high ceiling, converging on a long, articulated metal arm that extended from the center of the room. And suspended from that arm, bathed in an ethereal glow, was an android.
Its form was strikingly human, yet undeniably artificial. Smooth, flowing lines defined its limbs and torso, while beneath its translucent skin, a network of delicate veins pulsed with a soft, ominous red light. Garrick stood guard by the door, his massive frame partially concealed behind a steel structural pillar. The rest of the team were tucked out of sight behind towering shelves overflowing with archaic technology.
As if sensing their collective gaze, the android's head snapped up, its eyes, twin points of crimson light, fixing on each member of the team in turn. A long, silent pause stretched, punctuated only by the faint hum of the facility. Then, in a voice laced with dry wit and a hint of melancholy, it spoke.
"Well, this is certainly a development," the android remarked, its voice a synthesized baritone. " Computing... It seems I– deemed worthy of rescue. How de– elightful. Don't –d the fact that I'm –alking," a brief pause, a flicker of red in its eyes, "and *rapidly* expiring antique. Shall we pro– oceed with jailbreak, then?"
Mila stared at the android for a beat, then turned to Nova, her expression unreadable. "Can you get him free?" It wasn't a question.
Nova brought up her OS again, focusing her intent on the android.
Function. ANDROID MECH. “P1nk3” {Heat..010111100}
Login: Baixu
Password: Baixu
Lazy.
Disconnect? Y/N
"Yes," she breathed, the word barely audible.
Well.. that was rather ea-
Nova's consciousness snapped back into the digital landscape. But this time, the idyllic scenery was gone, replaced by a vision both alien and strangely familiar. She stood in a dark, cavernous space, surrounded by towering trees with roots that writhed and pulsed with an inner light. Before her, a colossal egg, easily the size of a small shuttle, rested on the ground. The roots of the surrounding trees converged on the egg, cradling it in a living embrace, like the fingers of a giant hand.
“Am I dreaming?”
No, you are not. A voice echoed in her mind, deep and resonant, yet undeniably artificial.
She approached the egg, drawn by an unseen force. As she drew closer, the roots entwined with the egg began to glow with the same soft red light that pulsed beneath the android's skin.
Nova.
"You can hear me. In here?" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
You carry the echo of a fallen star. A symphony of souls, bound by a thread of stardust. Seek the conductor, or be lost in the dissonance.
The egg before her cracked, a spiderweb of fissures spreading across its surface. And then, with a blinding flash, she was back in the white room.
Two Baixu officers lay sprawled on the floor, their bodies contorted in unnatural positions. P1nk3, now freed from his restraints, stood amidst the carnage. Garrick, his face a mask of fury, was in the process of splitting an officer's skull with his axe, a savage snarl escaping his lips. With his other hand, he ripped a small green patch from the officer's uniform, his knuckles white as he gripped the fabric.
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"We don't have time for this, Garrick!" Mila's voice cut through the din, sharp and urgent. Cage, his brow furrowed in concentration, muttered to himself as he fiddled with the malfunctioning Phase Shifter, his hands a blur of motion.
Nova came back to her senses, the cryptic message echoing in her mind. A symphony of souls...
“I need a little more time,” Cage said sharply, his voice tight with frustration as he fiddled with the Phase Shifter.
“Fine, but hurry,” Mila hissed back, her gaze fixed on the corridor ahead. “Let’s move to the hallway. We need to find a western-facing wall.” She turned to the android, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. “Can you walk?”
“Many eons ago, I traversed the glacial plains of Holdfast-6,” P1nk3 replied, its voice a flat, metallic monotone that somehow managed to convey a hint of wry amusement. It took a slow, deliberate step forward, then another. It moved towards Mila with a surprisingly fluid gait, then bowed, a gesture that seemed both archaic and strangely elegant. “I can walk.”
Nova stifled a laugh, a nervous tremor in her chest. What the hell are we doing here?
Mila motioned towards the door where Garrick stood guard, his hulking form practically vibrating with barely suppressed rage. The two officers lay sprawled on the floor, their bodies mangled beyond recognition. “Okay, everyone,” Mila said, her voice low and urgent. “Follow me.”
They slipped out into the hallway, Cage trailing behind, still muttering to himself and fiddling with the Phase Shifter. Kade yanked him roughly by the collar from behind, pulling him along with the group. The facility was a labyrinth of identical corridors and featureless doors. There were no markings, no signs, nothing to indicate their location or destination. It felt as if they were wandering aimlessly, trapped in a sterile, metallic maze. Nova pulled up her OS, trying to get a sense of their surroundings by checking through the camera feeds, hoping to find an exit, a path, anything.
“…see why they called it a prototype,” Cage grumbled, his voice barely a whisper.
Mila whipped around, her eyes flashing. “Quiet!” she mouthed, her hand making a sharp, cutting motion.
Around the corner, voices echoed – two at least, maybe more – accompanied by the rhythmic thud of heavy footsteps. Baixu soldiers. “Prisoner 1014 escaped again, huh?” The first voice was loud, tinged with amusement. “That slippery bastard.”
“Yeah, if you can believe it,” a second voice, deeper and gruffer, replied. “Pinky told us he was worth watching. That android...”
“This is going to cause riots. We can’t afford to watch every worker on Keres Major, and forget about everyone on that damned moon!”
Slow footsteps echoed ever louder, a counterpoint to Nova’s quickened heartbeat. Garrick, his senses honed by an unknown rage, began to move towards the approaching soldiers, his movements silent and predatory.
Mila turned, her face grim, and made a series of rapid hand signals. Back up, Nova interpreted, her heart pounding against her ribs. Room behind us.
But it was too late. Garrick was already in motion, a low growl rumbling in his chest. He was shouting, a wordless cry of rage, as he sprinted towards the corner, a dwarf-shaped missile of pure fury.
The soldiers rounded the corner just as Garrick reached them. He was a blur of motion, moving with a speed that belied his size. They barely had time to register his presence before he was upon them, his axe a whirlwind of steel. He caught the first soldier in the leg, cleaving it clean off at the knee with a sickening crunch. The soldier collapsed, screaming, a geyser of blood erupting from the severed limb. Garrick, propelled by his momentum, spun, a dancer of death, and hurled his axe. It embedded itself in the second soldier’s chest with a sickening thud, the force of the impact lifting him off his feet.
The first soldier, writhing on the floor in agony, fumbled for a button on his belt, a final act of defiance. He pressed it. A shrill, multi-toned alarm shrieked through the facility, and the lights pulsed an angry, pulsating red.
Garrick retrieved his axe, wrenching it free from the dead soldier's chest. He turned his attention to the first soldier, the one still alive, still screaming. He began to rain down blows upon him, each impact punctuated by the sickening crunch of bone and the wet splatter of blood. After a few brutal strikes, the axe broke with a sharp crack, the blade snapping near the haft. Garrick spat on the mangled remains of the soldier, then ripped a small green patch from the uniform. "Ayye," he snarled, his voice thick with hatred. "You deserve worse than this."
Mila stared at the scene, her face pale. “Damn it, Garrick,” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
More footsteps, heavier and faster now, echoed from a hallway to their left. Mila’s head snapped up. “Move!” she shouted, already running.
Everyone scrambled to follow, their carefully planned extraction dissolving into a frantic dash for survival. Nova activated her OS as they ran, desperately trying to override the alarm, to silence the piercing shrieks that echoed through the corridors. But it was no use. She’d have to tap back into the network, and there was no time.
They raced down a maze of interconnecting hallways, past rows of doors, some open, some closed. The open ones revealed glimpses of sterile labs, cluttered workshops, and holding cells, mostly empty. Nova caught sight of strange machinery, humming with barely contained energy, and what looked like half-assembled cybernetic limbs. She swore they passed the same rooms multiple times, the facility twisting and turning like a living organism. The closed doors were even more unsettling, each one marked with cryptic, indecipherable symbols. Perhaps the Baixu have their own language or codes they use for Cyberware, she thought.
Whatever the case, she knew this facility wasn’t a typical Baixu operation. The sparse security, the almost haphazard layout, the strange symbols – it all pointed to something else, something secret. But there was no time to ponder it now.
“Cage!” Mila shouted, her voice strained. “Up ahead! Everyone else, let’s take care of these goons.”
The soldiers, clad in black and purple armor, seemed to materialize out of thin air, their cybernetic implants enhancing their movements, giving them an almost inhuman speed and precision. Elynn reacted instantly, tossing a small, disc-shaped device to the floor. It expanded with a hiss, forming a shimmering, metallic shield that provided a modicum of cover. Nova dove behind it, pressing herself against Elynn's side. The rest of the team scattered, taking refuge behind door frames and overturned equipment, any cover they could find.
Through a narrow slit in the shield, Nova watched as the Baixu soldiers advanced, their movements precise and deadly. Garrick, roaring like a wounded beast, tossed a small, spherical device – an EMP, Nova realized – down the hallway. It detonated with a flash of blue light and a high-pitched whine. For a moment, Nova hoped it would disable the soldiers' cybernetics. But they kept coming, their movements unfaltering.
Kade began firing blindly with the Aether Lance, its focused laser blasts leaving scorch marks on the walls. Elynn, her face pale but determined, took aim through the slit in the shield and squeezed the trigger of her pistol, each shot precise and deadly.
“Got it!” Cage shouted suddenly, a note of triumph in his voice. He fiddled with the Phase Shifter, then looked back at the group, a grim expression on his face. Everyone was focused on the advancing soldiers. Nova's gaze, however, lingered on the wall.
The Phase Shifter in Cage's hand flickered to life, then sputtered, the blue light around it flaring erratically. Prototypes.
Kade was the first through the shimmering portal, disappearing into the wall without a backward glance. Mila followed close behind. Nova went third, stepping into the cold, unsettling embrace of the phased matter. Cage went through, the Phase Shifter still clutched in his hand. Garrick went next, with P1nk3 right behind him, who was chuckling about how he got a couple of the soldiers.
They waited for Elynn. As she stepped forward, the Phase Shifter let out a high-pitched whine and exploded in Cage's hands, throwing him backward.
A piercing scream echoed through the night air as Elynn’s leg became trapped in the wall, the metal fusing around her flesh. She remained stuck as the group watched in horror, unable to tear their eyes away from the gruesome sight. Garrick acted first, his movements fueled by a desperate urgency. He raised his laser rifle and, with a single, agonizing shot, blasted Elynn's leg at the ankle. She fainted instantly, her body going limp. Garrick caught her as she fell, his massive arms cradling her fragile form. The laser had cauterized the wound, miraculously preventing her from bleeding out on the spot, but the stench of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air.
Nova finally caught her breath, her gaze darting around the now-empty street. Kade was gone. Vanished. Mila pulled two smoke grenades from her belt, her movements quick and efficient. She pulled the pins and tossed them towards the approaching soldiers, who were now lining the walls above, ready to rain down fire.
They ran, plunging into the swirling, acrid smoke, and found a sewer hatch. With reckless abandon, they jumped down into the pits of the city, a desperate gamble to escape the pursuing soldiers. Elynn rode on Garrick’s shoulders, her unconscious form a dead weight. P1nk3 followed close behind, his movements surprisingly agile. Where did Kade go?