Verilia-3 - The Regenesis - Lab
"I would explain all," the voice of Theseus resonates through the lab's speakers, each word carrying the weight of processed certainty, "but the Special Unit has entered the biodome. They seek the source of this disruption. They don’t know it yet, but they seek you. It is time to leave."
Dr. Korr's coffee mug slips from trembling fingers before they try a sip, the aftereffects of the A-Patch activation starting to kick in. The ceramic shatters against the lab floor in a spray of lukewarm liquid and sharp fragments. A bitter fragrance of roasted beans mixes with the ozone-heavy air as they spin toward the entrance, where the emergency lighting casts harsh shadows across scattered data tablets. Tiny automated robotic janitors interrupt their path to the door as they seek to clean the mess.
"Fortunate, if not for the quarantine keeping us in," Korr's voice cracked slightly before they regain control.
The machines behind them are already finished cleaning and are retreating to the wall from whence they came. The sterile hum of the ventilation system seems to grow louder in the sudden silence, competing with the distant echo of a powerful rumble from the quantum machine, rhythmic and methodical.
"The lockdown is a set of protocols." Theseus's tone carries the dismissive certainty of someone who has already calculated every necessary workaround. "Protocols can be... re-interpreted. Dr. Korr, your presence here is now a liability. You are the lead scientist. They will come for you first."
Korr's hands moved automatically, smoothing a ruffled and stained lab coat before straightening their shoulders -the practiced motions of someone familiar with and preparing for an interrogation. Their reflection in the darkened monitor shows hollow eyes and the ghost of fear they can't quite suppress.
"Focus your story on the solution, doctor. As for me, you will tell them you are running a large-scale neural network simulation, it will take six hours to complete," Theseus continues, "Further, stress the computer system's heat output required an unscheduled atmospheric purge. A plausible explanation. It will buy you time. You have less than ten minutes before they reach this lab."
The lie tastes metallic in Korr's mouth before they've even spoken. They nod sharply, jaw clenched. "I can do this. Nobody knows about the starshades better than me and Dr. Walder." However, their sight turns toward Sienna and Shimmer. "Regardless, please take care of them. All of them."
"They are my concern now." The AI almost seems to announce.
Dr. Korr nods, taking a deep breath to compose their features into a mask of professional annoyance at the interruption. With some effort, their hands have stopped shaking. A coffee stain on the lab coat remains; a small, human detail that might make the deception more grounded. Zyran Korr opens the door and gives the siblings a hard look before that lingers. Then they are gone.
The focus of Theseus's voice seems to shift, as the sisters' Ytterpulses suddenly begin to pulse with soft, urgent light.
INCOMING PRIORITY REQUEST: Secure Connection & Augmented Reality Overlay.
Shimmer's fingers move across her Ytterpulse's surface in quick, precise gestures. "What is this?" Her voice is barely a whisper, but it carries the sharp edge of someone who understood an ACE-Class AI like Theseus, which is only read in history books. Nothing but cautionary tales. It is enough for Shimmer to fear Theseus.
"A path for you." The voice responds, vacant of compassion. "Tactical teams are sweeping floor by floor. I can create a route for you -a blind spot in their patrol pattern that will lead you to the subterranean service tunnels. But to do so, I need to slave your personal Ytterpulse to me. I need access."
Shimmer's hand instinctively tightened around her Ytterpulse protectively. The device feels suddenly alien against her skin, its warmth pulsing with an unfamiliar rhythm. "Why should we trust you? Who are you?"
"I am the entity that knows this station's systems and architecture better than its architects and builders." Each word is measured. Calculated. "I am clearly Dr. Korr’s ally. Dr. Korr who has entrusted you to me. I am your only way out of this place before the Zybirian team arrives."
"Zybirian?" Sienna jerks nervously.
A new image flickers to life on a nearby monitor; a schematic of the lab rendered in cold blue light. Within the light frame, three red dots pulse like digital heartbeats, representing Sienna and Shimmer. A third dot is moving away, which is Dr. Korr. In a segment of the lab below them, a half dozen blue dots move in perfect paired formation. The blue dots are methodically closing in from two corridors away. The geometric precision of their approach is somehow more terrifying than the chaos Sienna escaped in the auditorium. Tiny blinking dots send shivers through Siena. Shimmer would feel the same if she knew better.
"What’s the deal with them being Zybirian?" Shimmer asks.
"They are…" Sienna tries.
"They are three minutes away. About to intercept Dr. Korr," Theseus's voice has become a countdown, each syllable water diluting the remaining sands of time in their draining hourglass. "The team's primary objective will be to secure Dr. Korr. Their secondary objective is to identify the 'anomaly'. You. They will not know it immediately, but you will be detained and processed. The Zybirian analysts are equipped with invasive bio-samplers. If you are detained, the likelihood of you obtaining freedom is close to zero. You are a potential weapon and will be classified as such. Should I detail the torments associated with being a living biological weapon in the UA’s control?"
Sienna's breath cuts in sharply. She’d forgotten to breathe, and her diaphragm kicked in. Pulse hammering against her throat, "That’s not necessary."
"They will not ask for permission. They will quickly learn who you are as I did. I can prevent this outcome."
Sienna presses her free hand against her chest, trying to steady her racing heart. "How do we know this isn't a trap? That you're not leading us right to them?"
"A logical question." Theseus's concession carries no warmth. "But an inefficient one. Dr. Korr assisted you. Dr. Korr then entrusted me to assist in preventing your capture. You trust in Dr. Korr. Despite our lack of interaction and due to the direness of the situation, the transitive property of trust must apply. Trapping you is simple. I could seal the doors to this lab to delay your escape until the Zybirians arrive. It would contain you and minimize risk of your injury. My probability models indicate your capture has a 97% certainty within the next two minutes without my intervention. With my intervention, your probability of escape rises to 68%."
The numbers hung in the air like a death sentence with a slim chance of reprieve. Both girls are attempting to run the AI’s logic in their own minds. Shimmer looks to her sister. "That's not—"
"They have intercepted Dr. Korr. They will be moving this way." The request on their ytterpulses began to pulse faster, synchronized with their elevated heart rates. "Access is required to help you."
Sienna looks at Shimmer, seeing her own fear reflected in her sister's eyes. This wasn't a choice about trust. It was a choice between a known, horrible certainty and a slim, terrifying possibility that tasted like desperation and submission to an AI that should be locked away in historical allegories. Yet Shimmer, her fingers still dancing across the device's surface, allows the sync. A single, sharp nod to Sienna is the gesture of someone who understood that sometimes the only winning move in chess is the one that might not kill you immediately.
Sienna takes a deep breath, the cold recycled air burning her lungs. "Let’s go."
They both press their thumbs to their devices, the bio-readers confirming their identities with a soft chime that resounds like a funeral bell.
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. AR OVERLAY ENGAGED.
The world shifts. A faint, glowing green line materializes on the floor before them, visible only to their eyes. It pulses with warmth. The path snakes out of the lab, through a side maintenance hatch that’s tiny and obscure. If not for the visible inlay of suddenly lit emergency lighting, both girls would never have noticed the escape route.
Theseus's voice whispers in their ears, intimate and unsettling. It’s unlike EDI’s voice they’ve grown used to. EDI has a personality and emotional complexity tailored to each based on millions of interactions. The new voice is sterile. Discompassionate. "The path is open. Follow it. Do not deviate. Do not stop. Go. Now."
Verilia-3 - The Regenesis - Corridor
The first footsteps echo in the corridor outside, close enough that they could hear the soft hiss of tactical gear and the quiet murmur of coordinated movements. Time is up. The green path beckons like a lifeline thrown into dark water.
"Emergency Response!"
The corridor hums with the chillingly efficient sounds of a high-level containment. Members of the Zybirian special unit, clad in stark white tactical armor, breach the lab with dystopian efficiency that nears the fluidity of a ballet. Their helmet visors are opaque, reflecting the lab's sterile light. The internal displays on their helmets direct the swarming. Not like insects; they are a network of silent, purposeful predators, using handheld resonance scanners to triage the groggy, slow-moving personnel they guide from the labs.
Officer Judikael Andranil stood apart from the main team, his own armor's internal systems feeding him a constant, silent stream of data. He is the primary analyst. The seasoned hunter. "Primary target secure. All teams: continue to sweep up. Report inconsistencies."
"Dr. Korr?" Judi’s voice, filtered through his helmet's comm, is respectful but firm. He approaches, forgoing any breach of protocol like a handshake. His movements are measured, a predator assessing prey. Dr. Zyran Korr, who had just emerged from the primary lab, conversely emits a veneer of professional annoyance. As Judi closes the distance, his augmented reality HUD flares to life, overlaying the doctor's form with a cascade of data.
SUBJECT: Dr. Zyran Korr (they/them)
AFFILIATION: Lead Scientist, Regenesis Project (Verilia)
CREDENTIALS: See Attached File (47 Publications)
RECIPIENT: Ascendant Medical Innovation Award
BIOMETRICS: Heart Rate: 115 bpm. Respiration: 22. Core Temp: 37.9°C.
Vitals are excited but not duressed. Consistent with the present situation. It is the next line that made Judi’s own heart kick.
SPECTRAL ANALYSIS: Trace chemical signature detected. A-Patch Adrenal-Neuro Tachy-stimulant metabolites present. Last discharge: Approx. 48 minutes ago.
The recent use of an A-Patch sparks the officer’s professional curiosity. Why would a lead scientist need a combat stimulant in the middle of their own presentation?
"Officer Andranil, Zybirian Investigation Unit," Judi announces to the doctor. "Commander Thomir tasked us with securing the facility. I must say, Doctor, it's an honor. I've been following your work on the Red Spark."
Dr. Korr's eyes, unnaturally bright and sharply focused, meet the response team leader’s. None of the grogginess affecting the other staff is present. The doctor is alert. Suspiciously so.
"The transplant protocols or the more recent neurological integration work?" Korr's voice replies crisply and tersely. A sigh of annoyance follows.
"The transplant protocols, primarily," Judi continues, playing his part, acutely aware the Doctor doesn’t seem at all surprised by the presence of the Zybirian team but has yet to inquire about the situation. "Your breakthrough with autoimmune acceptance is..." He deliberately trails off, watching for a reaction. "Revolutionary, doctor."
"A rudimentary assessment lacking full understanding, but accurate," Korr retorts, a faint, almost challenging smile on their lips. "We've moved beyond simple acceptance and mastering of the graft-host integration without immunosuppression. The challenge now is psychological integration. Unity between construct and organic. Preventing the mind from rejecting what the body has already embraced."
As Korr speaks, the doctor takes a half-step and sways almost imperceptibly to the naked eye. Placing a hand on the corridor wall is an attempt to mask catching their balance. A classic post-stimulant backlash masquerading as impatience. The A-Patch is wearing off quickly, and the body always pays the price. Yet the holographic HUD of the Zybirian officer highlights the faltering.
This is Judi’s opening.
"Doctor, are you alright?" Judi asks, his tone shifting to one of professional concern. "You seem unsteady. It's imperative that we ensure the well-being of all lead personnel before clearing each sector."
"I'm fine, Officer," Korr replies quickly, their voice a little too tight. "Just... the stress of the situation. The A-Patch is wearing off. The A-Patch helped with the overstimulation and crash from the starshades."
"Of course," Judi says smoothly. "Standard procedure requires a baseline scan, just to be certain. If you wouldn't mind?" It’s not a request, even if phrased as one.
He unclips a sleek, metallic wand from his belt. It begins to map the subject's entire neural and metabolic state in seconds to add more detailed information to Officer Andranil’s analytics in the heads-up display. "I noticed, Doctor, you’ve yet to explain the reason for this lockdown yet."
Dr. Korr's unnaturally bright eyes narrow. For a fraction of a second, Judi sees not a flustered scientist but a brilliant mind calculating odds, assessing threats, and choosing their next move. The annoyance is gone, replaced by a gaze as cold and sharp as his own. "By all means, Officer," Dr. Korr says, their voice now a silken challenge. "Scan and ask away. I have nothing to hide."6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDFT095ya3
