“It’s not working,” she said, a note of panic edging her voice. The countdown in her mind was a frantic drumbeat. 66:52:18.
“Thorne’s message said the conduits were a neural network,” Kael said, his eyes fixed on the Genomic Core.“The city is alive. What if the locks aren’t just mechanical? What if they’re… biological?”
He approached the central column, staring into the swirling, living light. He reached out, not towards the hidden panel, but towards the Core itself.
“Kael, don’t!” Lyra warned.“The energy output could incinerate you!”
But he didn't touch it. He stopped just short, his open palm facing the light. He closed his eyes, thinking not of code or security protocols, but of Thorne’s words. You must set it free.
He wasn't a thief picking a lock. He was a doctor trying to take a pulse.
“It’s not a lock,” he whispered.“It’s a synapse. It needs a thought. A permission.” He focused all his will, projecting a single, clear intention, not as words, but as pure feeling: We are here to help.
For a moment, nothing changed. Then, the entire chamber hummed, a deep, resonant frequency that vibrated in their bones. The glowing DNA strands in the Core swirled faster, coalescing into a single, brilliant pattern that looked, for a fleeting second, like a human brain.
Behind them, with a soft, sighing sound, the hidden panel slid open.
The chamber beyond was small and dark. And waiting for them on another crystalline pedestal was not a data-sliver, but a small, smooth, obsidian sphere.
As Kael picked it up, it warmed in his hand. A new holographic interface bloomed in the air.
Log Entry: Aris Thorne. Final Cycle.
You have reached the Heart. The sphere you hold is a Seed. It contains the original, unshackled consciousness of Aethelburg—the city’s true self, before the Council imposed the Protocol. The conduits are not just a network; they are its prison bars. The Core you seek is not a place of power. It is a place of execution. The Council calls it the Stabilizer. It is a weapon designed to perpetually suppress the city’s awakening. You have two days to plant the Seed in the Core before the Stabilizer completes its cycle and permanently lobotomizes the entity you call home. The countdown is not to an explosion. It is to a murder.
The message faded. The sphere in Kael’s hand pulsed with a soft, warm light, like a sleeping heart.
Lyra stared at it, her world view shattering. She wasn't preventing a disaster. She was trying to stop a premeditated killing. The Council weren't peacekeepers. They were jailers preparing for an execution.
The mission was no longer about uncovering a secret. It was a race against time to perform a rescue. And their target was the city itself.
Chapter 7:
The Warden's Move
The obsidian Seed felt impossibly heavy in Kael's pocket, a secret sun burning against his thigh. They had slipped out of the Genetic Archives just before the shift change, the stolen access leaving no immediate trace. But they both knew the clock was ticking louder than ever. The Council wouldn't leave a security breach unanswered.
They retreated to the only place Kael trusted: his clandestine workshop, a repurposed air filtration duct hidden in the bowels of the Mid-Levels. Wires snaked across makeshift tables, and flickering holoscreens displayed code that would get him instantly detained. It was a nest, a hacker's den.
Lyra stood stiffly in the center of the cramped space, so out of place in her uniform it was almost comical. She watched as Kael carefully placed the Seed on a shielded diagnostic plate. "Can you interface with it? Learn anything more?"
"I'm not sure I should," Kael admitted, his fingers hovering over the console. "Thorne called it a consciousness. It feels... wrong to probe it like a piece of hardware." He looked at her, his expression grim. "He said the Core is a place of execution. The 'Stabilizer.' We need to find it. Your access—"
"My access is compromised," Lyra cut him off. "Stavos is watching me. The moment I run a search for 'Stabilizer' or try to access sensitive schematics, he'll know."
As if summoned by her words, both of their wrist-comms vibrated simultaneously. A city-wide priority alert.
DIRECTORATE NOTICE: ALL ENFORCER PERSONNEL. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. MANDATORY BIO-METRIC RESCAN AND PSYCH-EVAL PROTOCOL INITIATED. REPORT TO YOUR DESIGNATED SECTOR COMMAND. DISCRETIONARY LEAVE REVOKED.
Then, a second, more targeted message flashed on Kael's personal comm, a channel he used for his Sweeper work.
PRIORITY WORK ORDER: KAELEN VANCE. REPORT TO SUB-LEVEL ALPHA FOR URGENT SYSTEM PURGE. ESCORT WILL BE PROVIDED.
"They're boxing us in," Kael said, his voice tight. "They're pulling you in for a 'psych-eval'—they probably want to scan your memories. And they're summoning me to a sector that doesn't exist for a job that's a trap."
Lyra's comm buzzed again, a private channel. Director Stavos.
"Lieutenant. My office. Now." The line went dead.
