Makali didn't answer at once. He looked down at his hands, his fingers tightly interlocked, and when he finally spoke, his voice had changed — less clinical, more reflective. "Serin Valis was one of our lead researchers. Brilliant. Uncompromising. Dangerous in the way only visionaries can be." He lifted his eyes to Youri's. "She led a prototype initiative known as Project Hound."
Leonora straightened slightly at the name.
"The Hound was unlike any Orbiton we had ever designed," Makali went on. "It wasn't just an advance on the Royal Knight architecture. It was an attempt to bridge something we barely understood." He paused. "To integrate technology taken from the God Units."
The room went very still. Youri's face hardened, and Makali nodded faintly. "Yes. She was the one who led the effort to reverse-engineer their synchronization systems."
He stood and went to a wall console and brought up a series of secured schematics. A projection of a God Unit's core assembly appeared, its layers peeling away until a smaller structure became visible just beneath the primary core. "You see this? We call it the cortex. It is separate from the core itself, and yet functionally it mirrors it. Through sync readings and field analysis, we discovered that it plays a critical role in the God Units' most complex systems. Put simply, the cortex is the coordinator. It links the core directly to the pilot's neurological interface. It behaves almost like a second artifact implant."
Youri's hand went instinctively to the back of his neck, and his fingertips brushed the faint ridge of his own implant. Leonora noticed. "And how," she asked sharply, "does that connect to the Orbiton we encountered?"
Makali went back to his chair and let out a slow breath. "The cortex is made of the same exotic alloy as the artifact implants. Durable, conductive, highly reactive under certain conditions of resonance." He hesitated. "We cut into one. Serin led the disassembly — piece by piece, one molecular layer at a time. And that is when she discovered something we had never considered." He tapped the console, and the cortex flared to show its internal structure — dense, luminous, unstable. "Synchronization mode is not a function of the core. It is the cortex itself."
Youri's eyes narrowed.
"The cortex contains a compact micro-atomic fuel lattice," Makali went on. "A self-igniting, self-regenerating singularity matrix. In theory, an infinite source of energy."
Leonora frowned. "That still doesn't explain why synchronization mode drains the pilot's life."
"If it's a fuel source," Youri added, "why does activating it kill the operator?"
Makali leaned forward and steepled his fingers. "The difference is compatibility." He brought up two models side by side — a God Unit core and a Terrian Brion core. "When a God Unit activates synchronization mode, the cortex widens the channel between itself and the primary core, and the connection expands exponentially." The projection showed the channel flaring open like a star. "Unlimited energy floods through."
"And the life force?" Leonora pressed.
"A God Unit core doesn't discriminate. It draws on the cortex — and on the pilot — in proportion. The wider the channel, the greater the intake. The pilot becomes an auxiliary fuel source." He let the words settle. "The cortex feeds the core. And the core feeds on the pilot."
Youri's jaw tightened. I will be taking some of them. A kidney that had grown back. A hollowness in his chest he had never been able to name.
Makali switched off the projection. "Our artificial cortex prototypes were different. Serin came remarkably close to replicating the original — but there was a crucial limitation. We didn't have a core capable of handling infinite energy flow. Our Orbitons run on Brion cores, the condensed mass-energy systems designed by Molly Orbi."
Leonora nodded faintly at the name of the legendary architect.
"Brion cores work by siphon cycling," Makali explained. "They condense and release energy in controlled oscillations, according to output demand and synchronization ratio."
"And they can't sustain infinite input," Youri said flatly.
"Correct. Serin's artificial cortex could generate about eighteen percent of a God Unit's original output."
"Only eighteen?" Leonora asked.
Makali gave a humorless smile. "Only. Even at eighteen percent, our Brion cores could survive exactly one activation before they imploded." The hologram played a series of simulated core ruptures. "Serin ran dozens of tests. Every one of them failed. And that is when her obsession began."
"She concluded the flaw wasn't in the cortex at all," Makali went on. "It was in the core. So she set out to build a new one." He brought up another schematic, angular and aggressive. "Project Hound."
Leonora folded her hands. "Explain."
"A Brion core is a condensed mass of Brion energy. The Hound core was designed to run on energy produced directly by the artificial cortex instead."
Youri's eyes sharpened. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that instead of siphoning Brion mass, the Hound core trapped the particles the cortex generated inside a reflective containment matrix. It didn't produce power. It stabilized it." The schematic shifted to show a dense field of luminous particles bouncing endlessly inside a sealed chamber. "We came to call it the Valis Particle Fusion Core."
Youri's gaze flickered. "Valis."
Makali inclined his head. "Named after her. It captured what we began to call Valis particles — the byproduct of the artificial cortex igniting — and its reflective coating held them in a stable loop."
"And it worked?" Leonora asked.
"For a time. The Hound core could sustain an output far beyond any Brion limitation." He hesitated. "But the coating degraded under constant exposure. It couldn't withstand the perpetual flow. Instability accumulated. Failure was inevitable."
Leonora crossed her arms carefully, minding her sling. "And the funding ran out."
"The Empire judged the project too volatile, too expensive, and too ethically questionable." Makali looked at Youri. "Serin refused to accept that. She went on researching privately, off the record, convinced she was one breakthrough away from rewriting Orbiton technology forever."
"And then?" Youri asked.
"She left Terria. Her research on the Valis core was sealed and buried in our deepest archives."
The room felt colder. Makali leaned back in his chair, and his eyes drifted once more to the projection of the rogue Orbiton. "The armor configuration. The twin dorsal cannons. The energy spike beyond any conventional threshold." He let out a slow breath. "With professional certainty, I can tell you that the unit you encountered is the Hound."
Silence.
"And if that is true," Leonora said quietly, "then she succeeded."
Makali's voice dropped almost to a whisper, and his eyes met Youri's. "Yes. She stabilized the Valis Particle Fusion Core."