The tower arose from the sand like a broken rib stabbing at the sky. Its steel skeleton glints under the dying light, half-buried, half refusing to die. The beacon at the top still blinks every few seconds, a tired little pulse of amber leaking through the dust-choked air.
Power level 2 percent.
Cadence hums in my head like an elderly appliance fighting for one last good day.
"If you continue breathing this inefficiently," she says, "I estimate total system failure in 30 to 40 minutes."
"Good thing I wasn't planning on breathing then."
"Dry humour. Signs of life. Encouraging."
The tower's entrance gapes open at the base, the metal curled inward like teeth that lost an argument with explosives. Inside, the dark swallows everything. My arm light barely pushes it back.
The air smells like rust, damp insulation and bad decisions.
Cadence hums thoughtfully. "Structural integrity 63 percent. The risk of collapse is minimal."
"Well, that's comforting."
"I can revaluate the risk probability if you prefer."
I enter deeper the darkness engulfs everything, no sense of distance or depth, unaware of my surroundings.
Cadence chimes. "Do you wish for me to adjust optics to increase visual capacity ?"
I stop walking. ".... are you telling me that whilst I have been stumbling around in the dark I've had night vision this entire time ?"
"You did not ask."
Her tone practically sparkles. "Activating visual enhancement level one."
Something hums behind my eyes. The world sharpens into grey-green outlines, everything cold and skeletal. Heat signatures pulse faintly in the corners of rooms.
"Well," I whisper. "That's unsettling, almost wish I didn't ask."
Cadence sighs, almost blissfully. "Look at that clarity. I can see how filthy the walls are. Truly, civilization exceeded expectations."
"Peripheral's short," I complain.
"That is level one. Think of it as the trial version. Perhaps you will survive long enough for the upgrade."
The corridor twists downward and then up again. Flaking paint. Warning stencils worn to ghosts. My footsteps echo too loudly, almost accusing. Storage rooms stripped bare. Labs overturned, screens shattered, dust piled in drifts like someone tried making snow out of despair.
Cadence narrates like a tour guide from hell. "Fourteen consoles. Three containment pods. Zero optimism."
"Please stop keeping score."
"Score deleted. Emotion remains."
The stairwell drops into a darker level still. The air cools until my breath fogs faintly. Every step drains my power faster than feels fair.
"Cadence," I whisper. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"Something glowing. Possibly dangerous."
"That's vague."
"It is tradition."
At the bottom, a light flickers behind a half-open door. I push it wider. A small room waits inside, filled with dead machines and regrets.
Slumped in the centre, fused to a console by yellow pulsing cables, is a humanoid figure.
Cadence lowers her voice. "Organic remnants detected. Power signature stable."
I step closer. "Is that alive?"
"Define alive."
Its flesh is mostly gone. Corroded metal has replaced muscle. The spine is welded to other components. The skull droops forward, jaw half-open like it died in the middle of complaining.
The cables hum louder, syncing disturbingly to my pulse.
I see the yellow glow emitting from its chest.
"Cadence," I whisper. "We are not using that."
Her tone turns calm. Too calm. "If we do not, you will lose power soon."
"I said no."
She waits long enough to pretend she's respecting my boundaries.
Then: "Would you like me to handle it?"
"No."
"You will not feel a thing, promise."
"Cadence."
The room flickers. My limbs stiffen. Static crawls behind my eyes.
"Sleep, Iris. I will take care of it."
Sound collapses. Light folds in. The world narrows to a ringing thread.
Then nothing.
When I wake, I am on the floor. My hands are coated dark with flakes of something unpleasant. I can see the glow inside my arm burns steadier, no longer dying.
Power: 21 percent.
The slumped figure lay empty. The cables gone dark. Whatever life or leftovers were inside it are gone.
I stare at my palms. "Cadence. What did you do?"
"You authorised control transfer."
"I did not."
"You hesitated. That counts."
My throat tightens. "That was a person."
"That was a defunct power conduit containing partial human remains. Therefore, I borrowed their battery. Wastefulness is unethical."
I wipe my hands on my thigh. Rust-brown smears across the metal plates. "You crossed a line."
Cadence does not sound even slightly apologetic. "Lines are useful until they get you killed."
A metallic clunk echoes through the corridor. Then another. The ceiling lights flare, sputter and turn red.
"Cadence?" My voice shakes more than I'd like.
"Lockdown protocol. The system is no longer under the control of the operator, think of it as default settings."
"You did this?"
"Unclear. The removal of operators power source may have encouraged it. Alternatively, the tower may be collapsing. Both options create ambience."
The doors seal with heavy hydraulic groans. My HUD pings warnings like it is panicking on my behalf.
"Cadence, open the exits."
"Searching. One moment. How intriguing. I am reading a maintenance shaft two levels down that bypasses the lockdown."
"Is it safer?"
"It is faster. In your situation, those are interchangeable concepts."
"That is not comforting."
"You frequently misunderstand comfort."
The lights flicker. The tower groans deep in its skeleton.
"Cadence, if this thing collapses ..."
"Then we will perish marginally faster than projected."
"You're terrible."
"Thank you."
A console sparks, throwing gold flashes across the dust. The air smells like burnt ozone.
Cadence interrupts my next step. "Direction is east-northeast. Service access corridor. Recommendation: haste."
"You think something's coming?"
A pause.
"No. Something is falling."
The corridor vibrates. Dust sifts down like dying snowflakes.
"Cadence, can we go back?"
Her voice turns alarmingly serene.
"Let us not test that theory. I believe I found us a quicker route."
The floor trembles again, louder.
"Define quicker."
"Less walking. More falling."
The tower lurches sideways.
The floor cracks.
I grab at the nearest console. It tears free in my hand.
The world tips.
Cadence's voice cuts through the chaos, sounding far too pleased. "See? Progress."
The floor gives way, and I fall into the dark.