The scratching at the blast door stopped.
It was replaced by a heavy, rhythmic thudding. Someone was testing the seal, checking the density of the metal.
Kai stood in the center of the server room, the Arc-Blade humming in his hand. The blue plasma cast long, dancing shadows against the rows of silent black monoliths.
"Rin," Kai said softly, not taking his eyes off the door. "Get behind the console. If I tell you to run, you take the vent we came in. Don't look back."
Rin nodded, clutching the thermal disk to her chest. She scrambled behind the active server rack, making herself small.
[ PACKET SNIFFER: ACTIVE ][ RANGE: 20 METERS ]
The world turned gray. Through the thick blast door, Kai saw the signatures.
Three of them.
Two were standard—warm, bio-electric pulses typical of enhanced humans. But the third... the third was a storm of chaotic blue light, heavily augmented, with a core temperature running hot.
< HIGH-LEVEL CULTIVATOR. > Cipher warned. < LOGIC GATE STAGE. MAYBE HIGHER. THEIR HARDWARE IS OPTIMIZED. >
"Open the door," a muffled voice came from outside. It was synthesized, distorted by the heavy steel. "We know you're in there. The daemon is gone. We tracked the kill signal."
They knew about the Data-Wraith.
Kai considered his options. He could fight. He had the element of surprise, and the Arc-Blade could cut through the door. But three against one, in a confined space, with Rin in the crossfire...
The probability of success was low.
"Identify," Kai called out. His voice was steady, amplified slightly by the Qi resonating in his throat.
"7th Cell," the voice replied. "We aren't the Firewall. But we aren't patient, either."
Nova.
Kai relaxed his grip on the weapon, though he didn't power it down. He recognized the cadence of the voice synthesizer.
"Step back," Kai shouted. "I'm opening it."
He waited until the glowing signatures on his HUD moved away from the center of the door. Then, he walked over and kicked the release lever.
The blast door groaned, the ancient hydraulics protesting as they cycled for the first time in centuries. It slid open with a shower of rust.
Three figures stood in the tunnel.
Nova was in the center, her helmet off, her shock-white hair stark against the gloom. She looked more battered than when he had left her; her armor was scorched, and the blue circuitry on her face flickered erratically.
Flanking her were two heavy troopers in exoskeletons, wielding kinetic repeaters.
Nova looked at Kai. Then she looked at the Arc-Blade in his hand. Her electric blue eyes widened slightly.
"You," she said. "The scavenger."
"Kai," he corrected.
Nova stepped over the threshold, ignoring the raised weapons of her guards. She scanned the room—the clean floor, the active server rack blinking in the distance, the pile of decompiled dust where the Data-Wraith had been.
She sniffed the air. "Ozone. Static. And... code rot."
She looked back at Kai. "You killed a Daemon. A Sentry Class."
"It tried to eat my drive," Kai said. "I ate it instead."
One of the heavy troopers shifted, his servos whining. "He's lying, Nova. A Null can't kill a Daemon. Only a Logic Gate cultivator with a Firewall breaker can—"
Nova raised a hand, silencing him. She walked up to Kai, stopping inches from the humming plasma blade.
"Your eyes," she whispered. "They've changed."
Kai knew what she saw. The faint red ring around his pupils, the scrolling data in the depths of his iris.
"I upgraded," Kai said.
"I see that." She looked at the weapon. "And you learned to craft. That design... it's elegant. Minimalist. Where did you get the schematic?"
"I wrote it," Kai said.
< TELL HER NOTHING. > Cipher hissed. < INFORMATION IS CURRENCY. DO NOT SPEND IT ALL AT ONCE. >
Nova looked past him, toward the server rack.
"You activated a node," she said. "That's why we're here. When that light turned green, it sent a ping across the Deep Web. Every faction in the Lower Ring heard it. The Vipers. The Triad. Even the Sect's listening posts."
"I needed the data," Kai said.
"You needed a target on your back?" Nova countered. "You're lucky we got here first. If the Inquisitors find this place..."
"I'll handle them," Kai said.
Nova laughed. It was a dry, sharp sound. "With a glow-stick and a bad attitude? You have no idea what you've woken up, Kai. That server isn't just a hard drive. It's a Relay."
"A Relay?"
"A connection point," Nova explained. "To the old network. The one the Root Administrator can't fully control. That's why the Daemon was guarding it. That's why the Sect buried this place."
She walked toward the console. Kai moved to intercept her, raising the baton.
The two heavy troopers raised their rifles instantly.
[ THREAT WARNING: LOCK-ON DETECTED ]
"Don't," Kai warned. "I just cleaned the floor. I don't want to get blood on it again."
Nova stared at him. The tension in the room was a physical weight.
"I'm not going to steal it, Kai," she said slowly. "I want to copy it. The 7th Cell... we collect history. We collect the truth. Whatever is on that drive, it belongs to humanity, not to a scavenger in a hole."
"It belongs to whoever can keep it," Kai said. "And right now, that's me."
Nova pursed her lips. She reached into her belt and pulled out a small, heavy pouch. It clinked.
"Information is currency," she said. "I'll buy a copy. 500 Karma."
500 Karma.
That was ten times what he had gotten for the core. It was enough to buy food for a year. Enough to buy high-grade parts for Rin.
< TAKE IT. > Cipher advised. < THE DATA IS ALREADY IN YOUR HEAD. SELLING A COPY COSTS US NOTHING. >
Kai lowered the weapon slightly. "1,000."
"700," Nova countered instantly. "And we help you secure the perimeter. You said you'll handle the Inquisitors? You're wrong. They'll send a Siege Bot next time. You need heavy weapons."
Kai thought about the blast door. It was strong, but a Siege Bot would peel it open like a tin can.
"700," Kai said. "And two sentry turrets. Automated."
Nova raised an eyebrow. "You drive a hard bargain, Scavenger. Fine. 700. And two turret kits. You'll have to assemble them yourself."
"Done."
Nova gestured to her guards. "Stand down. Setup the perimeter."
The troopers lowered their weapons, though they kept wary eyes on Kai. They moved to the door, beginning to unpack heavy equipment from their packs.
Nova walked to the console. She pulled a data-cable from her wrist armor and plugged it into the port.
"I'm Nova," she said again, as if the first introduction hadn't counted. "Technomancer. Logic Gate Stage."
"Kai," he replied. "Just Kai."
"And her?" Nova nodded toward the shadows behind the rack.
Rin peeked out, clutching the thermal disk.
"That's Rin," Kai said. "Touch her, and the deal is off. And I take your head."
Nova looked at Rin's arm, at the dead prosthetic. Her expression softened, just a fraction.
"She needs a mechanic," Nova said. "That arm is garbage. Who installed it? A butcher?"
"It's what we could afford," Kai said defensively.
Nova finished the download. She unplugged the cable and tapped her wrist. She tossed the pouch of credits to Kai.
"Here. 700."
Kai caught it. It was heavy. Real credits, minted by the Void Financial Group.
"The turrets are in the crates outside," Nova said. "Standard issue kinetic drivers. Simple AI. They shoot anything that doesn't have a friendly tag."
She turned to leave, then paused.
"You downloaded the data too, didn't you?" she asked. "Before I got here."
"Maybe."
"Then you know what 'Skylight' means," Nova said. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's not just a map, Kai. It's a key. If the legends are true... it opens the way to the Upper Realm. To the Core."
Kai felt a chill. "Why would I want to go there? That's where the Sect is."
"Because that's where the controls are," Nova said intense. "That's where the Root Administrator lives. If you want to change the world... you have to go to the source."
She put her helmet back on. The glowing slit illuminated the dust motes in the air.
"The 7th Cell is moving," she said. "The Sect is purging the Lower Ring. They're looking for something. Maybe you. If you want to survive, don't stay here too long. This bunker is a tomb."
She signaled her men. They filed out.
As Nova stepped through the door, she looked back.
"And Kai? Get that girl a new arm. She deserves better than scrap."
The blast door closed.
Kai stood in the silence, holding the pouch of credits.
"Is she gone?" Rin asked, stepping out from behind the server.
"She's gone," Kai said.
He walked over to the pile of resources he had decompiled earlier. He placed the pouch of credits on the floor.
700 Karma. Plus the 280 Qi reserves he had left.
< RICHES. > Cipher noted. < FOR A RAT. >
Kai ignored the insult. He looked at Rin.
"Sit down," he said. "Let me see the arm."
Rin sat on the coat. Kai knelt in front of her. He reached out and touched the cold, dead metal of the prosthetic.
[ OBJECT: PROSTHETIC LIMB (MK. 1) ][ STATUS: NON-FUNCTIONAL ][ BATTERY: 0% ][ SERVOS: SEIZED ][ DECOMPILE? (Y/N) ]
"It's heavy," Rin whispered. "It hurts my shoulder."
"I know," Kai said. "I'm going to fix it. But first... I have to take it off."
He found the manual release latch near the shoulder port. He clicked it.
The heavy metal limb detached with a wet clunk. Rin gasped, rubbing her shoulder. The skin underneath was raw, chafed.
Kai took the prosthetic. He set it on the floor.
"Decompile."
Blue light flared. The arm dissolved into piles of steel, copper, and plastic.
Rin watched, her eyes wide. "You... you ate it?"
"I recycled it," Kai corrected.
He looked at his materials. He had the refined steel from the servers. The gold. The copper. And now, the scrap from the old arm.
But he needed a power source.
He looked at the Arc-Blade. It had a battery. But he needed that for defense.
He looked at the console. The Skylight Protocol was still running in the background of his mind, a complex map of the Dyson Swarm's ventilation shafts and maintenance elevators.
But buried in that data was something else. A schematic.
[ BLUEPRINT DETECTED: BIO-HAPTIC INTERFACE ][ REQUIREMENTS: GOLD / SILICON / NERVE FIBERS ]
He couldn't build a new arm yet. He didn't have the motors.
But he could build a better interface. One that wouldn't kill her.
"Cipher," Kai thought. "Guide me."
< THIS REQUIRES SURGICAL PRECISION, HOST. ONE SLIP, AND YOU LOBOTOMIZE HER. >
"I won't slip."
Kai took the gold dust. He suspended it in the air with his Qi.
He heated it until it was liquid. Then, he began to draw.
He drew lines of gold in the air, weaving them into a delicate mesh. It looked like lace made of light.
He moved to Rin.
"This might sting," he said.
He placed the golden mesh over the angry red port on her shoulder.
< INTEGRATING... >
The gold sank into her skin. It sought out the nerve endings, wrapping around them, soothing them.
Rin flinched, then relaxed. A sigh escaped her lips.
"The pain..." she whispered. "It's gone."
[ INTERFACE UPGRADED ][ NEURAL LOAD: OPTIMIZED ][ REJECTION SYNDROME: NEUTRALIZED ]
The redness faded before Kai's eyes. The inflammation vanished.
He sat back, wiping sweat from his forehead. That had cost him 50 Qi points. But it was worth it.
"We need parts," Kai said, standing up. "To build the rest of the arm. And the turrets Nova sold us."
He looked at the pouch of credits.
"I have to go back up," Kai said. "To the Sump market. Or higher."
< HIGHER. > Cipher urged. < THE SUMP IS PICKED CLEAN. IF YOU WANT MILITARY GRADE SERVOS, YOU NEED TO GO TO THE FACTORY LEVEL. LEVEL 20. >
Level 20. Viper territory. And closer to the Firewall patrols.
Kai picked up his Arc-Blade. He checked the charge. 40%.
He needed to recharge that, too.
He walked to the active server rack. He placed his hand on the power supply unit.
[ DRAINING... ]
He pulled the electricity from the ancient grid, feeding it into his weapon, and into himself.
The lights in the bunker dimmed for a second, then stabilized.
[ QI RESERVES: 260/300 ]
Kai turned to Rin.
"I'm going out again," he said. "I'm going to get the parts. And I'm going to get us some real food."
"Be careful," Rin said. She touched her shoulder. The gold filigree glittered against her pale skin. "You're... changing, Kai. You're getting scary."
Kai paused at the door. He looked at his reflection in the polished metal.
The red lines on his skin were fainter now, integrated deeper. But his eyes... they were cold. Calculating.
"I have to be," Kai said.
He stepped out into the tunnel.
Outside, the wind was howling. A storm was brewing in the lower atmosphere of the Swarm.
And in the darkness of the Sump, red eyes watched him leave.
Not a drone. Not a human.
A Rat-King. But this one was different. It was larger. Its eyes glowed with a corrupted, purple light.
It chittered into a radio headset strapped to its fused skull.
"Subject located," a voice crackled from the rat's throat-speaker. It wasn't the rat speaking. It was a transmission.
"Deploy the Siege Bot."