The maintenance tunnel opened into a hollow chamber lined with broken shelves.
Books lay scattered across the floor like fallen leaves, their pages brittle and gray with age. A faded sign hung crooked above the entrance.
Central Archive – District 4
"A library…" Daniel muttered.
The stranger stepped inside cautiously, scanning the corners before lowering her blade. "Raiders don't usually waste time in places like this."
Daniel nodded. Knowledge had no trade value in a dying world.
The drone hovered overhead, casting faint blue light over collapsed shelves and cracked terminals embedded in the walls.
"Data storage units detected," the AI said quietly. "Partial integrity: twenty-one percent."
Daniel approached one of the terminals. Dust coated the screen, but when he brushed it aside, faint circuitry shimmered underneath.
"Can you access it?" he asked.
"Attempting connection…"
The terminal flickered weakly, emitting a low hum. Static lines crawled across the display before stabilizing into fragmented text.
—Restoration Initiative—
—Planetary Environmental Collapse—
—Artificial Support Core—
Daniel's breath slowed.
Restoration.
The word echoed in his mind.
Beside him, the stranger shifted. "You seem awfully interested in that."
He hesitated.
Trust was fragile.
But she had run with him. Fought with him.
"You saw the drone," Daniel said carefully. "I found something. Something underground."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. Not fear. Not greed.
Curiosity.
"What kind of something?"
Before he could answer, the terminal glitched again. A distorted schematic appeared—an underground network spreading beneath the city like veins.
At its center was a marked structure.
Daniel recognized the shape instantly.
The hatch.
The stranger looked at him sharply. "That's not scavenger tech."
"No," he admitted. "It's not."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally, she lowered herself onto a broken bench, exhaling slowly. "You can call me Kael."
Daniel blinked.
"You're telling me your name?" he asked.
"You didn't leave me in that tunnel," she replied. "That earns something."
He nodded once. "Daniel."
"I figured," she said dryly. "You look like a Daniel."
Despite everything, he almost smiled.
Above them, the wind howled faintly through cracked walls. The city remained restless.
The terminal flickered again.
"Operator," the AI said softly in his ear, "designation query detected within archive logs."
Daniel frowned. "Designation?"
A line of text appeared clearly this time:
Artificial Restoration Intelligence – ARI-7
Kael glanced at the screen. "ARI?"
Daniel stared at the glowing letters.
ARI.
Aridia.
Restoration.
He swallowed slowly.
"So that's what you are," he murmured.
"Designation confirmed," the AI replied. "ARI-7. Restoration protocol active."
Kael looked at him, something unreadable in her expression.
"You found the heart of this city," she said quietly.
Daniel wasn't sure if that was a blessing…
Or a curse.
The broken library seemed colder now.
And somewhere far above them, the raiders were still searching.