June 10, 2025 — MOA Complex, Neural Analysis Bay
The hum of machines never stopped in the Neural Analysis Bay. It was a low, ever-present buzz that echoed off the reinforced walls and pulsed in sync with the diagnostic lights embedded in the ceiling. Rows of black consoles glowed faintly in the darkness, casting blue light over racks of bio-interface helmets, neural link scaffolds, and deep-scan cognitive processors.
Thomas Estaris stood at the observation glass, arms crossed tightly, watching the subject in Chamber A.
The host recovered from the geothermal facility sat unmoving in a containment chair, cables extending from its skull and spine into a half-dozen diagnostic nodes. Its eyes were dull now—lifeless—but the neural impulses flickering across the monitors told another story. Its brain was still active. Not in a natural way. But in rhythms.
Repeating patterns. Bursts. Pulses. Like a heartbeat.
