The door slid shut behind them with a soft, final hiss, cutting off the sterile stillness of the pod chamber. The corridor stretched ahead, walls seamless and pale with strips of white light running along the floor, casting long shadows against Kael's boots.
Beside him, Sera kept her eyes moving, scanning every seam, every flicker of light, fingers flexing as if ready to grab a tool that wasn't there.
They moved cautiously, shoes squeaking faintly on the pristine surface. The air smelled like ozone and metal, with a faint bite of antiseptic that made Kael's nose twitch.
"Where do you think we are?" Kael finally asked, voice hushed despite the emptiness.
Sera's eyes flicked toward him, her expression unreadable under the sharp lights. "Not a hospital," she said. "Not any place normal."
They passed alcoves inset into the walls, most dark, but one pulsed softly with a pale green glow. Kael paused, leaning closer. It was a recessed panel, flat black, but as he approached, blue glyphs rippled across its surface.
Without thinking, Kael reached out, letting his fingers hover over the light. He could see the lines shifting beneath the surface, folding in on themselves like a puzzle waiting to be solved.
Sera grabbed his wrist. "Don't."
But something in the lines pulled at him, as if they were a language he should know, a system he could understand if he just let himself remember.
He touched it.
Blue light spread across the panel, glyphs rotating, clicking softly into place. With a muted chime, the panel opened, revealing a recessed compartment. Inside, neatly arranged on a black velvet tray, were tools. Tiny devices, sleek metal shapes, blinking lights in slow pulses of blue and green.
Kael's breath caught. He didn't know what they were, but he knew what they could be.
Sera exhaled sharply. "Well. Looks like you've got a touch for this."
Kael glanced at her, then back to the tools. "I don't know how I know," he said softly. "But I know these can help us."
He reached in, picking up a small device no bigger than his thumb. It was a cylinder, with a single red button and a flickering blue line running its length. As he turned it in his hand, the blue light steadied.
"What is it?" Sera asked, leaning in.
Kael closed his eyes for a moment, letting instinct guide him. His thumb pressed the red button, and the device hummed to life. A thin filament of light extended from its tip, wavering in the air before solidifying into a precise, laser-fine blade.
"A cutter," he said, wonder in his voice. "But more than that." He turned, aiming the filament at a thin seam in the wall, and pressed the button again.
The light slid into the seam without resistance, and Kael moved it slowly downward. The wall split silently, parting to reveal a hidden compartment. Inside were several small canisters marked with clean, precise lettering he didn't recognize but somehow understood.
"Sealant foam," Kael said, picking one up. "For patching wounds or... damage."
Sera raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "You're a tech whisperer, huh?"
Kael shook his head, staring at the items. "I don't remember being one. But I think it's why they put me here."
"Who's they?" Sera asked.
Kael looked at her, his eyes narrowing. "We're going to find out."
They moved on, Kael tucking the cutter and two canisters into the pockets of his gray pants. As they walked, Sera glanced at him occasionally, her eyes thoughtful, her fingers brushing the glowing red tattoo on her wrist.
The corridor opened into a vast, circular room, its ceiling lost in darkness above. A soft blue glow emanated from lines etched into the floor, forming complex geometric patterns that pulsed like a heartbeat.
In the center of the room stood a pillar, black and sleek, with panels of soft light and streams of code drifting across its surface like digital smoke.
Kael felt a pull, a tightening in his chest as he stepped forward.
"Careful," Sera warned.
He nodded, but the compulsion was too strong. His hands moved before his mind could catch up, fingers dancing across the panels, following the patterns of light as they shifted and changed under his touch.
The pillar pulsed once, and then a beam of light shot upward, illuminating the ceiling far above. Lines of code flowed faster, twisting into shapes, images, and symbols Kael almost recognized.
A voice crackled in the air, synthetic yet tinged with something human. "User recognized. Authentication incomplete. Memory core: fragmented."
Kael stepped back, heart pounding. "What is this?"
The voice continued, ignoring him. "Echo Node 17 activated. Status: lockdown. Memory recovery pending. External environment compromised."
Sera approached, eyes wide. "What's it saying?"
Kael swallowed hard. "It's calling this place an Echo Node. Number seventeen. And it's... waiting for something."
The light above shifted, forming an image—a map, filled with lines and points of light, moving slowly as if orbiting something unseen.
Kael stared, breath caught. It wasn't a city, or a building, or even a continent.
It was a world.
And floating above it, countless points of light—stations, ships, platforms—each marked with the same blue glow.
Sera's voice was quiet. "We're in orbit."
Kael nodded slowly. "Yeah. But it's more than that." His eyes narrowed as he focused on a blinking red point near the center of the map.
"It's calling for help."
The image flickered, showing a different scene—a corridor, darker than the one they had just come from, lights flickering, shadows moving just beyond the reach of illumination.
A low, distorted growl echoed through the projection, followed by the clatter of something metal falling.
Sera stepped back. "What the hell was that?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "Whatever it is, it's on this station."
The pillar pulsed again, and a small panel opened at its base, revealing a single, sleek card with a glowing chip embedded in its surface. Kael picked it up, the chip pulsing under his fingers.
"Keycard?" Sera asked.
Kael nodded. "Looks like it."
"To what?"
Kael slid the card into his pocket, turning toward the corridor. "To the next part of this place. And maybe to why we're here."
They left the room, the light fading behind them, the map dissolving into lines of blue code. The corridor ahead was darker, the lights dimmer, and the air felt heavier, charged with something unseen.
As they walked, Sera glanced at him, her eyes sharp in the gloom. "You really don't remember anything?"
Kael shook his head. "Only fragments. Feelings. Instincts."
"And you're just... okay with that?"
Kael paused, turning to face her. "No. But I can't let it stop me."
Sera studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Good. Because I'm not going to let it stop me either."
They moved forward, deeper into the station, the faint glow of the map still lingering in Kael's mind, a promise of something bigger waiting for them.
And behind them, in the darkness of the room they had just left, the pillar pulsed once more, the lines of code shifting into a new pattern.
A red dot appeared on its surface, blinking slowly.
Tracking them.