Emerging from the silence of PM-C 47, Lucian operated in a state of severe Energy Deprivation.
His sophisticated Hyperion augments like the kinetic motors, the advanced optics, and the sonic disruptors were all degraded to Non-Functional Status (NFS), functioning only as inert, heavy metal strapped to a dying host.
Operational Capability Audit (O.C.A.) – Post-PEC-1 Failure:
Kinetic Actuators (Limb Support): Output: \< 1%. This manifested as constant, low-grade systemic tremors and the inability to maintain a vertical posture without structural support. Insufficient for vertical ascent, sprinting, or sustained combat maneuvers.
Plasma Torch / Sonic Disruptor: Inoperable (NFS). Estimated power required for single sustained burst: 5 seconds of total life support cache. Use is strictly prohibited; any discharge would initiate immediate cold shutdown.
Optical Augments: Running on residual thermal bleed. Clarity: 40%. Long-range scanning: OFFLINE.
Lucian was Stranded. His immense computational power was now trapped in a body running on unstable, dying emergency reserves.
He executed a strict Resource Triage Protocol, focusing on Scavenge/Defend with a zero-energy-output mandate.
His immediate priority was establishing a reliable defensive perimeter.
He began stripping every piece of low-grade wiring, defunct sensor, and plastic cable sheathing from his harness, categorizing them as Zero-Value Assets (ZVA).
These assets were meticulously re-purposed into functional, non-electronic proximity alarms.
He carefully stripped the wiring down to single, brittle copper threads, creating improvised Monofilament Tripwires. The tension required for detection was calculated, and he strung the threads between debris piles along his escape route.
This created a passive alarm system: any mechanical disruption would be registered solely through tactile feedback to his hyper-sensitive augmented fingers, completely bypassing his power-starved electronic sensors with a low-latency mechanical warning.
As he worked, his priority Auditory Augment, still clinging to residual power, detected a subtle, rhythmic, and highly irregular sound against the background thrum of the depot. It was not the predictable cadence of a mechanical unit.
Threat Signal: Organic. Non-Mechanical. Non-Uniform Movement. Proximity: 40 meters.
The sound was the chaotic, shuffling gait of scavengers.
The Junk Dogs of the Red Zone.
Their movement was erratic, powered by adrenaline and crude, unstable black-market augments. They were approaching from a collapsed maintenance tunnel.
The energy flare of the eight-hour hack, though structurally masked, had registered on their cheap, low-threshold sensors.
More critically, the smell of his exposed, untreated wound and the Metallic Scent of Distress—the unique, chemical signature of his failing synthetic tissue and localized hemorrhage (including trace amounts of oxidized iron and synthetic hormone leakage)—was drifting on the stagnant air currents, drawing them in as predators.
Threat Assessment: High Risk (Unpredictable Organic Behavior). Low Value (Zero Data Assets). Priority: AVOIDANCE COMPROMISED. Transition to Defense of Necessity.
Lucian viewed the Junk Dogs with pure clinical contempt.
They were a source of Entropy: a chaotic, wasteful distraction from the logical goal. Their existence introduced uncontrollable variables.
He abandoned his planned scavenge route and crawled rapidly, utilizing the painful, low-power push of his hydraulic hip, toward the nearest Structural Choke Point: a narrow, vertical drain pipe entrance.
He had only seconds to prepare his defense against the incoming tide of chaos, knowing this engagement would consume his remaining kinetic capacity.