TIME : T-36:20 → T-35:05
EMP wreckage smoked blue.
Rhea vanished around the Nodes, shadow swallowed by red light.
I panted, titanium groaning in my arm, blood and sweat stinging old wounds.
Orchid still in hand, green light washing my face:
Subject: RHEA VANCE
Status: HUMAN (99.2% CONFIDENCE)
99.2%.
Fuck!
I wiped my face, glass and blood gumming my eyes.
Looked up at the atrium—
Moonlight through the broken dome, illuminating the central fountain.
Dry basin piled with black cubes, honeycomb-dense.
Each cube topped with a red LED—blinking in sync, 0.8 seconds.
"Harvester Nodes." I spat blood. "Fear collectors."
But center-pool—something new:
Transparent vat, three meters tall, cylindrical.
Inside, human brain suspended in pale blue fluid.
Gray folds, red vessels, wired with Cu-lines to the Orbit-7 satellite icon.
Vat label:
ECV#0017: KAI LIN
Fear Peak: 92% → 99.0%
Board Bid: ¥300,000,000
Fuck! My brain?!
I lunged, swinging the clamp at the glass!
CRASH—!!!
Glass cracked, spiderwebbing, didn't shatter.
Brain inside convulsed, theta-resonator humming—
High-pitched shriek drilling my temples.
LEDs flashing 0.3 seconds.
"Subject Kai Lin…" Static voice seeped from the base, velvet knife. "…fear peak: 99.0%… optimizing…"
Silas Thorne stepped from shadows, medic's coat blood-stained, eye patch gone—brass vertical pupil needle-thin.
Hand caressing the vat: "This… is the real you."
Fuck!
I stepped back, clamp raised.
"Silas… you're fucking dead!"
He grinned, gums parting—copper wires glinting: "Death… is data reset."
Finger tracing the glass: "The Board says… your fear data's worth 300 million credits."
"Your release data…"
"Worth all of Eidolon."
Inside the vat, the brain opened eyes—
Not eyeballs. Micro-cameras, lenses zooming—click… click…
LEDs flashing 0.1 seconds.
Silas chuckled: "See… it recognizes you."
I roared, slamming the clamp into the base!
CLANG!
Cu-wires snapped, blue fluid spurting—cold, almond-scented.
Brain convulsed harder, resonator humming up—
Shriek drowned the wind.
Ears warm, blood and serum welling—drip… drip…
Silas didn't dodge.
Pulled a bone saw from his coat—ivory-white, serrated, like rib bone honed.
Slashing for my carotid!
I dropped, rolling, saw grazing my throat—wind shear cutting skin, stinging.
He struck, saw angling for my eye!
I dodged—too slow.
Teeth bit three inches deep!
No blood spray.
Only pale blue gel oozing—cold, almond-scented—Cu-Cluster suspension fluid.
Fuck! Cervical dislocation!
Vision darkening, titanium screaming in my arm.
Silas grinned, wax face splitting: "…pain feedback… 99.2%… acceptable…"
Vat LEDs strobe-flashed, 0.05 seconds.
Brain cameras zooming, locking on me—
Pupils snapping to pinpricks.
Like Rhea's reading.
Fuck!
T-35:05.
Minute Twenty-One: complete.
Saw still at my throat.
But in my palm—
Half a loosened copper ring.
Thanks for facing Kai's floating brain. When the micro-cameras snapped to pinpricks—did your neck tighten? 🧠
Drop a "🧠"—top 3 comments get ECV Neural Mapping Report PDF!
Your fear has a price. Your pride? Priceless. #Chrono60
"T-35:05. The bone saw pressed deeper. But the copper ring in my palm? Still loose.
Thank you for the minute. — K."