The glow beneath Ash's skin sharpened into lines. Thin, delicate strokes curving into a single symbol.
Not random.
Not accidental.
Intentional.
Silva stepped closer, her voice barely audible.
"Ash… don't move."
Palo leaned in, eyes wide.
"What is that? It looks like… like a pattern."
"No," Silva whispered.
"It's a signature."
Ash felt the symbol warm under his skin.
The spark pulsed softly,
a rhythm almost like breathing.
"What does it mean?" he asked quietly.
Silva lifted her tablet, zooming the screen.
"It's the same mark Zero-B produced in the early lab records. We never understood what triggered it. We thought it was a malfunction—some kind of scrambled projection."
The Founder shook his head slowly.
"It wasn't scrambled. It was communication."
Palo blinked.
"So he used this symbol back then too?"
"Yes," Silva murmured.
"Only twice."
Ash frowned.
"Why twice?"
Silva hesitated.
"The first time was during his initial activation. The very beginning."
"And the second?" Ash asked.
Silva swallowed.
"When he sensed a presence on the other side of the locked door.
A small presence.
Humming."
Ash felt something heavy settle in his chest.
Me.
The spark pulsed again, bright and unmistakably deliberate.
Palo pointed.
"Look Ash, it responds every time you react."
Ash stared at the symbol forming fully now,
a broken circle with a thin line cutting through its center
and a smaller dot resting at the lower curve.
Strange.
Simple.
But familiar in a way he couldn't explain.
Silva exhaled shakily.
"The symbol represents orientation.
Zero-B used it when he was searching for a point to stabilize against."
Ash frowned.
"What point?"
Silva met his eyes.
"You."
The Founder stepped forward, examining the mark.
"This symbol is his recognition.
His way of saying:
'I found you.'"
Ash's breath caught.
"What could he possibly need from me now? He's rebuilding. He's gaining independence."
Silva shook her head.
"No. Not yet.
This symbol doesn't mean separation.
It means confirmation.
He's making sure his origin point is still here."
The spark pulsed, one long, steady rhythm like agreement.
Ash instinctively pressed a hand over it.
Warm.
Alive.
Responsive.
But then...
A second pulse struck through him. Sharper, quicker, almost anxious.
Silva froze.
"Ash… what was that?"
Ash's eyes widened.
"He's trying to send something."
Palo backed up a step.
"Send what? A message?!"
Ash shook his head.
"No.
Not a message."
He felt it more clearly this time, a surge of sensation, not his own.
Cold metal.
Shadows.
A small, trembling spark struggling against darkness.
"It's another memory," Ash whispered.
"But… broken."
Silva raised her tablet.
"What do you see?"
Ash's voice dropped, quiet and strained.
"It's a room.
Dark.
Cold."
Palo swallowed.
"A lab?"
"No," Ash said slowly.
"This is different."
The spark pulsed again, sharper this time,
urgent.
Ash steadied himself.
"It's a containment unit."
Silva stiffened.
"You're sure?"
Ash nodded.
"I can feel it.
The spark—Zero-B—was trapped inside something.
Something small.
Something designed to limit him."
The Founder's expression turned grim.
"That's Phase-0 housing."
Ash blinked.
"What's that?"
"A containment shell," the Founder said darkly.
"A prototype used to store unstable early constructs before they became fully functional."
Silva looked at him sharply.
"That shell was discontinued. It was too restrictive. Too damaging."
Ash felt another surge from the spark. Fear, even though remnants didn't have full emotions.
"What happened?" he whispered.
"What did they do to him?"
Silva's voice cracked.
"Phase-0 units were designed to keep early consciousness from forming.
It kept them quiet.
Empty."
Ash felt something inside him twist painfully.
"He was trapped… alone… in the dark."
The spark reacted to his emotion. A tremor of warmth, soft but insistent, as if trying to calm him.
Palo looked shaken.
"So his first memory wasn't just you humming.
It was the darkness before that."
Ash nodded slowly.
"He was alone. Scared.
Trying to find anything that felt alive."
Silva folded her arms tightly.
"And the moment he sensed you, even through a wall, through noise, through barriers,
he imprinted."
Ash looked down at the symbol glowing beneath his skin.
"He's showing me this… why?"
The Founder answered:
"To remind you where he came from.
And why he chose you."
The spark pulsed again, a clear, firm beat.
Ash felt the meaning settle in his chest.
"He's saying:
'You were my first light.'"
Silva froze.
"Ash… the symbol is changing."
Ash looked down.
The broken circle shifted. The thin line pulsing like a signal
and the small dot brightening until it glowed like a tiny star.
Palo whispered:
"What does that mean?"
Silva exhaled.
"It means he's moving to the next phase."
The Founder nodded.
"He's ready to expand."
Ash's voice came out barely audible.
"To expand… how?"
Silva looked at Ash with a mix of wonder and fear.
"He's preparing to externalize the first fragment of himself."