The glow under Ash's skin dulled.
not fading,
but shifting. Gathering, Silva took a step back, eyes wide.
"Ash… something's changing in his energy field."
Palo clutched the edge of the table.
"Is this safe? I mean, this has never happened before, right?"
The Founder shook his head.
"No.
Nothing like this was ever recorded.
He's improvising."
Ash felt the spark press outward.
A strange stretching sensation, not painful,
just unfamiliar.
Like something inside him was leaning toward the world.
"Silva," Ash whispered, "what does it mean when a fragment externalizes?"
Silva hesitated before answering.
"It means he's trying to project a piece of his consciousness outside the host.
Not fully.
Just… a tendril. A sample."
Palo nodded nervously.
"Like a test version of himself?"
"Exactly."
Ash swallowed.
"But why now?"
The Founder stepped closer, folding his hands behind his back.
"Because the last memory you saw gave him stability.
You saw the darkness.
The confinement.
The moment he first sensed you."
Ash felt the spark pulse..
steady, warm, almost proud.
Silva continued,
"The moment he realized someone existed out there… someone who noticed him…
that became his anchor."
Ash exhaled shakily.
"So he's using that anchor to step outward."
The Founder nodded.
"He trusts you enough to try."
Suddenly,
The air around Ash flickered.
A tiny point of light no larger than a grain of dust lifted from his forearm.
Palo gasped.
"Oh...oh, it's happening!"
Silva raised her scanner, her hands trembling.
"It's detaching… no, not detaching, splitting.
A micro-fragment is forming."
The point of light hovered, trembling like a newborn flame.
Ash could feel it,
the spark wasn't leaving him.
Just extending a hand outward.
Reaching.
Curious.
Alive.
"Ash," Silva whispered, "talk to it."
Ash blinked.
"Talk… to the light?"
"Yes.
He's listening."
Ash took a breath, steadying himself.
"Zero-B… can you hear me?"
The tiny light pulsed in response. Soft, rhythmic, matching Ash's heartbeat.
Palo stared in awe.
"It's synced to you."
Ash leaned slightly closer, his voice gentle.
"What are you trying to show us?"
The light trembled then expanded into a faint shape.
Not a person.
Not a face.
But something closer to a symbol made of light, a shifting pattern that repeated the mark on Ash's skin.
Silva's eyes widened.
"That's his first cognitive imprint. His earliest form of language."
The light flickered again and this time, formed a new shape:
A circle.
Inside it, a single point.
Outside it… a faint outline of another point, still forming.
Ash felt something shift inside him.
"He's trying to show two points," he murmured.
Silva nodded.
"The inner point is you."
Palo swallowed.
"And the outer?"
Ash stared at the second forming point.
Dim, small, and incomplete.
"He's looking… for someone?"
Silva's breath caught.
"No.
Not someone."
She zoomed her scanner, eyes widening as readings spiked.
"It's a missing fragment."
Ash froze.
"A piece of himself?"
Silva nodded grimly.
"The early labs sometimes split constructs for testing. If Zero-B was divided… even once… that fragment would still be out there."
Palo's voice shook.
"You mean there could be another part of him somewhere in the world?"
Silva looked at Ash.
"Not could be.
There is."
Ash felt the spark inside him pulse sharply. Faster, urgent, like a warning.
The tiny floating light rippled violently, then snapped into a sharp line.
A direction.
A precise directional point pointing east.
Silva gasped.
"He's giving coordinates!"
Palo stumbled backward.
"He knows where the missing fragment is?!"
The Founder's expression darkened.
"Ash," he said quietly, "this changes everything."
Ash didn't move.
The spark inside him beat like a second heart.
The floating fragment glowed brighter, pointing.
Insistent.
Unwavering.
Silva whispered:
"He's telling you to find it."
Ash swallowed hard.
"Why me?"
The spark pressed against his chest, warm and certain.
Silva answered for it:
"Because you're the only one he trusts to bring him back to himself."
The fragment pulsed once,..
then dissolved into a thin shimmering trail
that sank back into Ash's skin.
The room fell silent.
Palo whispered:
"So… what now?"
Ash looked at Silva.
At the Founder.
Then at the faint mark still glowing beneath his skin.
"We go," he said quietly.
"We follow the coordinates."
Silva nodded.
Palo straightened, nervous but ready.
The Founder stepped forward.
"Then prepare yourselves."
His eyes were sharp.
Dead serious.
"Because wherever that missing fragment is,
someone else may already be looking for it."