The trail appeared on Silva's tablet as a thin, vibrating line. Uneven, unstable, like a heartbeat rendered in light.
"It's not a normal coordinate," she muttered, adjusting the filters.
"It's shifting every few seconds… like it's moving."
Palo blinked hard.
"Wait....
you're telling me the missing fragment is traveling?"
Silva didn't look up.
"I'm telling you that whatever holds it… isn't stationary."
Ash's stomach tightened.
The spark beneath his skin hummed,
not painfully,
but with a sharp, restless tension.
Like it wanted to go.
The Founder leaned over the map.
"The east sector is enormous. If it's in motion, it could be attached to anything. A vehicle, a device, or…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
But the unspoken word weighed on all of them:
A person.
Palo rubbed the back of his neck.
"So how do we track something that keeps shifting?"
Silva zoomed in until the screen blinked red.
"We look for the pattern. See this?"
She pointed to the line's flicker.
"Every time it jumps, it lands within the same frequency band. That means it's sending a pulse, small but deliberate."
Ash stared at the screen.
"A distress signal?"
"Maybe," Silva whispered.
"Or a lure."
Ash's pulse quickened.
The spark inside him reacted sharply
like a tug on a rope tied around his ribs.
"We don't have time," Ash said.
"He wants us to move."
Palo grabbed his bag.
"Then let's go."
But before they could reach the exit, the base lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then died.
The room plunged into darkness.
Ash froze.
Silva whispered:
"No…
No, no, no...this isn't us."
A heavy metallic sound echoed down the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
The Founder stiffened.
"Those aren't internal security units."
Palo's voice shook.
"Then who is it?"
Silva tapped her tablet desperately, but the surface remained black.
"Ash," she whispered, "the signal it just spiked."
The spark inside Ash flared bright,
hot, urgent, almost panicked.
"Ash," Silva breathed, "something's coming directly toward your frequency."
The footsteps grew louder.
Closer.
Ash stepped in front of the others without thinking.
"Get behind me."
Palo grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing?!"
Ash's voice was low.
"He's reacting to whatever is coming.
If the fragment is connected to this… I need to be the one facing it."
Another metallic step.
Then,...
A silhouette appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Humanoid.
Tall.
Still.
But wrong,
too still.
Ash couldn't see the face, but he felt something in his chest twist.
The spark was vibrating violently.
Silva whispered:
"Is that a person?"
The figure took a slow step forward.
A soft mechanical grind scratched through the darkness.
Ash stepped forward, despite every instinct screaming not to.
"Who are you?"
The figure paused.
Then a voice, ..flat, distant, warped, echoed through the hallway:
"Signal… detected."
Palo whispered, horrified:
"That's not a person."
The Founder's voice was a rasp.
"That's a retrieval construct."
Silva paled.
"They were shut down years ago but why is one active?"
Ash stared at the figure.
Its head tilted
with an unnatural click.
"Host… carrying… unauthorized fragment."
Ash's blood ran cold.
The figure raised its arm.
"Return.
Now."
The spark inside him flared like a burning star
refusing.
Ash lifted his chin.
"No."
The construct's arm sharpened
shifting into a blade-like extension.
Silva choked on a breath.
Palo stepped back.
The Founder whispered:
"It's going to try to extract the fragment by force."
Ash's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
He felt the spark surge,
wrapping warmth around his ribs, up his spine, across his arm and suddenly, his skin glowed.
Silva gasped.
"Ash, your frequency is rising! He's protecting you!"
The construct stepped closer.
Ash raised his glowing hand.
"Silva," he said quietly, "open the emergency door behind us."
Palo stammered:
"Are you planning to fight that thing?!"
Ash didn't take his eyes off the construct.
"No.
I'm planning to stop it from reaching any of you."
Silva fumbled for the wall panel, praying it still worked manually.
The construct lunged,
Ash braced,
And the spark inside him exploded with light.