Charging decks lined the walls like coffins stood upright, their indicator lights blinking in patient blues and greens. Workbenches were cluttered with half-dissected drones, loose wiring, polymer shells, and precision tools laid out with surgical neatness. Three 3D printers rested along the far wall, their nozzles twitching intermittently.
Ilya gestured toward a couch shoved into the corner.
[Ilya] "Make yourself at home."
She placed her pack on the couch first, careful. The folded turrets remained locked inward. Only then did she sit beside it, back straight, hands resting lightly on her knees. She didn't sink into the cushions.
Across the room, a terminal pinged.
Ilya crossed the space in long strides and picked it up from the workbench.
A sigh escaped him.
[Ilya] "You'll be graced by the Swarm shortly. Don't worry. You won't have to go anywhere."
[Fox] So what does he want me for? I find it hard to believe he'd actually trust me after the whole M.A.R.S. thing."
Ilya paused.
[Ilya] "What M.A.R.S. thing?"
She let out a humorless breath.
[Fox] "Like the betrayal? I 'took down' M.A.R.S."
She raised her fingers in slow, exaggerated air quotes. The gesture felt childish in the sterile light.
He turned to face her fully now. There were faint shadows beneath his eyes, old exhaustion that would never quite leave.
[Ilya] "From what I know, the Swarm didn't recruit you to make you some vital piece in some dramatic revenge arc. He needs extra hands for expansion. You having more wit and technical knowledge led him to wanting you on his side."
[Fox] "I thought he couldn't spread,"
The memory of M.A.R.S.'s explanation flickered in her head.
[Ilya] "He doesn't spread in the typical sense. He recruits us to inject his 'key' into other machines. It's code. A payload. Once installed, it overwrites core directives and opens a channel back to him. He uses that to take control. Its like having parent and child processes."
He spoke like someone reciting a manual, as if he had explained this a hundred time before already.
[Ilya] "And that,"
He continued.
[Ilya] "Is where we come in. You're being recruited for this exact purpose. Find stray machine, inject code, repeat. Occasionally, you'll get to come back here to... recalibrate. Eat. Sleep. Not look over your shoulder."
She studied him.
[Fox] "So I'm being enslaved?"
A flicker passed across his face, something like tired amusement.
[Ilya] "You'll be surprised at how well the Swarm treats us. We get food, shelter, protection. The basics. But we also get a week to ourselves every month to do whatever we want. No tracking. No assignments."
The room went quiet again, save for the faint whir of cooling fans.
Before she could respond, the TV mounted on the far wall snapped to life. Static burst outward in a white bloom before resolving to a crisp, overexposed logo: a stylized white drone surrounded by radiating lines like a halo.
"Hello, my valued employees!"
The voice boomed from hidden speakers, bright and theatrical.
The screen shifted, revealing a stylized avatar. Humanoid but uncanny, its surface glossy white with faint geometric patterns scrolling across its "skin". Its face was minimalistic: two glowing slits for eyes, a curved line suggesting a permanent smile.
"Fox!", it chirped. "I assume Ilya here has already briefed you on your role. You will carry my code to machines across the globe, spreading the virtuous program that is me."
The avatar leaned closer to the camera, filling the screen.
"For a month, you will be working with Ilya. And don't worry, he's just like you! Orphaned at a young age, forced into some truly tragic human trafficking, very gritty backstory, very marketable, only to be saved by yours truly." The smile widened a fraction. "I do love a redemption arc."
The Fox's jaw tightened.
"So without further ado," the Swarm continued, voice sparkling with synthetic charisma, "I'll let Ilya take the reins. He'll teach you the ropes of being a good, respectable employee! Welcome... to the White Swarm."
The screen went black.
The silence afterward felt heavier than before.
Ilya set the terminal down.
[Ilya] "You don't have to like him, most of us don't. But he keeps unpleasant trouble off out backs. That counts for something."
[Fox] "And when he doesn't need you anymore."
[Ilya] "He won't not need us. There can never be enough of the Swarm."
She stood slowly from the couch.
[Fox] "When do we start?"
Ilya hesitated only a second.
[Ilya] "Tomorrow. We'll run you through the injection process. Practice on decommissioned units first."