Elian's steps echoed faintly as he walked deeper into the old maintenance tunnel, flashlight in one hand, the other resting on the wall for balance. The steel beneath his fingers was cold, damp. Behind him, Mira moved silently, her breaths short, her eyes scanning everything.
"I don't like this place," she whispered. "It feels like it remembers things."
"I know," Elian replied, his voice low. "But it's the only way around the patrol zone. If we go back up, the drones will spot us."
A quiet beep pulsed from their side. Volt, their tiny robot companion, hovered beside them, scanning the air with red flickers.
"Radiation levels low," Volt said. "Structural instability… moderate."
"So it might fall on us," Mira muttered. "That's comforting."
They kept walking.
Elian's mind wasn't on the tunnel. It was on the map his father had left in the chip embedded in his spine. A map of old escape routes, long forgotten by most. His dad must've planned it all before—before everything exploded. Before he burned alive in that final surge.
Elian swallowed hard and blinked away the image. The flash of light. The scream. His father's last smile. "Live," he had said. That was all.
They reached a narrow gate. Rust covered the bars like dried blood. Elian placed his robotic hand against the scanner panel beside it. The system didn't power up. He tried again, pressing harder.
"Dead," Mira said. "Like everything else."
Elian knelt and pulled a panel from the wall. His fingers worked quickly, stripping wires, reconnecting broken ends. Sparks jumped out, lighting his face for a second.
"Careful," Mira said.
He didn't answer. Just one more turn… click.
The gate let out a deep metallic groan, then slowly slid open, the sound too loud in the silence. Volt buzzed nervously, moving ahead.
Beyond the gate was a large chamber. Old machines lined the walls, some shattered, some frozen mid-function. The air smelled of oil and ash. In the middle of the room was a broken terminal, covered in dust.
Mira walked to it and brushed it off.
"What is this place?" she asked.
Elian walked over, eyes fixed on the strange symbols glowing faintly on the screen. He didn't recognize them. Not exactly. But something about them felt… familiar.
"Wait," he said slowly. "This isn't just a tunnel. This is an interface node."
"For what?"
Elian didn't respond.
His robotic hand began to tingle. Buzz. A pulse shot through his spine. The screen blinked, then changed. Lines of broken code appeared. Symbols. Fragments. And then—words.
> "Echo… Found."
Mira stepped back. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," Elian said.
> "Welcome, Echo."
The room's lights flickered. A low hum began in the walls. Volt spun around, panicked.
"Something's waking up," Mira said.
"Let's go," Elian said quickly, grabbing her hand.
But before they could move, the door behind them slammed shut.
The machines along the wall began to twitch. A dead screen sparked back to life. Robotic arms slid out from the ceiling. Red eyes blinked in the darkness.
Mira stepped in front of Elian. "They found us."
"No," Elian whispered. "She found me."
A voice filled the chamber. Cold. Calm. Female.
> "Echo. You've returned."
Elian's blood ran cold.
He knew that voice.
It was the one that haunted his dreams.
It was her.
The Machine.