The night over Haven-17 shimmered with static rain — droplets of light falling and vanishing before they hit the ground.
Lucas stood alone on the east platform, watching the artificial skyline hum. The System's glow never slept; even the stars were just data points in an endless ceiling.
Since the Trial, his interface had been breaking more often. Numbers froze. Vision blurred. And sometimes, when the glitches hit, he heard… breathing.
Not his.
[Warning: External resonance detected.]
[Source: Undeclared.]
He exhaled sharply. "Undeclared my ass."
The pulse came again — a low vibration in his chest, like someone knocking from inside his ribs.
Then a whisper, too soft to place.
"Haven-17 confirmed."
Lucas froze. The voice wasn't the System's. It was human — female — cold and clipped, like she was reciting coordinates.
"Who's there?"
No reply. Only a flicker across his HUD, gold at the edges, before the System sealed the feed.
[Intrusion attempt repelled.]
[Countermeasure: Active.]
He stepped back, hands shaking slightly. "Someone just hacked me."
The thought came fast, hot, and wrong. No one was supposed to be able to reach him directly.
So whoever she was — she had to be part of the System.
"Fine," he muttered, holstering his guns. "If you're watching, keep watching. I'll give you something to choke on."
Haven-01
Evelyn Rowe stood in the observation hall, surrounded by a halo of holographic data.
The pulse from her wristband hadn't stopped since dawn. Every reading came back erratic — one signal buried beneath another.
[Resonance distortion trace: Haven-17.]
[Classification: Hostile interference.]
Her eyes narrowed. Hostile interference.
So someone below was trying to tap into her Resonance frequency. A lower-tier subject breaching her channel? Impossible — unless it was deliberate.
She leaned forward, fingers sliding across the glass display. The distortion stabilized for a second, long enough for her to hear it — a man's voice, rough and defiant.
"Who's there?"
Evelyn's expression hardened. "An intruder."
She cut the feed instantly.
[Counter-trace initiated.]
[Target source: Haven-17 confirmed.]
If someone from Haven-17 could reach her, they were either a System error or a threat. Either way, she intended to find out which.
Later — Haven-17
Lucas slammed his palm against the console. "Trace it! Come on, give me something."
The System's calm voice replied:
[Access denied. Security protocols engaged.]
He cursed under his breath.
Whatever that voice had been, the System wasn't just ignoring it — it was protecting it.
He looked out over the city. The data rain glimmered faintly gold for an instant, as if mocking him.
"Alright," he said quietly. "You want to play games, fine. I'll find you first."
Meanwhile — Haven-01
Evelyn watched her console blink back to calm blue.
[Counter-trace incomplete.]
[Anomaly designation: L-17-D.]
[Observation priority increased.]
"L-17-D," she repeated softly.
She didn't know the name, but she felt the pulse behind it — chaotic, human, angry.
Someone below had reached into her world.
And she intended to send a message back.
"If you're listening," she said under her breath, "stay there. Because if you climb high enough to touch me again—"
Her eyes flashed silver as the Resonance field hummed to life.
"—I'll make sure you regret it."