Page 78 of The Brotherhood

CHAPTER 17

Resurrection

Seer finally got Spook alone and put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

His nod looked as bewildered as he was.

“He’s gonna be fine, son.”

His blue eyes were tired and full of heavy things. “You think?”

Seer nodded, clarifying, “I know.”

His relief came in a sigh.

“Phase four initializing.” Quantum’s sharp words brought the room to immediate silence, all watching his golden eyes scanning the scrolling data with relentless precision.

Harlow stepped over to another monitor, his face tight with tension. “Vitals are stable,” he said quietly. “But…” He tapped a screen on his left, frowning. “This pattern—there’s interference in the adaptive sequence.”

“Interference?” 8-Bit worried, his voice sharp.

“It’s like… a secondary signal,” Harlow muttered, glancing rapidly across several screens. “His cells are adapting faster, but there’s something else layering over the regeneration, something foreign to the Neuromancer’s programming. It’s feeding into the process, altering the trajectory.”

“Permission to approach,” 8-Bit said, hurrying toward them.

Harlow made room for him. “Look,” he said, pointing.

“Define altering,” Quantum demanded, frowning at his controls.

“His cells are skipping steps. It was rebuilding in linear stages, now they’re… jumping ahead, completing entire sequences all at once.”

Quantum hurried to their screen as 8-Bit wondered, “Is that bad?”

Harlow answered with wide eyes at the screen. “All this is uncharted territory. Who fucking knows besides our brother in that pod.”

“It’s not standard Neuromancer operation,” Quantum said.

The machine’s hum suddenly deepened, the lights across its surface intensifying to a blinding blue. Spook and the rest of them moved closer when Bishop’s body jerked behind the glass windows of the pod.

“He’s not supposed to move during this phase,” Quantum said sharply, hurrying back to his controls. “The Neuromancer should have him sedated.”

“His vitals are spiking again,” Harlow warned, his voice tight. “Heart rate, neural activity—everything’s climbing beyond Phase Four parameters. It’s like he’s trying to break out of the program,” Harlow muttered.

“What if he needs to break out?” 8-Bit hurried.

“It’s his adaptive evolution,” Quantum realized, focused. “His cells are driving the process now, overriding the Neuromancer’s control.”

The hum turned into a resonant growl, and the room vibrated with the machine’s rising power. The lights strobed, casting harsh shadows across the walls.

“What’s happening?” Spook demanded, fighting back his panic.

Quantum's attention remained locked on the screen. “The Neuromancer’s recalibrating.”

“It’s trying to keep up with his evolution,” Harlow marveled.

“What’s happening with the materials?” 8-Bit quickly pointed.

“Holy shit,” Harlow muttered. “The list is shrinking.”

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