Page 6 of Fourth

Then, without shifting his gaze: “Computer, play back order from Third of Alpha Legion.”

“This is Third of Alpha Legion,”Tor’Vek’s voice came from the surrounding speakers.“Experimental facility has been neutralized. Selyr is confirmed active. Request immediate extraction protocol for Earth-based human: female, designation Maya... You humans have two names, yes? Yes. Anderson. Designation Maya Anderson. She may be under Selyr’s influence. Intercept with caution.”

Maya stared at him like the computer had spoken another language.

“Was that supposed to make sense to me?” she asked sharply. “Because all I heard was military nonsense and a name I don’t even recognize. Besides my own, that is. Idon’t know what a Selyr is. Idon’t know what the Alpha Legion is or Intergalactic Warriors. And I don’t even know where I am. You think I’m supposed to just wake up strapped to a table and assume this is normal?”

“You were flagged as a potential contaminant.”

Maya flinched at the word. “Contaminant? Seriously?”

Riv’En’s tone remained cold and procedural, the words falling like readout data from a machine. But even he caught the faint hitch in his own breath as he said it. She was human. Andlabeling her like a malfunctioning system made something twist behind his sternum.

“You may have been compromised by Selyr’s work.”

“What is a Selyr?” she demanded. “And how am I supposed to have been ‘compromised’ by one?”

His eyes narrowed. She was either telling the truth… or she had no memory ofit.

He added, quieter now: “Your extraction was ordered for observation. You are not to be harmed. Unless you pose a threat.”

But even as he said it, something prickled beneath the words. She looked too furious to be faking. And the scans agreed—untainted, unaware. But belief wasn’t data. And still, he believedher.

And that made her more dangerous.

If she was contaminated, and unaware of it, then something foreign had already infiltrated her system without detection. Adormant signal. Ahidden code. Selyr’s influence, implanted so subtly it bypassed even her own awareness. That meant whatever was inside her, if anything was, had the capability to act on its own. No host consent. Which made her more dangerous than a declared enemy. It made her a living breach.

“What do you remember from the last forty-eight Earth hours?” he asked.

Her eyes narrowed. “Aside from being snatched by a walking weapons system with boundary issues?”

He did not rise to thebait.

“Before that. Any symptoms. Unusual dreams. Voices. Time loss.”

She glared at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He straightened. His expression reset to neutral, but inside, algorithms clashed with reason. The data suggested no awareness, no deceit. Every biometric scan confirmed honesty: pulse steady, eyes dilated in expected patterns, body language unguarded. But his suspicions refused to align with the metrics. Either she truly had no idea what he was asking, or something inside her had been so deeply buried that even she could not access it. That possibility unsettled him more than a lie wouldhave.

She watched him with narrowed eyes. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“That shift. Your whole face changed. What aren’t you telling me?”

He didn’t answer at first. His expression had reset, but not fast enough.

“You saw something,” she pressed. “Or realized something.”

His mouth tensed. “You are not reacting like other contaminated subjects, no neural disruption, no aggressive outburst, no measurable deviation from standard stress profiles. Iexpected clearer indicators, something my systems could measure.”

“Translation: you think I’m lying, but your machines can’t detect it.”

“I think,” he said, voice low, “that you are an anomaly. And anomalies complicate everything.”

His logic systems could not reconcile the gap between her confusion and the data. Every scan read clean. Just human. Unaware. No biometric deviation. And yet, Third’s directivehadn’t been vague. Something had flagged her. Something had triggered the alarm. That alone should have been enough to override doubt.

So why did he believeher?

---