Page 112 of Stars in Umbra
Minutes earlier, Mirage had insisted on moving Mo into the cavernous space next to the signal-blocking enclosure, despite the risks.
‘My synth diagnostic suite can’t operate within the interference field, and if we are going to uncover what lies buried in his neural architecture, he has to be exposed.’
Rina agreed. What other choice did she have?
Now, Mo reclined on a hover bed procured from a nearby med closet.
It was positioned just beyond the threshold of the cage’s shielding barrier.
His limbs were still, too still, and for a moment, Rina wondered if the trauma of the past few days had finally pulled him under.
A slight sliver of panic went through her until she locked onto the bed’s diagnostics and sighed in relief at the heart monitor showing a strong rhythm.
Mirage worked in silence, her sequinned outfit exchanged for a tactical med suit she’d somehow conjured out of thin air.
A slender array of shimmering holo-tools spun around her hands, dancing in synchronized patterns as she leaned over Mo, feeding quiet commands into her wrist module.
She was using a laser interstitial thermal therapy, a minimally invasive procedure that uses heat to ablate and destroy the rogue nodes’ bio-philic tendrils.
‘This freakin’ node is like nothing I’ve ever scanned. The neural web’s been over-engineered, layered, looped, and partitioned. Someone built this to be untraceable, yet I see a configuration that’s familiar in the structure.’
Mirage’s voice fell further. ‘Fokk, that’s it. There was a hack attempt a few weeks ago, one that appeared to be a distraction, an anomaly, a darn ghost in the machine. The operator handling it exited quickly, thinking they had left no trace, but I had memorized the subtle pattern. Mo’s cerebral stream has a similar signature.’
Rina edged closer. ‘Is the node still active?’
‘It’s dormant for now. I’ve isolated it and I’m about to cut the last tendrils from his brain stem, but if we get too close to the core -.’
Mo’s back arched.
A guttural snarl burst from his larynx as his eyes flew open, gold and gray now eclipsed by a void-black surge that bloomed across his irises.
‘Mirage!’ Rina warned.
The warning came too late.
Mo twisted with supernatural speed, flinging his body off the hover bed.
His arm shot out, grabbing Mirage by the throat.
She stumbled but didn’t cry out.
Her eyes narrowed as her system whirred, recalibrating on instinct.
‘Tis an attempted neural reactivation,’ she hissed, voice strangled but alert. ‘We triggered a defense reflex within the node. Rina, stay back!’
Rina’s hand went to her sidearm, but she didn’t draw.
Not yet.
Her breath stuck in her windpipe as Mo twisted Mirage around with deadly precision, every muscle engaged, eyes blank, unaware of himself.
He wasn’t attacking out of will.
He was under external control.
Mirage’s hands reached for Mo’s chest in front of her, her synth skin glowing with command sequences.
‘Anomaly located. Kill switch engagement detected,’ she grunted. ‘He’s not just fighting me, he’s beingpurged.’
