Page 116 of Stars in Umbra
Kainan’s face was unreadable. ‘What about the neural controller?’
Zane shook his head. ‘That node’s buried too deep. However, if he were going to turn on us, he would have already done so. He resisted, which matters.’
With that, the tension in the room eased, and Rina let out the exhale she’d been holding.
‘However, the surgery could go either way,’ Zane said, arms folded as his psionic gaze lingered on the Faraday cage. ‘Extracting a node that entwined with the roots of his base neural pathways is risky; he might not come out the same.’
Ki’Remi’s voice was calm and clinical. ‘Leaving it in isn’t an option. The node’s signature isn’t just command-linked. It’s destructive. Reactive. If it activates again, we may not get a second chance to stop him.’
‘He’s Sacran-touched,’ Issa added. ‘You all experienced his raw power. An ancient Sacran energy, of theSsignakht,all-seeing andSsukigratall-searing, paradigm, flickers within him. Both are working together to guard and heal him. That’s likely how he fought back. He needs that node incised in entirety so as not to kill him, but the Sacran forces in him will protect him for now.’
Kainan jerked his chin and turned to Mirage. ‘Proceed, but if anything goes wrong, we shut it down fast. Understood?’
Mirage nodded, already prepping. ‘Remi, I’ll need you to walk me through the lattice protocol.’
‘I’m patched in,’ Ki’Remi replied. ‘I’ll guide you step by step.’
Mirage deactivated the Faraday cage and brought Mo out.
His eyes locked with Rina’s, churning and roiling with emotion.
She held his gaze as Mirage activated a translucent shield that fell over the Mo’s form.
Zane stepped in, closed his eyes, and strengthened the transparent bulwark with an invisible psionic sheath of his own.
Control panels rose from either side of the hover bed, which would keep a close watch of his vitals.
Mirage’s nanites bloomed from her hand, creating a lattice over Mo’s head to help map and pinpoint the surgery locations in his brain.
Meanwhile, Mo’s hands gripped the edge as if bracing himself for war.
‘You ready?’ Mirage asked.
‘As I’ll ever be.’
A soft hum filled the room as her synth fingers danced through the air, sending key data to the nanite network, forming precise holographic incisions over Mo’s skull.
‘Ki’Remi, aligning neural graph now.’
‘Good. You’re within .002 deviation.’
‘Beginning extraction sequence.’
The laser-guided beam appeared from the nano-matrix and sliced through using non-invasive lasers, steered by projected overlays.
Rina observed, heart in her throat, as Mirage’s tools pierced layer by layer, disrupting none of Mo’s vital functions, slowing his breathing but keeping him stable.
Mirage worked with clinical precision.
Ki’Remi’s voice throughout was calm and exacting.
‘Node cluster detected. Begin containment net.’
A sudden surge of golden static leapt from Mo’s temple, his glyphs pulsing.
‘Stabilizing resonance, Remi, I need a harmonic.’
‘Focusing now. Hold the conduit steady.’
