Page 156 of Fractured Loyalties
Kinley steps forward again. “The pulse you felt?” he says, gesturing toward the path ahead. “That’s not just an alert system. It’s tied to a biometric net. They’re reading us.”
I stop. “Live?”
He nods. “Every step. Every beat. Volker doesn’t just trap intruders. He catalogs them. And if your profile flags….”
“You disappear.”
“Worse. You’re turned.”
Mara’s voice sharpens. “Turned? How?”
Kinley exhales, like he doesn’t want to say it. “Reconstructed. Behavioral overlays. Synthetic loyalty binding. It’s not perfect. But if they get enough exposure, they can make you believe you were always on their side.”
“Fuck,” Mara breathes.
I nod toward the narrowing corridor ahead. “Then let’s not give them time.”
The walls begin to contract the farther we walk, pressing inward with each meter. It’s not claustrophobia. It’s design. Push the threat. See who breaks. We don’t.
But the air starts to smell different.
Not rot. Not dust.
Memory.
A scent I can’t place immediately—something metallic but not blood. Cold, like old steel that’s held too many secrets.
I reach the next junction and pause. There’s a split. The left tunnel is wider, but steep. The right one is narrow, with faint blue light flickering at the end.
Mara’s eyes move between them. “Which way?”
Kinley’s mouth flattens. “You know this place better than I do, Eidolon.”
I hate the name more every time it comes out of someone else’s mouth.
I scan the wall. Find the marker. A small triangle etched above head height, barely visible in the low light. Standard code for corridor sequencing. It’s flipped sideways.
“Right,” I say. “That’s where the access deck leads. But the slope on the left—”
“Emergency descent,” Kinley finishes. “Could be flooded.”
“Or worse,” I add. “Severed.”
I don’t wait. I take the right.
We move fast now. Feet silent. Eyes forward.
Until we reach the bend.
And that’s when I see it—the first trace of blood.
Just a smear. Dry. Old.
But it’s fresh enough to matter.
Someone came through this corridor.
Recently.
