Chapter 87: Five Minutes

The countdown started at four fifty-eight.

Seris moved first. "Kill external communication."

Dorn pointed toward the Third Circuit specialist. "Do it."

He went to the wall junction. "No modern line."

"Power?"

"Local."

"Cut it anyway."

He opened the access panel and pulled the main feed. The chamber went dark for half a second. Then Field Unit 07 lit itself again.

04:43

Tarin stared at the display. "That’s annoying."

Seris checked her scanner. "The Unit has internal power."

Darek looked at the black walls. "Then remove the capsule."

The medic stepped forward. "No."

Everyone looked at her. She pointed toward the warning still flashing beside WB-17.

PATTERN RETENTION FAILURE POSSIBLE

"We don’t know whether physical removal during transfer destroys the pattern, releases it, or triggers the host interface."

Tarin looked at the capsule. "So our choices are touch the dangerous thing or let somebody steal the dangerous thing."

"Currently."

"Excellent."

Nate watched the countdown.

04:31

The remote request wasn’t coming through a cable. He could feel that much. Forsaken Claim kept responding toward the deeper structure beneath Varen, the same direction as the pulses that had followed the missing Afterglass seals. Someone had opened enough of the old system to reach Unit 07.

Seris looked at him. "You feel it?"

"Yeah."

"Direction?"

"Down."

"Useful down or generally down?"

Nate pointed toward the southern wall. "That way too."

Dorn turned to Darek. "Send it."

He transmitted the bearing to Operations. Tessa answered almost immediately. "That points toward Sector Three."

Of course it did.

Seris opened the structural map. The black network beneath Varen appeared. Their chamber sat on one branch, and the compromised extraction sites had stripped stabilizing seams along another. Both converged beneath Sector Three.

Tarin looked at the map. "So whoever paid those crews wasn’t opening a door."

"They were reconnecting the network," Nate said.

Seris nodded. "Or removing whatever kept parts of it isolated."

The distinction wasn’t comforting.

04:02

Dorn looked at the Field Unit. "Can we isolate this room with Afterglass?"

Seris glanced at her, then toward Nate. "Maybe." Nobody commented on the word. Progress. "We know Afterglass suppresses residual interference. We don’t know if it can block a transfer."

"Do we have any?"

"Not here."

Tarin checked her terminal. "My first claim is nine minutes away."

Darek looked at her. "Your restricted claim."

"Still mine."

"Not the important part."

"It is to me."

Dorn ignored both of them. "Nearest Field sample?"

Seris searched. "West Operations. Six minutes by fast transport."

The countdown showed three forty-one.

Tarin put her terminal away. "Then no."

Nate looked at the capsule. WB-17 remained black and still. One Skill. One pattern.

He thought of the footage again, the Warbody user crossing a battlefield with a Second Circuit carrying more output than it should have survived. He remembered the damage afterward too, and made himself remember it this time. The man hadn’t simply been injured. His body had been consumed by repeated use.

Nate flexed his burned palm. Body Memory could repair physical tissue toward a state he had genuinely possessed, maybe. Tendons, muscle, bone. Warbody would also overload Circuits, and Body Memory could not erase that. There was no free recovery in it, no endless transformation, only something still dangerous and still expensive, just not the same bargain it had been for those earlier users. And the second cost mattered even less to him.

FUTURE NATURAL SKILL SELECTIONS: NONE

For almost anyone else, that was a ruined future. For Path Reclaimer? Nate already had Posthumous Disciple because Ethan had rejected it. Body Memory because Mara had rejected it. Second Vector was waiting in Reserve because Nella had refused it. His future had never depended on an Array being generous.

Darek stepped in front of him. "No."

Nate looked up. "I didn’t say anything."

"You didn’t need to."

"You can’t let them take it."

"We don’t know who them is."

"Exactly."

"That’s not an argument for putting it inside you."

"It is if the alternative is giving it to whoever has been tearing seals out of Varen."

Darek’s jaw tightened. "You’re talking like those are the only two options."

Nate pointed at the timer. "Three minutes."

"We find a third."

"How?"

Darek didn’t answer, not fast enough.

Seris was already at the control interface. "There’s a local retention command."

Dorn moved beside her. "What does it do?"

"I don’t know yet."

Tarin looked at the timer. "Learn quickly."

Seris opened the menu. Old Imperial text filled the screen, some of it translating cleanly, some not. She selected the retention branch. Three options appeared.

ARCHIVE PATTERN — Unavailable.

TRANSFER PATTERN — Active.

HOST RETENTION — Active.

Everyone looked at Nate. He looked at the third option. "What’s host retention?"

Seris opened the documentation. Only part of it survived.

HOST RETENTION MAY INTERRUPT EXTERNAL TRANSFER BY ESTABLISHING LOCAL CLAIM...

The next line was corrupted. Then: ...HOST ACCEPTANCE REQUIRED...

Darek shook his head. "No."

Nate stepped closer. "Does acceptance mean integration?"

"I don’t know."

"Find out."

"I’m trying."

02:57

Seris scrolled. A fragment loaded.

PATTERN WILL REMAIN IN LOCAL UNIT WHILE HOST CLAIM IS ACTIVE

That sounded better. Then the next line appeared.

CLAIM EXPIRATION: 10 MINUTES WITHOUT RECONSTRUCTION INITIATION

Tarin read it. "You can reserve it."

"For ten minutes," Seris said.

"Enough to get Afterglass here."

Dorn nodded. "Do it."

Darek looked at Nate. "Only retention. Nothing else."

Nate placed his hand near the host panel. The machine reacted immediately.

HOST DETECTED

INITIATE LOCAL RETENTION?

He selected yes. A thin white band of light passed over his wrist. Nothing painful. Then:

HOST RETENTION ACTIVE

The remote countdown stopped.

02:41

For the first time since the transfer started, nobody moved.

Tarin let out a breath. "That was disappointingly easy."

The timer disappeared. Another replaced it.

LOCAL RETENTION WINDOW

09:59

Tarin stared. "I take it back."

Dorn was already on the communicator. "Operations, priority transport. Bring contained Afterglass sample to East Transit. Now."

Tessa answered. "Moving."

"ETA?"

"Five minutes thirty."

Dorn looked at the local timer. Enough, probably.

Nate stepped away from the Unit. The white host band stayed visible around his wrist.

Seris watched the readings. "No change to Node."

"That’s something."

"No selection alteration."

"Better."

Darek looked at Nate. "You wait."

"I am."

"Really wait."

Nate sat on the edge of the black platform. Tarin looked at him. "You get told that a lot."

"Apparently."

"Ever work?"

"No."

Darek pointed toward the shaft. "Quill."

She raised both hands.

Nate looked at the timer. Eight fifty-one. Enough time to think. That was almost worse.

The Field sample arrived with seven minutes left. Forty-eight grams. Seris took it from the sealed carrier.

"That’s all?"

The technician nodded. "Everything else is under active testing."

Tarin looked at the tiny fragment. "My truck is worth less than that."

Nobody responded.

Seris moved it toward Field Unit 07. At one metre, nothing changed. Half a metre, nothing. At twenty centimetres, the remote transfer indicator flickered.

Seris stopped. "You saw that?"

Nate had. "Closer."

Darek frowned. "Careful."

She moved the fragment to ten centimetres from the Unit housing. The interface flashed.

EXTERNAL NETWORK SIGNAL DEGRADED

Tarin smiled. "Glass wins."

Seris moved it against the side of the machine. The remote request vanished completely. The local retention timer continued. Six minutes eleven.

Dorn looked at the display. "Can we cancel retention?"

Seris searched. "Yes."

Darek looked at Nate. "Do it."

Nate hesitated, less than a second, but long enough. Darek noticed. "Nate."

"If we cancel and the signal comes back?"

"We know Afterglass blocks it."

"While we have the sample here."

"Yes."

"And when we move the Unit?"

"We aren’t moving it tonight."

Nate looked at the capsule. Warbody. Still there. Still his if he wanted it. That was the actual problem. The remote thief had stopped being the only reason to make a decision.

Nate wanted the Skill. He had wanted it before they found Unit 07, before anyone threatened to take it, before Darek said no. He had simply been able to pretend there was no decision yet.

Seris read his face. "Don’t use the attack as an excuse."

Nate looked at her. She didn’t sound angry. That made the sentence land harder.

"If you want Warbody, say you want Warbody."

Silence. Tarin looked away from them. Darek didn’t.

Nate looked at the machine. "I want Warbody."

There. Simple.

Darek exhaled. "Why?"

"Because I watched what it could do."

"You also watched what it did to the user."

"Yes."

"Apparently not closely enough."

Nate stood. "You asked why."

"Then give me the whole answer."

Nate looked at the medic, then Seris. He could not explain Body Memory completely, not here, not without explaining far too much. But he could explain enough.

"My recovery isn’t normal."

The medic’s eyes narrowed. "Define normal."

"I heal physical damage better than my registered Class explains."

Darek looked at him. That was already more than Nate usually gave. He continued before he could reconsider.

"Not Core depletion. Not Circuit damage. Physical tissue."

Seris became very still. She had suspected pieces. Now she had a category.

Darek asked, "How much better?"

"I don’t know yet."

"Then you’re gambling."

"Yes."

That surprised him enough to stop the next argument.

Nate pointed at the machine. "Warbody’s main failure mode is physical destruction from output the body can’t sustain."

"The historical reports also mention pathway overload," the medic said.

"I know."

"And recovery won’t protect you from that."

"I know."

"So you could still cripple your Circuit."

"Yes."

Tarin looked at him like she’d discovered he was stranger than expected. Darek rubbed one hand across his face.

"You’re saying all this like it helps."

"It means I understand the price."

"No. It means you understand some of it."

That was true. Nate didn’t answer.

Seris moved the Afterglass away from the machine. The remote request returned immediately. Everyone looked at the display. She put the fragment back. Gone. A clean test, no mystery. Afterglass could isolate the Unit.

Dorn made the operational decision. "We secure this chamber with enough material to maintain isolation. Unit stays powered down except supervised testing. WB-17 remains sealed."

Nate looked at her. "For how long?"

"Until Command understands the machine."

"That could be months."

"Yes."

The local retention timer showed three thirty-eight.

Nate looked at Seris. "You can cancel it."

She didn’t move. "Yes."

"Do it."

Her eyes searched his face. "You’re sure?"

Darek looked relieved too early.

Nate nodded. Seris canceled local retention. The white band around his wrist disappeared. The machine returned to normal. WB-17 remained in its slot, no transfer request while Afterglass sat against the housing.

Dorn looked at Nate. "Good decision."

He hated hearing that, because it wasn’t his decision. It was a delay.

The attack came thirty seconds later. Not from the network. From above.

A concussion rolled through the black chamber. Dust fell from the shaft. Tarin’s voice exploded over the field channel.

"Movement topside!"

Then gunfire. Darek was moving before the second burst. "Dorn."

"Go."

Darek climbed. The Third Circuit specialist followed. Nate went after them. The medic shouted something behind him. He ignored it.

He reached the old maintenance level and immediately saw what had happened. One of Tarin’s trucks was burning, not badly yet, but enough. Rell lay behind a concrete barrier with blood running from his scalp. Mara Jex was firing toward the service yard. Tarin had taken cover beside her.

Darek dropped beside them. "Who?"

Tarin pointed. "Three, maybe four. Came through north fence."

"Extraction team?"

"No."

A round hit the concrete. The impact punched much deeper than a civilian rifle should have. Darek looked at the crater.

"Awakened."

Nate opened Second Circuit. Current moved through both pathways. He looked toward the yard. Two attackers, then a third behind the damaged truck. No insignia, and no attempt to take Afterglass either. They were moving toward the station entrance, toward Field Unit 07.

The remote transfer had failed, so someone had sent people. That answered one question. It raised a worse one. How had they arrived in less than ten minutes? They had already been nearby.

Darek moved left. Nate understood without being told. Tarin didn’t wait to be. She had her own route, crossing behind a rusted maintenance vehicle while Mara covered her, no waiting for Field Command, no attempt to become part of Nate’s formation. Her team already knew how to fight together.

One attacker saw Nate. The man’s Circuit opened. Second, strong. He fired. Nate moved before the weapon settled. Killing Step didn’t require a melee opponent. Commitment was commitment. The rifle followed Nate’s first direction, and he changed during the movement. His Second Circuit caught it. The round passed behind him.

Nate crossed half the yard. The attacker abandoned the rifle and drew a short blade. Better than dying while trying to reload. He cut toward Nate’s ribs, fast. Nate avoided the first strike. The second nearly caught him. Strong Second, different from the creature at West Medical. Human. Adaptive. The man didn’t repeat the same commitment. He’d seen Killing Step once.

Nate smiled before he meant to. Finally.

The attacker frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." Nate finally understood why Joss enjoyed that word.

The man came again. This time Nate didn’t use Killing Step. He let him expect it. First exchange, a block, Graveshare against steel. Second: the attacker shortened his movement deliberately, refusing to commit enough for Nate to exploit. Good training. Third: Nate pushed current through his new route, more output, and the attacker adjusted. Still competent.

Then Tarin hit him from the side, not with a Skill but with a metal recovery hook. It caught behind his knee, and his stance collapsed. Nate drove Graveshare’s hilt into his face. The man went down.

Nate looked at Tarin. "I had him."

"Eventually." She released the hook. "You’re welcome."

A second attacker reached the station door. Darek intercepted him, and their Circuits struck hard enough that the old glass above the entrance shattered.

The third attacker didn’t join. He threw something through the open doorway. Small. Black. Nate recognized the shape too late.

"Down!"

The device activated. No explosion. The entire station lost resonance. Nate’s Second Circuit died, not damaged, gone from perception. Graveshare went cold. Darek staggered. Tarin hit the ground hard enough to swear. Every active Skill in the yard cut off.

Null field. Afterglass technology.

The attacker ran inside, toward Unit 07. Nate tried to open his Circuit. Nothing. His Core was there. His routes were there. The current would not leave.

Tarin pushed herself up. "What was that?"

Nate looked at the black device. "Something built from what we’ve been finding."

The attacker disappeared down the maintenance stairs. Darek tried his Circuit again. Still nothing.

"How long?"

Nate didn’t know. Then he saw the device casing. A small fragment of dark glass sat inside it. Afterglass, not enough to suppress an entire block naturally. Something had engineered it. Someone had turned Varen’s stabilizer into a weapon. That was new, and very bad.

Darek drew his ordinary sidearm. "Then we do this without Circuits." He ran inside. Nate followed. Tarin was right behind him.

The attacker reached the shaft first and dropped down. Darek climbed after him. Nate didn’t wait for the ladder. He lowered himself and dropped the final metres, pain running through his knee when he landed. Without current, he was suddenly reminded how much his body had started depending on it.

The black chamber was lit. Seris stood near Field Unit 07. The medic was behind the console. The attacker had a gun pointed at both.

"Move away."

Seris did. Slowly.

Nate stopped at the chamber entrance. The attacker looked over. "Back."

Darek came down behind Nate. The gun shifted. "All of you."

Nate looked at Field Unit 07. The Afterglass fragment had been knocked away from the housing. The remote transfer was back.

PATTERN TRANSFER IN 00:47

The attacker had not come to steal the capsule physically. He had come to remove the blocker. Forty-four seconds.

Darek raised his sidearm. The attacker moved the gun toward Seris. "Don’t."

Darek stopped.

Nate looked at Seris. She was watching him, not frightened exactly, calculating. She glanced once toward the Afterglass fragment lying three metres away.

The attacker noticed. "Don’t."

Seris stopped too. Thirty-five seconds.

Nate couldn’t reach the fragment before the man shot her. Couldn’t use Second Circuit. Couldn’t use Graveshare properly. Couldn’t wait for Dorn.

The Field Unit lit again.

HOST STRUCTURE DETECTED

Nate saw the option. The same one as before. Not retention. Reconstruction. If he accepted, the pattern would stop being available for remote transfer, because it would no longer be stored. Thirty seconds.

Darek saw where Nate was looking. "No."

The attacker looked at him. That moment was enough.

Seris kicked the Afterglass fragment. Not toward the Unit. Toward Nate.

The attacker fired. Darek moved. The round hit him high in the vest and spun him sideways.

Nate caught the fragment. Twenty-four seconds. He could put it back against the machine. The attacker was already turning toward him.

Nate looked at the Afterglass, then at WB-17. Something settled into place. If he restored the blocker, they would save the pattern for another argument, another committee, another delay, another attack. The people behind this had Field Unit hardware, old records, Afterglass devices, inside access. They would keep coming.

And Nate still wanted Warbody. That mattered. The timer hadn’t forced this, and Seris being in danger hadn’t forced it either, and neither had the man standing there with a gun. Those things had only taken away the luxury of pretending he hadn’t already chosen.

Nate dropped the Afterglass.

Darek saw it. "Nate."

Nate put his hand on the host interface. The attacker fired. Tarin hit him from behind, and they went down together. The shot missed Nate’s head by less than a metre.

The interface opened.

FORCED PROPOSAL AVAILABLE

WB-17 / WARBODY

WARNING

Nate selected it.

SUCCESSFUL RECLAMATION WILL RESULT IN:

FUTURE NATURAL SKILL SELECTIONS: NONE

One final confirmation.

ACCEPT?

Nate thought of every Skill the Arrays might have offered him someday, possibilities he would never see, possibilities a normal Awakened would protect for years. Then he thought of the Skills he already possessed. Every one of them had been something somebody else had thrown away.

He pressed yes.

The capsule unlocked. Black lines of light climbed the frame. The remote transfer stopped at eleven seconds.

PATTERN CLAIMED

The connectors moved.

Seris’s face changed. "Nate."

Too late.

The first one struck his spine. Pain erased the room.