Chapter 275: Personnel Integration - II

The trio entered and were greeted by one of the facility personnel inside.

"Greetings, Commander. Greetings, Adjutant. Greetings, Doctor."

Hans nodded.

"Are you the guy in charge of the facility?"

"Oh, no."

The man quickly shook his head.

"That would be the Research Director you assign, Commander. I’m just a small guy here. The name is Reechard, by the way. R-E-E, not R-I."

What a strangely named guy.

Hans raised a brow.

"Very well then, Ree-chard. Care to show me where the Integration Pods are?"

"Ah, yes. I know where they are. Please, follow me."

Reechard led them deeper into the Tech Center.

They passed through several corridors and two controlled doors before entering a much larger section of the facility.

The room beyond was rectangular.

Eight Integration Pods occupied most of the space in two rows of four, leaving a wide aisle through the center. Each pod rested horizontally on a reinforced base, surrounded by its own monitoring equipment and several devices Hans could not immediately recognize.

A glass-fronted control area overlooked all eight pods from the far end.

Another set of doors stood along one side of the chamber, leading into a separate section beyond.

Hans looked toward them.

"What’s over there?"

"Recovery, Commander. Once integration is complete and the candidate is stable enough to leave the pod, they’re transferred there for the rest of the process."

Leaving someone inside one of only eight pods for several days would have been a terrible waste.

Tyrus had already walked closer to the nearest one. He looked through its transparent cover, then toward the equipment surrounding it.

"So this is what you call... my evolution. How strange. How... mystifying."

Hans glanced at him.

"Are you excited about it, doctor?"

"Much more than you think, Commander. At the very least, I might finally understand more of your whole... existence."

"I wouldn’t make it that dramatic." Hans shook his head. "Reechard, kindly help our doctor into his pod please? Thank you."

"As you command." Reechard bowed slightly before walking over to Tyrus.

Through the glass, Hans watched as Reechard pressed a control beside the nearest pod.

The transparent cover lifted with a faint hiss.

"Doctor, please remove your coat and anything loose."

Tyrus looked down at himself.

"My dignity too?"

"If you still have some, doctor."

"Humoring me before the process. Is this supposed to be painful?"

"Depends on your pain tolerance, Doctor."

Hans almost laughed.

Tyrus sighed before removing his laboratory coat and handing it over. Reechard directed him onto the padded interior of the pod.

Several sections adjusted underneath him almost immediately.

The headrest moved first, followed by supports beneath his shoulders and legs. Narrow restraints folded over his wrists, waist and ankles—not particularly tight, but enough to prevent him from suddenly sitting up.

Reechard attached several small contact pads around Tyrus’s neck and temples before pulling another pair against his chest.

Tyrus looked down.

"These are monitors?"

"Among other things."

"Very informative. You don’t like to talk much to someone like me, do you?"

Reechard remained silent. Tyrus watched him for another moment before speaking again.

"Perhaps once this is over, you and I can talk a little bit more."

The transparent cover lowered halfway but remained open.

Reechard returned to the controls.

Hans watched several displays come alive around the pod. Lines of information began moving across them too quickly for him to understand.

"Will this be painful for him?"

"Some of it."

Dianne slightly adjusted her collar.

"The first part is mostly assessment. The pod maps his physiological and neurological baseline, checks identity stability, and determines whether his body and mind are compatible with System registration."

Hans looked at her.

"In normal words?"

"It checks whether putting him into the System will break him, whether he’s actually consenting, and whether anything else is controlling his mind."

Hans looked at her.

"So mind control?"

"Automatic rejection."

Dianne continued.

"Any foreign cognitive control invalidates the candidate’s identity state. The pod isolates the interference and breaks the connection before integration can continue."

"Just like that?"

"This facility was not designed to negotiate with something attempting to overwrite System personnel. If he passes, the pod begins registration. The System establishes a recognized personnel identity and starts synchronizing him with the framework."

"So that’s the point where he becomes one of mine?"

"That’s when the process begins."

Hans looked toward the pod.

"And where does the painful part happen?"

"During deeper mapping and synchronization."

Dianne pointed toward several readings appearing beside Tyrus’s head.

"The nervous system is being examined at a level ordinary medical equipment cannot reach. Certain parts of the integration may stimulate nerves, muscles and sensory pathways while the System establishes a stable baseline."

She paused.

"In simpler terms, his body may complain while the System learns where everything is."

Hans frowned.

That feels a little too familiar.

The restraints. The contacts around Tyrus’s head. Someone lying still while machines watched every reaction.

Something in his mind almost surfaced—a white room and a voice echoing inside his ears, telling him to relax.

And all of it suddenly disappeared.

Where did I experience this before?

His thoughts were interrupted as another set of indicators appeared.

Tyrus was still awake inside the pod, watching Reechard work with more interest than fear.

"What if he doesn’t pass?"

"The process stops. If the System rejects a candidate before protected integration begins, they simply leave as they entered."

"And after?"

"If the candidate has already been exposed to restricted System processes during the assessment, the System removes all protected procedural information acquired from that exposure."

Hans raised a brow.

"Memory wipe?"

"A very narrow and selective one."

"So they won’t wake up wondering who their mother was."

"No, Commander. The System isn’t as crude as you imagine it to be."

"When did I say it was crude?"

Dianne didn’t reply.

Hans looked back through the glass.

Reechard had finished whatever preparation was necessary.

Tyrus’s restraints were secured. The contact points around his body had begun glowing faintly, while more readings filled the screens around him.

Reechard leaned closer to the open section of the pod.

"Doctor Shearman."

Tyrus turned slightly.

"I need your final confirmation before the integration process begins."

The room went silent.

"Do you voluntarily consent to Personnel Integration under Commander Hans Flemmens?"

Tyrus looked through the glass and his eyes found Hans.

Hans said nothing.

A few seconds passed before Tyrus looked back toward Reechard.

"I consent."

A tone sounded inside the room.

------

[ Candidate Consent Confirmed ]

[ Candidate: Tyrus Shearman ]

[ Personnel Integration Eligibility Assessment ]

[ Initializing... ]

------

The transparent cover began lowering.

Tyrus watched it close above him.

The sounds outside gradually became muted until Reechard’s voice and the movement beyond the glass were barely audible.

More lights appeared along the inside of the pod.

Tyrus shifted his eyes toward them.

"Hm."

A line of pale light passed from his head toward his feet.

Then another returned in the opposite direction.

His expression changed—not with fear, but with interest.

Even now, the bastard looked like someone had placed him inside the world’s most expensive laboratory instrument and his first thought was to figure out how it worked.

Hans watched from the other side of the glass.

"He’s enjoying this, isn’t he?"

Dianne looked toward Tyrus.

"I believe so, Commander."

Hans sighed.

"He will never change."