Beyond the archive chamber, a maintenance hatch unlocks with a reluctant clack. It retracts into the wall, revealing a transit spine absent from every structural map, its rails drowned in dust and emergency amber light.
Mara steps beside the opening while the four quarantine drones remain behind at the archive threshold, their liaison channel still recording. A damaged service drone glides from the transit spine, one stabilizer flickering.
Mara Venn
That route was omitted deliberately, or erased before the map was compiled. Do not let the drone reach your spores until we know what it carries.
The service drone projects fractured footage into the air. A recorded crew member, a middle-aged woman with a compact build, dark skin, close-cropped black hair, and a dark utility suit with a sealed canister harness in a dark utility suit carries a sealed culture canister through this same spine toward the fabrication bay, moving with practiced urgency.
The image breaks into static before the canister reaches the bay. Then the drone’s recognition lights turn from blue to red as its sensors identify Lokier’s spore signature, and it changes course toward him.
Mara Venn
It recognized you from the recording, not from the authority network. That may mean the canister was part of the same experiment. Hold still while I read its damaged memory.
The drone advances along the transit rail, shedding a faint trail of overheated dust. Its projector collapses, leaving only the red recognition beam fixed on Lokier as the uncharted spine stretches into darkness.
Behind them, the quarantine drones continue watching the archive without pursuit. Mara remains at Lokier’s side, one hand near her scanner, while the damaged machine closes the remaining distance.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the service drone's route and breach evidence