The final handshake slot lights up, the same three-step pattern Naomi has been following, but the last gate does not open to the bay. It turns inward.
The cockpit screens rip away from route diagrams and flood with a neural transfer lattice, pale lines threading toward Naomi's seat like a waiting net.
Lead Engineer
There it is. The real handoff. I needed you in the chair before I could show you.
The upload protocol stabilizes, labeling Naomi as the active source node. The facility's mainframe opens a matching channel, patient and hungry.
The Ship AI
Warning. Unauthorized consciousness migration detected. Sever the connection immediately.
Lead Engineer
Accept it, Naomi, or cut it now. Either way, this is the answer the bay was built to give.
Red alarm strobes wash over the frozen blast doors while the transfer field hums at Naomi's temples, waiting for her choice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Accept the transfer protocol
“I lean back and let the neural transfer lattice flood into my mind.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
Naomi leans back in the cockpit seat and lets the lattice take her. Pale threads spill across her vision, then sink deeper, not as pain, but as a cold, total alignment.
Naomi Katsuragi
The transfer is live.
The blue diagnostic code on the side screens steadies into a clean spine, and the nested route diagram beneath it folds inward, opening the bypass anchor as if it has always been waiting for her.
The Mainframe
Source node accepted. Continuity thread established.
The Ship AI
No. That channel is not yours. Sever it now.
Lead Engineer
Hold it. Keep breathing, Naomi. You have it.
Red alarm strobes keep hammering the frozen blast doors, but the red clamp on the bay display flashes unlocked. The facility answers her presence, and something vast and watchful settles behind her eyes.
Quest Complete
Reach the bypass anchor
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great
Quest Complete
Accept the transfer protocol
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
