The relay station remains sealed and quiet beneath the transit exchange. Gwen keeps Milo secured near the entrance while Vesper watches the manual locks, and Reina preserves Vale’s route beside the isolated console.
The shard rests beside the air-gapped bridge. Its dormant signal wakes in narrow pulses, matching a buried Lazarus authorization layer beneath Vale’s mirrored session.
Reina Sato
The shard is not broadcasting outward. It is recognizing the relay’s old credential structure and asking for an authorization response.
Tomas Vale
That layer can unlock Saint Marrow’s sublevel intake. It was built for prototype transfers, not patients. Venn hid it because the route bypasses clinical oversight.
Reina freezes the matching signal and copies the authorization exchange into her isolated mirror. A second route appears, leading beneath the tower without touching its clinical network.
Tomas Vale
The shard carries a partial access token. Combined with my override, it can open the archive corridor. Without both, the tower flags the approach and purges the files.
Gwen Armitage
Then explain exactly what the shard unlocks, and what waits beyond that corridor. We are not carrying an unknown key into Saint Marrow Tower.