[SYSTEM REPORT: A-01]
DATE: [REDACTED]
SUBJECT: NEURAL STABILITY & CONTAINMENT STATUS
Objectives:
1. Monitor A-01's cognitive activity during inactive states.
2. Ensure containment stability and suppression effectiveness.
3. Record neural response fluctuations and irregularities.
4. Maintain biometric equilibrium within acceptable parameters.
5. Assess potential risks of external interference.
Observation Notes:
- Minor neural fluctuations detected; within suppression threshold.
- Cognitive activity remains subdued-no unauthorized thought patterns recorded.
- Containment integrity stable, no breaches detected prior to incident.
- External interference suspected following system-wide failure.
---
As usual, she is confined to the experimental pod.
Her mind is hazy, wrapped in the numbing embrace of forced dormancy. She drifts between fragments of thought, struggling to grasp anything solid. She can see. She can hear. But it's as if she is trapped behind layers of fog, watching the world through fractured glass.
The battlefield lingers in her mind. Flashes of destruction. Shadows of motion. Faces she doesn't recognize, yet feel familiar. Their screams echo before fading into silence, leaving behind nothing but a hollow ache.
She tries to focus, to latch onto something that doesn't slip away.
A name.
Caleb.
The moment she thinks of it, the chaos in her mind stills for just a second. A fleeting moment of respite in the endless loop. But the memories attached to that name are like a book with missing pages, the ink smudged beyond recognition.
The silence shatters.
A tremor shakes the facility, rattling the pod around her. Distant alarms wail, their sound piercing through the fog that clings to her consciousness. The reinforced walls of the laboratory tremble under the force of the attack, their once-impenetrable structure beginning to fracture.
Then-the sound of breaking glass.
Light floods her vision as the transparent wall of her chamber splinters into a thousand shards. Through the dust and falling debris, her gaze finds a single figure.
A tall silhouette, clad in the black plating of a powered exoskeleton. The harsh glow of emergency lights gleams off its armor, the outline blurred by smoke and chaos.
A mix of familiarity and strangeness grips her.
He steps closer, the ground beneath him cracking under his weight.
"Do you recognize me, A-01?"
The voice-low, steady, and edged with something unreadable-cuts through the static in her mind.
Caleb.
He reaches for her. His fingers brush the crystal switch embedded at her throat, the core of her containment system. A holographic panel flickers to life beneath his touch. He taps a few times-an override command, a sequence known only to those with access.
Something shifts. The weight that has anchored her in this hollow existence loosens, and for the first time in years, she feels something beyond the numbness.
Her senses flood back.
Air rushes into her lungs like a gasp after drowning. Her fingers twitch. Her vision sharpens, fixing on the man standing before her.
She searches through the haze of her mind, piecing together fragments of thought and memory. One name rises to the surface, unshaken by the erosion of time.
"Mira."
Her lips part, the name falling from them before she can even process it.
"Caleb...?"
He exhales. A small, almost imperceptible motion. "That's me."
Another explosion rocks the structure, but neither of them move. The world outside is burning, the facility crumbling around them, yet in this moment, only one thing matters.
His eyes meet hers, steady as ever.
"The rebels have attacked the Central District." His voice is firm, but there's something else there-something softer beneath the surface. "They're looking for you, A-01."