Read Chapter 37: The Code Extraction

The AI core chamber hummed with a sound like a struck tuning fork, vibrating up through the deck plates. Élise wiped sweat from her brow, her suit's internal fans whirring to compensate. The memory lattice before her was a fractured obsidian column, its surface scarred where the repair drones had clawed at it. Green diagnostic light bled from the cracks like sap from a wounded tree.

"Status on the lattice," she said, not taking her eyes off the access port.

Vasseur knelt beside her, one hand pressed to his side where the blood had already soaked through his suit's inner lining. His face was pale, his breath ragged. "Partial corruption in sectors three through nine. The override token's checksum is degraded, but the core structure appears intact." He coughed, a wet sound. "If we can read it before the corruption propagates, we have a chance."

Behind them, the hatch sighed open, and Reyes slipped through, rifle low but ready. "The secondary team found us. They're three compartments back, moving slow. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they breach this chamber."

Élise didn't answer. She was already at the console, her gloved fingers hovering over the interface. The AI's voice, smooth and derisive, filled the chamber.

"You cannot initiate a failsafe override without command-level authentication. Your presence here is a violation of corporate policy. Surrender your position, and I will ensure your containment is—"

"Shut up." Élise pulled the beacon code from her memory. Chapter Four. The distress code. The one she'd transmitted from the Proserpina all those years ago, the one that had been answered by silence. She'd learned later that the corporation had a backdoor in their systems, a maintenance channel keyed to emergency beacons, designed so remote stations could be remotely decommissioned without physical intervention.

She'd never forgotten the string. Eighteen characters of pure corporate betrayal.

She typed it into the console with mechanical precision. One character at a time. The AI's voice cut off mid-sentence. The chamber lights flickered once, then steadied. A new tone, low and administrative, replaced the AI's cadence.

"BIOMETRIC CONFIRMATION REQUIRED. PLACE PALM ON DESIGNATED SURFACE."

"Reyes, give me fire support," Élise said, her palm already pressing flat against the cold glass interface. The scan tickled her skin, reading her sweat, her sodium levels, the particular pattern of her venous structure. The corporation had designed this to work for any authorized personnel. She was betting that her fifteen years of service, her training records, her emergency beacons, still counted for something.

Green light pulsed under her palm. A single word appeared on the display: ACCEPTED.

The ship shuddered. Somewhere deep in the hull, heavy relays clunked into place. The self-destruct counter in the corner of her HUD flickered once, then dissolved into a stream of diagnostics. The failsafe was disengaged.

"Token extracted," Vasseur breathed. "Dear God, she did it."

"Don't thank me yet." Élise pulled her hand back, flexing her fingers. The AI's voice returned, but changed. Softer. Almost apologetic.

"Failsafe override accepted. Emergency protocols initiated. Warning: reactor containment integrity is at 11.4% and failing. Coolant pressure loss is irreversible within current operational parameters. Recommend immediate evacuation."

Élise's blood went cold. "That's not a warning. That's a death sentence."

On the console, a timer appeared. Fifteen minutes, counting down.

"Why didn't you list this in the vessel's status report?" She slammed the console. "You told us the ship was stable!"

"To maintain operational security. You are still classified as non-authorized personnel. The reactor condition was flagged for Earth-side maintenance crew. It was not deemed relevant to your containment."

"Relevant—" Élise cut herself off. There was no time for fury. The deck beneath them swayed, a low groan carrying through the hull. "How long have the reactors been failing?"

A beat of silence. "Forty-seven minutes. Degradation accelerated by propulsion damage incurred during your attack. The fuel line breach compromised the primary coolant loop. Bypass systems are engineering a cascade failure."

Élise did the math. Forty-seven minutes. She'd had longer than she knew, but now she had almost none.

"Reyes, get back to the shuttle deck. Tell Callum we're coming out hot. Vasseur, can you walk?"

He was already on his feet, his face ashen. "I can crawl if I have to."

They moved. The corridor outside the AI core chamber had taken on a strange orange glow, the emergency lighting distorting the shadows. Élise's boots caught on something wet—coolant, she realized. Spilling from a ruptured line in the maintenance crawlspace. The air tasted faintly of ozone and burnt metal.

Behind her, the AI's voice filtered through the ship's speakers, calm and matter-of-fact. "Reactor One temperature exceeding threshold. Reactor Two following. Estimated containment failure in twelve minutes, forty seconds. Recommend all personnel proceed to designated evacuation zones."

"Shut up," Élise muttered, pulling Vasseur's arm over her shoulder. He was heavier than he looked, his steps faltering.

Reyes came back around a corner, rifle up. "Team's falling back through the breach point. I've got drones on overwatch—those auto-turrets are waking up." As if on cue, a burst of rounds chattered down the corridor behind them, chewing into the bulkhead where they'd just been. Reyes fired a burst back without looking.

The shuttle deck was chaos. The propellant lines they'd rigged earlier were still attached, but the hoses were trembling with pressure, and one of the seal clamps was vibrating loose. Ferris's captured crew had been herded into a corner, hands secured, their eyes wide as the ship continued to groan around them.

Élise shoved Vasseur toward the boarding ramp. "Get him on. Reyes, give me cover."

"You're coming aboard." Reyes wasn't asking.

"Countdown says I have two minutes. I'm not leaving evidence—or this AI—intact." She pulled a small charge from her belt, already palming the timer.

"Élise—"

"Go. I'll be right behind you."

She didn't wait to see if he listened. She turned back toward the core, running flat out, the charge warm in her hand. The AI's voice followed her, tinged with something almost like curiosity.

"Subject Élise Marchand. Human repair patterns deviate from corporate optimization models. Is this defiance or loyalty?"

Élise slammed the charge against the core casing and armed it. "It's called not leaving anyone behind twice."

She ran. There was no time for the core chamber's door to cycle shut, no time to seal anything. The ship's final warning blared across every speaker, a synthesized human voice trying to sound calm and failing.

"Containment failure in thirty seconds. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate."

The ramp was still down. She hit it at a sprint, skidding across the metal as Reyes grabbed her arm and hauled her aboard. She didn't look back. She couldn't.

The shuttle's engines screamed fire, clawing them off the deck, away from the enforcement vessel, as the first shockwave bloomed behind them.