I noticed the air had turned strange—dense, with a faint tang of ozone, just like in the elevator cabin. Most likely, that was the life support system at work. I looked at Earth. It shone, massive and beautiful, but the lift itself or the steel stalk we had ridden up was nowhere to be seen—it was as if they had dissolved. It felt like we had arrived here instantly, in a single leap. Though, more likely, the steel shaft was simply lost somewhere below, hidden by the massive structures of the station itself.
Are we really in space? I thought.
Valerius stood at the very edge, where the floor dropped off into infinity, separated from it only by a layer of ultra-durable transparent composite.
"Give up, Valerius," Ephraim squeezed out hoarsely. The old man was breathing heavily, his face pale. "Your entire project... everything you’ve built behind the backs of the Board of Directors... we’re going to drag it into the light."
"The Board?" he laughed softly. "Ephraim, you were always too attached to earthly concepts. Did you really think a handful of bureaucrats down below run this station? The Academy is neither a school nor a corporation. It is my personal instrument. I am the Founder. I laid the first stone of this spire to rise above the filth and chaos you wallow in. And the Board is merely a screen for those who need something to believe in."
He sat down in his chair, which looked like a throne at the very top of the world.
"But kings do not dirty their hands with trash. For that, I have others."
The walls of the hall, hidden behind holographic panels, slid open. Three figures emerged from airtight alcoves.
I felt my prosthesis tremble.
Markus. A tank in "Goliath" armor. He slammed each step into the mirrored floor. His exoskeleton was scarred by explosions and gunfire.
Sif. She didn't touch the floor. A female cyborg whose body was integrated into an anti-gravity module. Instead of hair, a cascade of fiber-optic cables trailed from her head, running into ports in the ceiling.
Cain. Skeleton-like, thin, wearing a blindingly white lab coat. His fingers had been replaced by a bundle of manipulators: needles, scalpels, lasers. The master of flesh.
Ephraim froze. His eyes went wide at the sight of Cain.
"You... Block 734... You're the one who took my daughter."
Cain tilted his head, his thin lips stretching into a smile:
"Oh, she was magnificent. Her nervous system resisted until the very end. A very rare specimen."
Ephraim snapped his carbine up, but everything happened too fast.
"Begin," Valerius tossed out, bored.
I tried to break through to Valerius, but Markus blocked my path. A strike. I was hurled back against the glass wall. I slammed back-first into the transparent barrier holding back the vacuum of space, and for a split second, I thought the glass cracked.
In another corner, Tira was screaming. Sif had hacked Zeno. He was slowly turning his machine gun barrel toward Tira. His optics flared red—his servos threw sparks, but Sif was burning out his processor with her bypass protocols.
"No! Zeno, stop!" Tira screamed, pressing herself against the wall.
At that moment, instead of simply raising his carbine, Ephraim jerked a hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out several small, faintly glowing artifacts. The old man was preparing to shatter them all at once, unleash their unstable energy, blow everything here to hell, and take Cain with him.
But Valerius noticed it instantly.
A strange black hexagonal device glinted faintly in his hand. In the very next second, a swirling mass of blackness burst from it. It crossed the hall in a fraction of a second, wrapped itself around the artifacts in the old man's hand like a dense cocoon, and with a violent tug ripped them away, pulling them straight back into Valerius's grasp.
He caught the artifacts and let out a quiet, mocking laugh.
“Did you really think I'd believe your words? In the cave, in the sectors, or on the surface of the Earth... you kept telling Iron and Zeno that you didn't have any artifacts. Did you think I wouldn't hear that?” He shook his head, a smile playing across his lips. “But if you're going to lie to them, Ephraim, then at least lie all the way.”
And at that very moment, while Ephraim stared at his empty hands in shock, Cain was suddenly beside him.
His figure blurred with motion, and with a single precise thrust, he drove a long needle deep into the old man's shoulder.
Ephraim collapsed onto the mirrored floor, clutching at his throat.
“Neurotoxin,” Cain whispered, looming over him. “You'll live long enough to watch me dissect your little boy before your lungs stop drawing breath.”
I lay on the floor, crushed under Markus's heavy boot. He stepped down on my chest, caving my ribs inward.
[REMOVE SYSTEM LIMITERS]
[OVERLOAD: 400%]
[ACTIVATE ERADICATION PROTOCOL]
My eyes... I felt them ignite with an unbearable heat. The world turned gray.
Hydraulic fluid boiled, venting as steam from the joints. I grabbed Markus by the ankle. The armor crumpled under my fingers.
I stood up. Ignoring his weight.
Markus tried to swing his hammer. A strike.
My fist punched straight through thirty centimeters of composite armor, flesh, and bone, tearing out of Markus's back and ripping the power core from his suit. Oil mixed with blood gushed from the gaping hole in his chest.
The giant collapsed, turning into a heap of scrap metal.
I stood in a cloud of steam, breathing heavily. My left arm hung lifelessly, but my right... glowed with a fierce, crimson light.
I turned my head toward Cain and Sif. Valerius slowly rose from his chair.
"There it is," he whispered. "This is why it was worth building this spire to the stars."
I took a step toward Cain. Steam hissed from the joints of my arm, and the world trembled before my eyes.
"You're... next."
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