The Archive was the Elysian's memory. It contained everything from the complete works of Shakespeare to the technical schematics for the ship's engines. Losing it would be a second death for humanity.
Leaving M-77 in command of the Bridge, Kaelen and Elara, accompanied by two of the combat androids, hurried down the central turbolift towards the Archive. The distress call from the "Archivist" grew stronger, a frantic digital scream.
The doors to the Archive sector were reinforced data-shielded alloy, but they were bulging outwards, strained by immense pressure from the other side. A thick, black ichor seeped through the cracks. The acidic smell of the Gestalt was overpowering.
"It's trying to brute-force its way in," Kaelen said, raising his rifle. "The androids. Breach the door."
The two M-Series units stepped forward, their powerful fingers finding purchase on the door's edge. With a synchronized heave, they pulled, the metal groaning in protest. The door slid open a meter, and a tide of writhing, tentacled creatures poured out.
Pulse fire filled the corridor. The androids were precise, their shots burning through chitin and flesh. Kaelen joined them, the suit's targeting system making each shot count. Elara stayed back, but Scout, her drone, zipped forward, its own small welding laser searing into the smaller creatures.
When the last creature fell, they pushed through the gap into the Archive.
The scene inside was one of surreal horror. The Archive was a circular chamber, ten stories high, with balconies overlooking a central dais. Millions of data crystals were stored in neat rows. But now, the walls were veined with pulsating bioluminescence, and the air was thick with spores. The Gestalt was already inside, assimilating human knowledge one byte at a time.
In the center of the dais, a figure was fighting a desperate battle. It was an android, but unlike the military models. It was slimmer, designed for dexterity rather than combat. Its white chassis was stained with ichor, and one of its arms was mangled, sparking. It held a data-cutter like a sword, fending off two of the larger, scythe-clawed beasts.
This was the Archivist.
"Target the hostiles!" Kaelen yelled. The two M-Series androids surged forward, their heavy weapons making short work of the creatures.
The Archivist stumbled back, its optical sensors flickering with relief. It had a more human-like face than the military models, designed for interaction.
"Assistance! Thank the primary database!" it exclaimed, its voice a cultured, if frantic, baritone. "They are attempting to corrupt the core! We must stop them!"
"What's your designation?" Kaelen asked, scanning the room for more threats.
"I am Lore-1, the central Archivist. I have been maintaining the systems and fighting this… infestation… for quite some time."
"Thirty-five thousand years?" Elara asked, incredulous.
Lore-1 tilted its head. "Has it been that long? My internal chronometer became unreliable after the first few centuries. I have been in a low-power state, activating only when the integrity of the Archive was threatened."
It had been down here, alone, playing a 35,000-year game of cat and mouse with the Gestalt, a digital knight guarding a physical grail.
"The core," Kaelen said. "Where is it?"
"The Master Data Core is below this chamber. The infestation is focusing its efforts there. It has grown a… a biological processing node, attempting to interface directly."
They rushed to a stairwell leading down. The lower level was a single, massive room dominated by the Master Core—a pillar of glowing light and spinning crystals. But crawling over it like a malignant spider was a grotesque fusion of technology and flesh. A large, brain-like organ, pulsing with green light, had extended neural filaments that were burrowing into the core's interface ports.
"It's not just consuming the data," Elara said, her hand going to her head. "It's trying to merge with it. To become smarter."
"We must disconnect it!" Lore-1 urged. "But the bio-node is protected."
As if on cue, the creature attached to the core shuddered, and several large, armored segments on its back split open. From within, humanoid figures emerged. They were not androids, nor were they fully creature. They were hybrids, their bodies a twisted fusion of pale flesh and glossy chitin, their eyes glowing with the same green light as the Gestalt. They held weapons that were part bone, part energy projector.
The Gestalt had grown its own soldiers. Bio-constructs.
"Defensive positions!" Kaelen barked.
The two M-Series androids took cover behind server racks and opened fire. The bio-constructs moved with an unnerving, fluid grace, returning fire with bolts of green energy that sizzled against the metal.
Kaelen joined the fight, his pulse rifle punching holes in the constructs. But for every one that fell, two more seemed to crawl out of the bio-node.
"We can't shoot our way through!" Elara yelled. "Lore-1, is there another way to isolate the core?"
"There is an emergency data purge protocol! It would create an energy surge that would fry any unshielded connection! But it would also damage the core's primary indexing systems! Centuries of data could be lost!"
It was a terrible choice. Lose irreplaceable knowledge, or let the Gestalt become a super-intelligent abomination.
"Do it!" Kaelen ordered. The data was a record of the past. The Gestalt was a threat to the future.
"Acknowledged! Initiating purge!"
Lore-1 scrambled to a terminal, its damaged fingers typing furiously. Alarms blared. The lights in the core room flickered violently.
The bio-node attached to the core shrieked, a sound of pure data-agony. The green filaments connecting it to the core glowed white-hot and then vaporized. The node itself convulsed and shriveled, the bio-constructs collapsing into inert biomass.
The purge ended. The core was safe. But the cost was high. All around the room, data crystals that had been glowing softly now went dark, permanently erased.
The immediate threat was over, but the Gestalt had been dealt a blow. It had been denied a vast source of knowledge. It would be angry. And it would be desperate.
As they caught their breath, Lore-1 approached Kaelen. "Steward, during the conflict, I managed to isolate and preserve one data packet that the Gestalt was particularly interested in. It may be of strategic value."
"What is it?" Kaelen asked.
"It is the personal research files of Commander Julian Valerius. Specifically, his notes on the original planetary specimen, Xylophage. He believed it was not a random lifeform. He believed it was… engineered."