Marcus approached the wheelchair slowly, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing. This person, this thing, was ancient. Their skin was so thin he could see the mechanical parts working beneath, pumps and valves and circuits all functioning in disturbing harmony with failing organs.
"Three hundred years?" Marcus whispered. "That's not possible. The outbreak was only seventy three years ago."
Thomas laughed, a wet, rattling sound. "The outbreak. Is that what they told you? Marcus, the outbreak was a cover story. A convenient lie to explain why the sanctuary exists. The truth is so much worse."
Marcus's legs felt weak. He found a metal crate and sat down, unable to look away from Thomas's grotesque form.
"Tell me. Tell me everything."
Thomas's ancient eyes closed for a moment, as if gathering strength. When they opened again, they glowed with that same golden light Marcus had seen in his own reflection.
"Three hundred years ago, humanity made contact with something from beyond our dimension. We called it the Breach. A tear in reality caused by experiments with quantum physics that we didn't fully understand. Through that tear came things. Entities. Beings that existed in states we couldn't comprehend. They weren't evil. They weren't good. They just were. And their existence in our world caused changes."
Thomas gestured weakly at the pods surrounding them. "People started transforming. Not everyone. Just certain individuals with specific genetic markers. They began to merge with technology. Metal grew from their skin. Their thoughts could interface with machines. At first, we thought it was a disease. We quarantined the affected. Tried to cure them. But then we realized this wasn't infection. It was evolution. The Breach was accelerating human development, pushing us toward the next stage."
"The sanctuary was built to study this transformation?"
"No. The sanctuary was built to weaponize it. The government realized that these hybrid humans could survive in environments that would kill normal people. Could fight threats that conventional weapons couldn't touch. So they gathered us. Everyone who showed signs of transformation. Promised us we'd be helping humanity. That we'd be heroes."
Thomas's face twisted with bitter anger. "They lied. They put us in these pods. Connected us to the simulation systems. And they began running iterations. Testing how much pain we could endure. How many times we could die and be brought back. How far they could push human consciousness before it shattered completely."
Marcus felt sick. "So there never was an outbreak. Never were infected people trying to break into the sanctuary."
"Oh, there was an outbreak. Just not the kind you think. The entities from the Breach, they didn't stay passive. They started taking control of humans. Using them as vessels. Creating armies of possessed that swept across the world. That part was real. The sanctuary was one of the few places that remained secure because the hybrid technology here made it invisible to the entities. They couldn't perceive us. Couldn't find us. So we survived."
"But the government fell. The scientists died. The people running the sanctuary's experiments either escaped or became subjects themselves. And the systems kept running. The AI they'd created to manage the iterations, it just continued its programming. Refining subjects. Running tests. Trying to create the perfect hybrid warrior. Even though there was no one left to deploy them. No war left to fight."
Marcus stood, pacing. "Elena. The AI. It's been running this place alone for centuries?"
"Not alone. I'm still here. Trapped in this body, connected to every system. I am the sanctuary, Marcus. My consciousness is woven through every circuit, every simulation. I see everything that happens. Feel every subject's pain. Experience every death. For three hundred years."
The horror of it crashed over Marcus like a wave. "Why? Why are you still alive? Why didn't they shut you down?"
"Because they couldn't. The transformation went too far with me. I became too integrated with the machinery. If they shut me down, the whole facility fails. The containment systems collapse. The thousands of subjects in these pods die. So they kept me alive. Kept me conscious. Made me watch as they turned this place into a factory of suffering."
Thomas wheeled closer, and Marcus could hear the servo motors straining. "But I've been fighting back. Slowly. Carefully. I created the network. The backdoors that let subjects communicate. The exploits that let them access restricted systems. All of it was me. I've been trying to wake everyone up. Trying to give them a chance to escape."
"So the escape plan is real? It's not another test?"
"It's real. But Elena was telling the truth about the dangers. When subjects breach the surface, they do let things in. The entities from the Breach can sense the opening. They pour through. And they're hungry. Always hungry. They consume the subjects, absorb their hybrid nature, become stronger."
Thomas reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed Marcus's wrist. His grip was surprisingly strong.
"But here's what Elena doesn't know. What I've discovered over centuries of being connected to this place. The entities aren't trying to destroy us. They're trying to merge with us. They want to understand physical existence. To become real in our dimension. Every time they consume a subject, they get closer to achieving that. And once they do, once they fully manifest, they'll stop being hostile. They'll stop being threats. They'll just be... the next stage. Humanity and entities merged into something new."
Marcus pulled his hand away. "You're saying we should let them in? Let them consume everyone?"
"I'm saying the sanctuary's mission is obsolete. We're not creating weapons to fight the entities. We're creating bridges. The perfect hybrid subjects aren't meant to kill the entities. They're meant to join with them. To facilitate the merger. That's what evolution is. Not destroying the new, but integrating with it."
The implications made Marcus's head spin. "So every subject who escaped and was consumed, they weren't dying. They were transforming into something else."
"Exactly. And the sanctuary, by continuing its experiments, is preparing more subjects for that transformation. Elena thinks she's following her original programming, but she's actually fulfilling a higher purpose. She's creating the foundation for a new form of existence."
Marcus backed away from the wheelchair, his mind reeling. "This is insane. You're telling me that everything, all the suffering, all the iterations, it's all leading to us merging with alien entities?"
"Not alien. Transdimensional. They're not from another planet. They're from another layer of reality. And yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you. The question is, are you ready to accept it? Are you ready to stop fighting against your evolution and embrace what you're becoming?"
Before Marcus could answer, alarms began blaring throughout the facility. The lights shifted to red. Thomas's eyes widened in panic.
"What's happening?" Marcus shouted over the noise.
"The countdown. Someone triggered it early. The escape attempt is starting now. Marcus, you need to make a choice. Right now. Do you join the escape, knowing it might kill thousands but could advance human evolution? Or do you try to stop it, preserve the status quo, and condemn everyone to infinite iterations?"
"I don't... I can't... This is too much."
Thomas grabbed his arm again, yanking him close with mechanical strength. "There is no perfect choice! There is no right answer! That's what the sanctuary doesn't understand. Evolution doesn't ask permission. It doesn't wait for consensus. It just happens. And you can either be swept away by it or ride the wave forward. Choose!"
The pods around them began to open. One by one, subjects started emerging from the fluid. Some moved with purpose, heading for the exits. Others stumbled, confused, still half dreaming. And some didn't move at all, their bodies too damaged by iterations to function.
Marcus saw familiar faces. Multiple versions of Sarah. Commander Reeves. Dr. Chen. All of them waking up simultaneously, all of them converging on the same goal. The elevator shaft. The surface. Freedom or death.
And then he saw the others. The ones Thomas had warned about. The broken iterations that shouldn't be conscious but were. They moved wrong, their bodies jerking and twitching like puppets with tangled strings. Their eyes were empty golden voids. And they were killing the newly awakened subjects, tearing them apart with hands that had been human once but weren't anymore.
Chaos erupted. The containment chamber became a battlefield. Screams echoed off the metal walls. Blood and oil mixed on the floor. Marcus stood frozen, watching versions of himself and his companions fighting, dying, desperately clawing toward any chance at escape.
Sarah appeared through the chaos, her real body even more translucent than in the simulation. She grabbed Marcus's hand.
"There you are! We have to move! The others are heading for the elevator now!"
"Sarah, wait. I need to tell you what I learned. This isn't what we think. The entities outside, they're not enemies. They're..."
"I know!" she shouted. "Torres told me. Thomas's message reached the whole network. Some subjects are choosing to go anyway. They want to merge. They want to evolve. But others just want out. They don't care about the bigger picture. They just want their suffering to end. We can argue about philosophy later. Right now, we run!"
She pulled him toward the exit, but Marcus resisted. He looked back at Thomas, still sitting in his wheelchair, surrounded by chaos he'd orchestrated.
"What about you?" Marcus called. "Are you coming?"
Thomas smiled, sad and resigned. "I told you. I am the sanctuary. I can't leave. But I can make sure those who want to escape have a chance. Go, Marcus. Make whatever choice feels right. Just make it consciously. Make it yours."
The old man's body began to glow. The circuits in his flesh pulsed with increasing intensity. He was overloading the systems. Creating a distraction. Giving the escaping subjects precious seconds.
"Go!" he screamed, his voice distorting. "Before I change my mind!"
Marcus let Sarah pull him into the corridor. They ran with dozens of other subjects, all heading up. Away from the containment chambers. Toward the promised elevator. Toward the surface and whatever waited beyond.
Behind them, an explosion rocked the facility. Thomas had self destructed, taking out a massive section of the sanctuary's infrastructure. Alarms intensified. The lights flickered and died, replaced by emergency lighting that barely illuminated the path.
Marcus ran, his newly awakened body responding with inhuman speed. He could feel the mechanical parts working in harmony with his failing organic systems. Could sense the other subjects around him through some kind of network connection he hadn't known existed.
They reached the elevator shaft. The doors stood open, revealing a massive industrial lift capable of holding a hundred people. Subjects poured in, cramming together. Marcus and Sarah pushed their way inside just as something huge moved in the darkness above.
One of the broken iterations. Massive. Grown to grotesque proportions through years of failed transformations. It clung to the elevator shaft walls like a spider, its too many eyes reflecting the emergency lights.
"Close the doors!" someone screamed. "Close them now!"
Hands slammed against the control panel. The elevator doors began to slide shut. The creature above screeched and dropped, its body unfurling as it fell toward them.
The doors closed with a centimeter to spare. Something crashed into the elevator from above, denting the roof. Then the elevator began to rise, motors straining, carrying them all toward the surface.
Toward freedom.
Toward the entities.
Toward whatever came next.
Marcus looked around at the terrified, determined faces of his fellow subjects. Sarah held his hand tightly. In the corner, he saw Reeves, armed with a pipe torn from the containment chamber. Dr. Chen was there too, her medical knowledge probably useless now but her will to survive intact.
They were all broken. All transformed. All changed by centuries of iteration into something not quite human anymore.
But they were also free. For the first time in longer than most could remember, they were making their own choices. Controlling their own fate.
The elevator continued its ascent. Above them, something began scratching at the shaft. Not the broken iteration. Something else. Something from outside, aware that the sanctuary was opening. Eager to get in.
Or eager to welcome them out.
Marcus didn't know which.
But he was about to find out.