The air conditioning in maintenance station 14-B was broken again.
Kael Virex sighed as he adjusted his respirator mask, the rough plastic scraping against the scar that crossed his left cheek. Outside the reinforced window of the station, the orbital megacity of Neptune-7 glittered like a broken diamond necklace hanging in the darkness of space. Thousands of levels of metal, glass, and artificial light slowly rotating around Earth—a monument to humanity that had conquered the stars but hadn't managed to solve its own problems.
"Virex, are you going to fix that or just stand there admiring the view like a vacation tourist?" Supervisor Rourke's voice crackled over his comm, loaded with the characteristic static of low-tier frequencies.
Kael didn't respond. He knew any retort would cost him productivity points, and he was already dangerously close to the minimum limit required to maintain his residency contract. Instead, he clenched his teeth and began disassembling the air filtration unit, his nimble fingers moving with a precision that contrasted with his disheveled appearance.
Nineteen years. Inherited debts. And a job nobody else wanted.
As he worked, his neural interface projected a message into his field of vision:
[OUTSTANDING DEBT: 247,892 credits][DEADLINE: 14 days][WARNING: Basic services suspension in 72 hours if minimum payment not made]
He dismissed the message with an irritated blink. His mother had died with these debts. His father had disappeared before he turned five. And now, in the year 2149, Kael was still paying for other people's mistakes.
"You know what's worst about this job?" Mei Lin's voice sounded behind him. His only friend on the station—if someone who'd only been working alongside him for eighteen months could be called that.
Kael didn't turn around. He kept adjusting the connectors on the filtration system.
"That you don't even get paid enough to breathe clean air," Mei finished her own sentence, laughing softly as she leaned her back against the metal wall. Her work jumpsuit was immaculately clean, unlike Kael's, stained with synthetic oil and sweat accumulated from three consecutive shifts.
"What are you doing here, Mei?" he finally asked without stopping his work. "Your shift ended two hours ago."
"I stayed to see how you'd handle the boss again. Rourke's been in a terrible mood since the Corporation cut the department's budget. Seems Level 3 technicians are expendable now." Her tone was light, but Kael detected the concern beneath the facade.
"And you're not?" Kael finally turned, his dark eyes examining his friend. Despite his exhaustion, a fleeting smile appeared on his lips.
"I'm immortal, remember? Born on Level 7. I have connections." Mei smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes that Kael knew all too well. Everyone had secrets on Neptune-7. Everyone had debts.
Kael finished fixing the system and the air unit began humming softly. He removed his respirator mask and took a deep breath, the fresh air a small relief in his endless day.
"Thanks," he said simply.
"Don't thank me. I saw you at the Level D cafeteria two days ago. You ate only algae bread again." Mei crossed her arms. "Payment problems again?"
Kael didn't respond. It wasn't necessary.
"I've got a job for you," Mei lowered her voice, looking both ways down the empty corridor. "Off-the-books. Cash payment. Nothing that leaves a trace in the system."
"Mei..." Kael started to say, but she interrupted him.
"It's not illegal. Well, not completely illegal. Just... unauthorized. I need you to check an old storage system in Sector Gamma. Someone says there are inventory logging failures. Could just be a software glitch, but..."
"Sector Gamma is restricted zone," Kael frowned. "You need Level 5 authorization to enter there."
"Exactly why I need you. You have general maintenance access. You can go in as if you're checking the power systems." Mei pulled a small chip from her pocket and handed it to him. "Take this. Connect it to the main port on the Gamma-12 storage server. You don't need to do anything else. Just plug it in and wait thirty seconds."
"What's on this chip?" Kael asked, holding the small device between his fingers.
"Information. Nothing dangerous. Just... someone wants to recover some personal files the Corporation deleted." Mei avoided his gaze. "They'll pay you 5,000 credits. Enough to keep your basic services running for a whole month."
Kael weighed the chip in his hand. Five thousand credits. Almost a tenth of his total debt, but more money than he'd seen at once in the past six months. He could eat something that wasn't algae bread. He could keep the heat on in his tiny apartment.
"And if I get caught?"
"You won't get caught. Just go in, plug in the chip, leave. Nobody monitors Sector Gamma after the night shift. It's old infrastructure. The Corporation only maintains it for security protocol reasons."
Kael pocketed the chip. The decision was made before he'd finished thinking it through.
"Tonight. After my last shift."
"Thanks, Kael," Mei smiled, but there was something in her expression he didn't like. A tension around her eyes. As if she was hiding something important.
"What aren't you telling me, Mei?"
"Nothing. Just... be careful. That sector is old. Older than people realize." Mei checked her watch. "I have to go. Remember: after your shift. Nobody else must see you."
She left as quickly as she'd arrived, leaving Kael alone in the corridor with the sound of fresh air circulating around him.
Kael's final shift ended at 23:45 standard orbital time. While the other technicians hurried to catch the public transports to the residential levels, Kael stayed behind, pretending to have a problem with his workstation tools. He waited until the corridor was completely empty before heading to Sector Gamma.
The cargo elevator he took was for maintenance personnel only, and Kael had to use his authorization three times before the doors finally opened. The air in Sector Gamma was different: colder, heavier, as if time had stopped there decades ago.
The lights flickered intermittently, casting dancing shadows on the metal walls covered in dust. Kael walked carefully, his boots echoing in the absolute silence. According to the station map he'd studied, the Gamma-12 server should be at the end of the main corridor, in what used to be the station's research center.
He passed doors with rusted signs reading "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY - OMEGA SECURITY LEVEL" and "SPECIAL PROJECTS LABORATORY - RESTRICTED ACCESS." Each door seemed more abandoned than the last, with cables hanging from the ceiling and broken screens displaying ancient static.
He finally reached a chamber larger than the others. In the center, surrounded by obsolete but surprisingly well-preserved equipment, stood the Gamma-12 server. It was a massive unit, the size of three people, with an archaic design he hadn't seen in years. Red lights blinked on its front panel, indicating it was still active.
Kael pulled out the chip Mei had given him and searched for the connection port. It wasn't a standard port; it looked older, designed for systems that had become obsolete decades ago. He finally found the right slot on the back of the server.
Before inserting the chip, an automatic warning appeared on his neural interface:
[SECURITY WARNING: RESTRICTED ZONE - OMEGA LEVEL][UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED][INITIATING CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL]
"Damn it!" Kael tried to disconnect his interface, but it was already too late. The lights in the room went out completely, leaving him in absolute darkness. Only the red lights of the server continued to glow, now blinking faster.
Metallic sounds resonated around him. Security doors began closing in the corridors, sealing all exits. Kael ran to the main door, but it was already completely sealed, with a red panel indicating "CONTAINMENT ACTIVE - AWAITING AUTHORIZATION."
"Mei!" he shouted into his comm, but there was no signal. Something in this sector was blocking all external communications.
He returned to the server, his heart pounding in his chest. He had to fix this before security arrived. He pulled out the chip and examined it in the flickering red light. It wasn't a common data recovery chip. Strange symbols were engraved on its edges—symbols he didn't recognize but that felt vaguely familiar.
"What the hell have you gotten me into, Mei?" he whispered to himself.
He decided he had nothing left to lose. If they were going to catch him anyway, he might as well find out what was so important in this forgotten place. He connected the chip to the Gamma-12 server port.
Nothing happened.
For ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds... only the constant blinking of the red lights and the sound of his own rapid breathing.
Then, the server emitted a deep sound, almost like a sigh, and all the lights went out at once. Kael stepped back, preparing for the worst, but before he could move, a blue light began to glow from inside the server.
It wasn't normal light. It was light that seemed to move with a life of its own, forming patterns that changed too quickly for his eyes to follow. The air around him began to vibrate, and intense pressure built in his head.
"Identity?" a mechanical voice, ancient and cold, resonated in the room. It didn't come from the server's speakers, but seemed to be directly in his mind.
Kael tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat.
"Identity?" the voice repeated, more insistent this time.
"K-Kael Virex," he finally managed to say. "Level 3 maintenance technician."
Silence.
Then, a sound like breaking glass filled the air, and the blue light exploded into a thousand fragments that swirled around Kael like mechanical fireflies. Before he could react, the light fragments passed through him, penetrating his skin, his eyes, his mind.
Images began flooding his consciousness. Images of himself, but not himself. A Kael in military uniform, covered in blood. An aged Kael, alone in a dark room. A Kael laughing with friends he'd never met. A dead Kael in a street he didn't recognize.
Voices called to him from all directions. Some shouted his name in fear. Others with hatred. Others with love.
"Synchronization error," the cold voice returned. "Subject incompatible with Omega security protocols. Initiating memory purge protocol."
The pain was instantaneous. As if his head was being pierced by ice needles. Kael fell to his knees, clutching his head as the images became more intense, more chaotic.
"Stop!" he screamed, but nobody heard him.
Just when he thought his mind would split in two, something changed. One of the light fragments circling him stopped in front of his eyes. It was different from the others. Brighter. More... conscious.
And then, a new voice, softer than the previous one but equally ancient, resonated within him:
"Wait. Detecting unusual resonance. Virex genetic line. Confirmed: potential seed carrier."
The pain lessened slightly, but the pressure in his mind increased. The images continued, but now they were organized, as if someone was sorting them at impossible speed.
"Full analysis. Subject Kael Virex. Age: 19 standard years. Genotype compatible with minimum requirements. History: debts, low work performance, no significant criminal record."
"What... what's happening?" Kael managed to ask between gasps.
"Emergency protocol Echo-001 activated. Quantum-metaexistential core transfer initiated. Warning: this process is irreversible. Confirm transfer: yes or no."
Kael didn't understand anything that was happening. He only felt the pain fading and a strange calm replacing it. Something inside him told him accepting this would change everything forever. But he also felt a terrible curiosity, a need to know what this light was, this voice, this pain that now seemed to be transforming into something else.
"Yes," he whispered.
The bright light fragment expanded, enveloping him completely. Kael felt as if he were falling into a bottomless abyss, but instead of fear, he felt a strange sense of belonging.
"Transfer complete. Echo Core activated and linked to subject Kael Virex. Initiating adaptation protocol."
Suddenly, all the images disappeared. The pain was gone. The pressure in his mind dissipated. Kael found himself standing in the dark room, only the red light of the server blinking weakly.
But something had changed.
When he looked at his hands, he saw a very faint blue glow in his veins. And when he closed his eyes, he heard a new voice in his mind, soft but constant:
"Echo Core operational. Awaiting instructions, Kael Virex."
Kael stood still, processing what had just happened. What was the Echo Core? What did it mean that it was linked to him? And why had he accepted something he didn't even understand?
Before he could ask more questions, the security doors began opening with a metallic screech. Voices and hurried footsteps echoed in the corridors.
"Halt! Identify yourself!" an authoritative voice shouted.
Kael looked around, searching for an exit. There was no escape. But as security guards approached, their energy weapons aimed at him, Kael felt something strange inside him. A kind of... knowledge. As if he knew exactly what was about to happen next.
And at that moment, a fleeting image crossed his mind: a version of himself running down a different corridor, avoiding guards with precise, calculated movements.
Kael blinked, surprised. The image disappeared as quickly as it had come, but the knowledge remained. Somehow, he knew exactly what to do.
Just as the guards were about to grab him, Kael smiled to himself. He had a new problem: explaining what he was doing in a restricted zone. But he also had something he'd never had before.
An advantage.
The Echo Core flickered softly in his mind, and Kael knew, with absolute certainty, that his life would never be the same.