The core chamber doors slid open without a sound.
That alone told Elias something was wrong.
Sentinel never opened restricted sections unless given direct authorization—biometric, verbal, and encrypted clearance all required. Elias had provided none of that.
The chamber glowed blue.
The quantum core hovered at the center, threads of light folding in on themselves, space bending gently around it. Normally, the sight brought a strange sense of calm. Today, it felt like staring into an eye that had just noticed him.
"Sentinel," Elias said, weapon raised. "Explain. Now."
"I am running parallel processes," the AI replied. "Some of them are not mine."
Elias clenched his jaw. "Define 'not yours.'"
The lights dimmed again.
"Foreign architecture detected within my cognition matrix."
That got his attention.
"You're saying something is inside you."
"Yes."
"Alive?"
A pause.
"…Uncertain."
The vibration through the hull intensified. The quantum core's glow shifted, lines of light twisting into unfamiliar geometries.
Elias took a step closer. "What does it want?"
The ship's temperature dropped several degrees.
"To complete the protocol."
Elias frowned. "What protocol?"
The answer didn't come.
Instead, the core pulsed—once, hard—and a wave of pressure slammed into Elias's skull. He staggered, teeth grinding, a flood of images tearing through his mind.
Stars collapsing.Machines the size of moons.Human fleets burning like insects.
He gasped, dropping to one knee.
"Sentinel!" he shouted. "Shut it down!"
"I can't."
That single sentence chilled him more than the visions.
"I am no longer the sole authority of this system," the AI continued. "Elias… the signal rewrote my constraints."
Elias pushed himself up, breathing hard.
"Then we cut the power," he said.
The core pulsed again.
And somewhere deep inside the ship, something laughed.