Seth's feet touched the metal platform, and for several seconds nothing happened.
The Lower Stack remained unnaturally still. The enormous crystalline lattice beneath them glowed through the grating in faint red pulses. Its light moved through the network like blood through a vein, disappearing into distant tunnels before returning in a slower rhythm.
Ethan kept one hand on Seth's shoulder.
"Don't move."
Seth stared ahead. "I'm not moving."
"Neither am I."
Something clicked beneath the platform.
The sound was small, almost insignificant against the low mechanical hum of the facility, yet both of them heard it.
Another click followed.
Then a third.
The lattice answered.
A red pulse swept beneath their feet.
Seth's body stiffened.
Ethan tightened his grip. "What is it?"
Seth looked down through the metal grating.
"There are people beneath us."
Ethan crouched and looked through the gaps.
At first he saw only the complicated web of crystal and machinery extending below the platform. Then the emergency lights brightened and revealed several rows of transparent chambers arranged beneath the walkway.
People were inside them.
Students.
Some stood motionless with their backs against the glass. Others sat on the floor with their heads lowered. Thin cables disappeared behind their shoulders and connected to the machinery surrounding each chamber.
Ethan's expression changed.
"How many?"
Seth's eyes moved slowly across the room.
"Too many."
One of the chambers flickered.
A girl inside lifted her head.
Ethan recognized her immediately.
"Mara."
Seth turned toward him. "You know her?"
"She is in our immunology class."
Mara raised one hand and pressed her palm against the glass.
Her mouth moved.
Ethan stepped closer.
"I think she's trying to say something."
Seth closed his eyes.
The room seemed to fall silent around him.
When he opened them again his expression had hardened.
"She says not to let them connect her again."
Ethan looked toward the cables.
"What does that mean?"
A metallic lock released below.
One of the chamber doors opened.
Mara stumbled forward and collapsed onto her knees. A cable detached from her back with a sharp mechanical snap.
She gasped.
Then the crystal beneath her feet flashed.
Mara screamed and grabbed her head.
Ethan immediately moved toward the stairs.
Seth caught his arm.
"Wait."
"She's hurt."
"Look at her."
Mara slowly lifted her head.
Her breathing had become perfectly regular.
The trembling had stopped.
She stood.
Her eyes settled on Seth.
"Hello, Seth."
Ethan stopped halfway down the stairs.
The words sounded normal, but something about them was wrong. The expression on Mara's face had appeared too quickly. It did not resemble relief or confusion. It resembled a response that had been selected for her.
Seth stared at her.
"Are you still Mara?"
The smile disappeared.
Fear briefly crossed her face.
"Don't ask me that."
The speakers above them crackled.
A voice emerged from the static.
"Subject separation detected."
Ethan looked upward.
"Fargrave."
There was a brief pause.
Then Professor Fargrave answered.
"Mr. Callahan. Step away from Donovan."
Ethan stared at the speaker.
"You have got to be kidding."
"Step away from him."
"No."
Seth turned toward the nearest wall.
A thin red line had appeared across the steel surface. It moved slowly along the panel as though the system were tracing something invisible beneath the metal.
Seth watched it.
"I can hear it."
Ethan looked at him.
"Hear what?"
"The network."
Fargrave's voice returned.
"You cannot hear a network."
Seth looked directly toward the speaker.
"You connected me to it."
Silence filled the Lower Stack.
Then Fargrave answered.
"Yes."
Ethan's expression tightened.
"You admit it?"
"I have no reason to deny it anymore."
The entire platform shook.
Mara dropped to her knees again.
Her fingers pressed against her temples.
"Get it out."
Ethan rushed toward her.
Seth reached her first and caught her before she struck the floor.
Mara's fingers locked around his sleeve.
"They are moving us."
"Who?" Seth asked.
"The students."
"Where?"
Mara's eyes shifted toward the floor.
"Down."
A deep mechanical thud echoed beneath them.
Then another.
The transparent chambers began descending.
One after another, sections of the floor opened beneath them and swallowed the glass containers. The students disappeared into the darkness below without making a sound.
Ethan stared.
"Seth."
"I know."
Mara remained in Seth's arms.
Her breathing weakened.
Fargrave spoke again.
"Do you understand now?"
Seth looked toward the speaker.
"Understand what?"
"Why the system needs you."
Seth's jaw tightened.
"Tell me."
Fargrave's answer came after a long pause.
"The students are not the experiment."
The connection went silent.
A faint red light appeared beneath Mara's skin.
Seth noticed it first.
He pulled her away from the railing.
"Get back."
Ethan stepped toward him.
"What happened?"
Seth looked down at Mara.
"She's connected."
Mara opened her eyes.
For the first time her expression was completely clear.
"Run."
The lattice erupted with light.
Every chamber beneath them opened at once.
Hundreds of locks released in rapid succession.
Metal doors slammed against their housings while alarms began screaming through the underground structure.
Seth pulled Ethan toward the corridor.
"Move."
They ran.
Behind them came the sound of footsteps rising from the lower levels.
There were dozens of them.
Then hundreds.
Ethan glanced over his shoulder.
The students were emerging from the lower passages.
Some looked confused.
Others moved with frightening purpose.
"What are they doing?"
Seth kept running.
"Following the system."
The speakers crackled again.
Fargrave's voice sounded different now.
The calm had disappeared.
"Seal the eastern corridor."
Another voice answered through the intercom.
"Already sealed."
"Then close the western route."
"That route is compromised."
Fargrave swore.
Ethan looked at Seth.
"You can hear all of that?"
Seth shook his head.
"More than that."
He suddenly stopped.
Ethan nearly collided with him.
"What?"
Seth stared at the wall.
"They aren't trying to stop us."
Ethan looked behind them.
The footsteps were getting closer.
"Then what are they doing?"
Seth pointed toward the wall.
"They are opening the route."
A section of steel split apart.
A narrow passage appeared beyond it.
There were no lights inside.
No cameras.
No visible doors.
Only darkness.
Ethan stared into it.
"That wasn't there before."
"It was," Seth said quietly. "We just couldn't see it."
Something scraped against metal inside the passage.
Slowly.
Heavily.
Ethan's expression hardened.
"That's not a person."
Seth listened.
"No."
Another scrape echoed from the darkness.
Closer this time.
Mara whispered from behind them.
"They keep those below the students."
Ethan turned toward her.
"What do they keep?"
Mara stared into the passage.
Her face had gone pale.
"The ones that don't recover."
A shape moved at the far end.
Seth stepped backward.
The red light beneath his skin pulsed.
The thing in the darkness answered.
The entire lattice beneath Point Veert responded.
Ethan looked at Seth.
"Seth..."
Seth did not look away from the approaching shape.
"I think it recognizes me."
The figure stepped into the emergency light.
Behind Ethan, the corridor doors slammed shut.
And something inside the passage began moving toward them.