The chamber breathed around her, a slow, pulsing rhythm from conduits older than history, the air heavy with the scent of ozone and dust.
Thalyn Ka’el stirred on the throne, her body a reluctant assembly of tight muscles, and slow, blooming awareness. No vertigo. No nausea. Only the bruised ache of survival.
She blinked up at the vaulted ceiling etched in ghostlight glyphs and remembered exactly who and where she was. She flexed her fingers experimentally. They answered.
“Mistress!”
The voice was silk and mischief rolled into one, curling warmly through her thoughts.
“Rise and shine, boss. You’re officially upgraded. In case you forgot, I'm your personal smart-ass manager of modules, senses, and emergency sarcasm reserves. I can hack the stuff you can’t, boss the tin cans around, and occasionally offer witty life advice you’ll ignore at your peril. In short: I’m the best thing you’ve ever accidentally acquired.”
Thalyn snorted, a dry sound that echoed faintly in the vastness.
“Sounds exhausting. Hope you’re better at your job than you are at modesty.”
“One excels where one must,” Arvie replied airily. “Besides, modesty is for meatbags with inferiority complexes. You're special. I'm special. It's a match made in absurd, galactic coincidence.”
Slowly, Thalyn pushed herself upright, feeling the slow tug of her cybernetic legs catching up to the motion. No dizziness, no brain fog, she was clean.
“Thank Yvian,” she murmured to the empty air, “that I’m already used to you, while I was Echo.”
“Don’t bet on that. It’s just the begining. Speaking of, you probably have questions about your predecessor, whose shoes you’re now metaphorically filling.”
“What happened to him?”
“I know up until the last part of this diary,” Arvie said, her voice shaded with rare solemnity. “Beyond that? Dark as a dead station. Orders were clear: serve it up to the new queen of the castle slice by slice whenever you feel curious.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEZYE1J3Eo
“And what exactly do I get out of dragging through the life of a man long gone?”
“Perspective, sweetheart. The kind you can’t buy or barter. Some tricks too, once you know what you’re looking at.”
Thalyn exhaled slowly through her nose, tapping the side of the throne.
“Cryptic little minx, aren't you?”
“All the best companions are.”
The chuckle that escaped her was raw, unguarded. Maybe it was the long tension finally slipping off her shoulders, or maybe it was the sheer absurdity of waking up to find herself queen of the castle.
Either way, she rose from the throne and scanned the cavernous chamber. At the far end, tucked in one of the ribbed alcoves, her companions gathered. Their silhouettes bent low over scraps of relics and the dull gleam of scavenged tech.
Her boots made no sound on the polished floor as she crossed the chamber.
Jaxon's voice was the first to slice through the static hum, low and growling.
“Not saying we bail,” he rumbled, “but we can't just drag all this back and hand it over like little tame penors.”
Korr hunched over a battered datapad, skeletal fingers dancing nervously. “There is wisdom in discretion. Certain relics could ransom a lord’s bloodline on the right black spires."
Dr. Voss leaned against a pillar of fractured stone, arms folded, skin drinking the light like polished armor. "And what then?" she asked. "Run? Abrisen’s hounds will have our scent within a cycle."
Jaxon snorted, adjusting the mineral detector slung at his hip. “Rather die on my feet than rot in some lord's kennel, begging for bones."
“Charming bunch,” Arvie scoffed. “You do pick the finest company, mistress.”
Thalyn watched, arms folded, weighing. Beneath their bickering, the truth loomed: they'd found more than they’d bargained for. Quadrivium thalorite in the cliffs. Functioning relics of Elders. And their lordship leash tightening with every breath.
“We got a shot,” Jaxon said. “If we cut loose. Strip the slaver patches, burn the beacons, disappear into the clouds.”
Thalyn's lip curled.
“Psst. By the way, mistress prime, you’re sitting on the keys to the castle now. Full access. Droids? Yours. Facility? Yours. All you gotta do is flash that pretty mark and start barking orders.”
“You're full of good news today.”
"You’re welcome, my queen."
Thalyn stepped forward, brushing past the others. “I’ll ask the droids,” she said, voice even.
Korr muttered something dark about “madness in metals,” but Jaxon only nodded, that wary calculation flickering behind his eyes.
The next chamber was dim, lit by the soft, flickering light of ancient panels. Two droids stood sentinel, their plated bodies gleaming like burnished bone.
She approached the nearer one.
“We need some control devices out. Can you do it?”
The droid’s eyes flared softly. “Easily, mistress.”
Relief rippled through her, like a river she hadn’t realized she was crossing.
She pressed on. “What about your earlier promise? Complete the sequence and the facility is mine?”
The droid tilted its head with mechanical grace. “Exactly as stated, mistress. You command us. The command center, its systems, and all assets within are yours to use.”
For a beat, Thalyn just stood there, breathing in the enormity of it.
Then: “You also promised my original legs. Properly augmented. Still an option?”
The droid’s optics brightened. "A better solution was prepared. Please, follow."
It turned and glided away through a side passage. Thalyn followed, senses prickling.
They entered a chamber lined with sleek pods, each one humming faintly, alive with unfamiliar glyphs scrolling along the walls. Charts and graphs flickered in slow cascades.
At the center: one pod occupied. By her.
Or rather, a version of her: perfect, whole, with flesh-and-blood legs, and, she noted, slightly more refined proportions. Subtly enhanced.
She stepped closer, heart hammering.
"What is this?" she whispered.
“Per your request: a body readied for transfer. Natural legs restored. Enhancements integrated. Structural resilience improved. Simply enter the adjacent pod. Your consciousness will transition. You will rise, improved.”
Thalyn stared at the sleeping mirror of herself, feeling a tangle of emotion knotting under her ribs.
“Told you we’d go full premium package. Might as well lean into it. Take the dive, boss. Worst case? You wake up with better legs and an even better attitude.”
"Reassuring." Her voice came out dry.
She inhaled once, deeply, and stepped into the open cradle. Metal kissed her spine. The pod sealed with a slow, final hiss.
Darkness poured in like velvet. Weightless. Relentless.
“Catch you on the other side, hotshot. Welcome to the new you.”
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