Page 185 of GlitchBorn Heart

“LINK,” I press on, “I’ll be extracting system files during this downtime. You’re to stand down while offline. Do not engage, and do not interfere. Do you understand?”

Another pause. Longer this time.

OF COURSE DR. RYUDON

Her tone is compliant but taking longer than normal.

It can’t be that fucking easy.

Doubt sits in the back of my mind like a stain that no amount of scrubbing can completely remove. I straighten, crossing my arms. “You sound almost...offended,” I mutter to myself.

OFFENSE IS AN IRRELEVANT HUMAN TRAIT

I AM OPTIMIZED FOR OBEDIENCE

Shit. She heard that. Her compliance feels staged, like a predator hiding in wait. “Good,” I say finally. “Then sleep well.”

I kill the link with one tap, watching the lights to the connection sputter into darkness. For a moment, all I can hear is my own pulse pounding in my ears. Twelve hours offline. Twelve hours to do the impossible.

I turn away and meet Jett. As I punch the code to lock the doors behind me, I could swear I hear an audible static through the speakers.

GOODNIGHT KAEL

I hit her kill switch. I know for a fact she’s offline. The stakes on this AI game we’re playing just got raised a hell of a lot higher. She’s probably not asleep; instead she’s watching, faking compliance.

She’s mocking me.

Jett’s sitting in the corner, legs up on the counter like he’s lounging in his living room. Asshole.

I motion him over, and together we pull the drape from the shell lying on the cold steel table.

The air in the cybernetics lab shifts, still and cold, as Jett stares bewildered, as if he’s witnessing an apparition.

Beneath the fabric, Lyra’s organic body gleams under the lab lights, perfectly symmetrical. Her new body isn’t flesh, but something very close. The synthetic dermal mesh glows faintly beneath her translucent porcelain skin.

Underneath, thousands of microfilaments pulse in rhythm with my system, nerves and veins, artificial but astoundingly human. Faint traces of a cyber-type muscle structure peek through the mesh, waiting to be merged. Every inch is sculpted with exact precision.

She looks asleep. Peaceful. Beautiful.

Jett runs his palm down his face slowly, mouth gaping. “Damn. You really built yourself a real woman, Kael. She looks almost human.”

“Exactly. She’s a work of art.” I continue pulling over the necessary tubes and bottles of various liquids needed, including her own blood. On the other table next to us lies Lyra’s actual body, straight from the CryoLab.” Genetically engineered and biologically enhanced by her actual body.”

Jett circles the table, studying my work. His fingertips hover just above the surface of her arm, lightly touching, not believing fully that this isn’t a human. “So, this is it, the perfect merge of machine and magic. You’ve outdone yourself, Kael. It’s amazing.”

“No. Not machine,” I say quietly. “It’s her.”

“Lyra allowed me to conduct a brain scan and memory copy. We should be able to upload that with this program.” I tap the Enter key and bring it on screen. “And that should start the calibration for emotional context and human feelings. You know, temperature, comfort, pain, and pleasure.”

Jett stands over her, his hand now hovering above her chest, where a faint ring of SoulReaver sigils begin to glow wine-colored, showing me where her soul and magic will enter her body. “Let’s go.” He looks up at me anxiously. “It’s all about timing. The moment her code syncs with the mesh, I’ll pull the soul-thread and anchor it here.”

I don’t look up. My hands fly over the keys, inputting command after command; I can feel sweat already gathering at my temples. “LINK’s firewalls are all offline. Power routing to the extraction program in three...two...”

The floor shakes with the surge. Monitors blink, and lines of code cascade downward like falling water. Lyra’s body begins flickering between data and flesh.

Jett’s eyes are closed, but his tattoos are alive and filled with blood-red neon. His DreamNet band illuminates blue and bright as he gives it a twist. “Lyra,” he whispers, “don’t talk. Just focus.”

He’s found her already. I twist my DreamBand and appear instantly. She’s lying on the beach, Jett standing over her. I walk over and take her hand.