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“I survived here. That is not the same as controlling it.”

The ruins shuddered. Dust fell from the ceiling. Nara’s gaze snapped to Kesta’s wrist. “It is calling again.”

“What is?”

“The conditioning network.”

Sera moved closer, slowly enough not to alarm the nomads. “Explain.” Nara laughed without humor. “A medic asking permission before touching the experiment. That is new.” Kesta held her ground. “Explain anyway.”

Nara lowered the blade a finger’s width. “The bands are not trackers. Tracking is the smallest function. They read fear, pain, arousal, compliance, and proximity. Then they learn which signals produce the desired behavior.” Cold spread through Kesta’s stomach.

“Desired by whom?” Keth asked.

“The program.”

Dreven’s voice became very quiet. “What behavior?”

“Bond formation. Obedience. Aggression toward rivals. Dependence on assigned partners.”

Kesta looked at him. The night in quarantine returned as contamination: the band lighting, his implants answering, her body responding. Nara saw the recognition. “It has already started.”

“No,” Kesta said.

“Your pulse changed when you looked at him.”

“That proves I have a pulse.”

“It proves the band can use one.”

Dreven moved away from Kesta as though distance could protect her retroactively. The gesture hurt and angered her at once.

“Do not decide what our contact means for me,” she told him.

“I am not.”

“You are already retreating.”

“Because I may be a trigger.”

“So may fear. So may the ruins. So may every imperial device on this planet. We investigate before we erase our choices.”

Nara’s eyes narrowed. “That is what I said before they made me beg for the person they assigned me.” Silence filled the chamber. Kesta softened her voice. “What happened to him?”

“I killed him.”

One of the nomads touched Nara’s shoulder. She did not flinch from that contact.

“He was hurting you?” Sera asked.

“No. He was trying to cut out his own implant so the signal would stop. I thought he was attacking me.” Her mouth tightened. “The pulse turned fear into certainty.”

Dreven’s tail became absolutely still.

“Can the network still do that?” he asked.

Nara looked toward the ceiling. “When the orbital array aligns. When the ruins wake. When H-PRIME enters range.” Everyone looked at Kesta. She refused to step backward.

“Why am I H-PRIME?”