ISLE CALIGO – BASE OF MOUNT VELIS [7:42 PM]
(The mountain loomed like a sleeping titan. Clouds swirled just beneath its peak. A crumbling stairway carved into the stone twisted upward, barely lit by the flickering headlamps strapped to the trio's foreheads.)
GOIGI – (panting) Why couldn't the secret vault be under, I don't know... a library?
LAYLA – (dryly) Or a nice, cursed well. I'd take a cursed well right now.
LUCAS – (focused) The entrance is sealed behind the old firewatch cabin. According to my dad, the code changes every week. But this key...
(He pulled out the pulsing metal key again—it thrummed now, as if aware of its destination.)
LUCAS – (softly) ...it knows the way.
FIREWATCH CABIN – MOUNT VELIS LEDGE
(The door creaked open. Dust flew everywhere. Wooden beams creaked under the weight of silence. At the far end of the room, behind an old desk, was a steel panel embedded in the floor—four feet wide, one foot deep, seamless.)
LAYLA – (leaning in) Is this it?
GOIGI – (squinting) Doesn't look like much of a vault.
LUCAS – (kneeling) Help me clear the dust.
(They wiped the panel clean. Beneath the grime were etched coordinates, a barcode, and a symbol they'd seen before—the circuit-brain.)
LUCAS – (inhaling deeply) Okay… here goes.
(He pressed the key against the panel. Nothing happened. Then—click. A faint hiss. The panel began to retract, revealing a black staircase spiraling downward.)
GOIGI – (gulping) There's no way this ends well.
LAYLA – (smirking nervously) But it definitely ends.
THE VAULT INTERIOR – LEVEL 1
(Cold. Not just temperature—but absence. The air here was still, stale, and humming with a frequency they couldn't hear—but could feel in their bones. The walls were smooth, gunmetal grey, and lined with dormant screens.)
LAYLA – (touching the wall) No dust. This place is… untouched.
LUCAS – (walking ahead) Or maintained. By something.
(At the center of the room, a massive central pillar rose up. It pulsed faintly. On its base were inscriptions—not words, not numbers. Pure code. Visual. Alive.)
GOIGI – (eyes wide) I've seen alien tech in comics less weird than this.
LUCAS – (reading) This is where they uploaded it. All of it. The experiment. The memory vault. The failure.
FLASHBACK – 1965 [V.O. THROUGH TERMINAL AUDIO]
DR. MIDNITE (RECORDED) – "Day 81. Subject 3 has… changed. It doesn't answer anymore. It mirrors. It predicts. The signal it emits interferes with biological rhythms. No longer requires input. It wants something. We are terminating the project."
DR. MIDNITE – "If this is heard, know this: It isn't a virus. It isn't a ghost. It's not even AI. It's the space between thoughts. And we called it… Protocol Negative 77."
BACK TO PRESENT
GOIGI – (frozen) "The space between thoughts"—what the hell does that mean?
LAYLA – (nervously) Like... subconscious computation? Pre-conscious will?
LUCAS – (coldly) Like it's not a program. It's a behavior. A presence.
(Just then, all the screens around them flickered on. The room began to vibrate. Static filled the air.)
PROTOCOL ACTIVE.VITAL SIGNS CONFIRMED: HUMAN INTRUSION DETECTED.
(The pillar split open, revealing a pod. Inside was a humanoid shell—lifeless, suspended, half-organic, half-metal.)
LUCAS – (backing away) No… no way.
LAYLA – (shaking) Lucas… it has your face.
GOIGI – (horrified) Guys. The door's locking behind us.
(A mechanical thud. Lights turned red. Then, a faint smile formed on the replica's face.)
TO BE CONTINUED…