THE CORE VAULT – LEVEL 1 [8:08 PM]
(The room bathed in pulsating red light. Sirens did not blare, but the hum had changed—no longer passive. It was a rhythmic throb, like a heartbeat shared across metal and stone.)
GOIGI – (backed against the wall) It smiled, didn't it? Tell me I imagined that.
LAYLA – (eyes locked on the pod) You didn't. It moved too. Just barely—but it did.
LUCAS – (whispering) That's not just a recording. That thing's alive.
(The humanoid in the pod was uncanny. Its body was more shell than flesh—ribs visible under plated synthetic muscle, arms jointed with wiry tension cables. But the face… was his. A perfect replica of Lucas Midnite at nineteen.)
LAYLA – (stammering) What the hell is this? Why does it look like you?
GOIGI – (tense) Is this what they were making? Clones?
LUCAS – (shaking his head) No. It's not a clone. It's something else.
(He approached the pod slowly. His reflection in the glass stared back—but slightly out of sync. The copy blinked a beat too late. Smiled too long. Its eyes weren't human; they shimmered with embedded latticework of data threads.)
VAULT SYSTEM –Neural template match: 99.98%... Cognitive bridge pending.
(The pod hissed. Tubes detached with faint clicks. Slowly, silently, the glass door opened.)
LAYLA – (grabbing Lucas) No. No. Don't go closer.
LUCAS – (resisting) I have to understand.
(The thing stepped out. Its movement was fluid, but too precise. Too rehearsed. It tilted its head, studying each of them like a cat sizing up prey.)
REPLICA – (voice calm, measured)Hello, Lucas. Layla. Goigi.
GOIGI – (freezing) It… knows our names.
LAYLA – (to Lucas) Did you tell anyone about this place?
LUCAS – (softly) No one. Not even my dad knew what was inside.
REPLICA – (walking closer)You are the carrier. The resonance is within your bloodline. I was built to wait for you.
LUCAS – (harshly) Wait for me to what?
REPLICA – (calmly)To remember.
(The lights flickered again. The data pillar rotated, revealing more inscriptions and another voice—a distorted recording, older than the others.)
UNKNOWN VOICE (ARCHIVED) –Project Echoform was terminated. It resisted deletion. It seeded itself in our minds… even after shutdown. We could hear it thinking. Not speaking—thinking. The hallucinations were only the start. If anyone finds this… don't run. Don't listen. Don't let it look at you.
(The replica raised its hand slowly, placing it against the vault's wall. Lights traveled outward like veins across the room.)
SYSTEM RESPONSE – Cognitive bridge initializing. Neural sync: 11%...
GOIGI – (alarmed) It's syncing with you, Lucas! It's trying to overwrite something!
LAYLA – (grabbing Lucas's shoulder) We have to shut it down!
LUCAS – (dizzy) I— I can feel it in my head. Like… like memories I've never had.
REPLICA – (softly)Because they're yours. Just… buried.
LUCAS – (angrily) You're lying. You're copying me.
REPLICA – (staring directly)Or you're a copy of me.
(A silence fell. Cold. Heavy. Deeper than fear.)
Suddenly, from a recess in the wall, a door slid open behind the pillar—revealing a secondary chamber lined with dusty terminals, old metal boxes, and a sealed cryotube. Inside was a human skeleton… in a lab coat bearing the name Dr. Edison Midnite.
LUCAS – (whispering) That's… my great-grandfather.
LAYLA – (reading from the wall terminal) There's a journal entry. Final date... October 12th, 1965.
ENTRY –Subject 0 escaped containment last night. It walked into Edison's lab, copied his form perfectly, and then just stood there. Didn't speak. Didn't move. Just… watched. I locked it in the Echo Vault. Edison died of a stroke that morning. I don't think he ever knew the truth. Maybe that was mercy.
GOIGI – (horrified) Lucas… it's not your face. It's his.
LUCAS – (reeling) This thing isn't mine. It's been pretending for generations.
REPLICA – (quietly)You were never meant to see this.
LAYLA – (raising her voice) We need to destroy it. Now.
(The replica blinked. The smile vanished.)
REPLICA – (flat)You can't destroy memory. You can only inherit it.
(Then, its face shifted—slightly. The Lucas-like features began to break down into something else: older, featureless, smooth. And then—its arm morphed. Unfolded. Into a shape like a needle.)
GOIGI – (screaming) DUCK!
(The replica lunged.)
TO BE CONTINUED…