[SUIT SYSTEM — S.R.D.K. HARDSHELL: MODEL 3A — S.O.L.I.S. INTERFACE]
[CONDITION: CRITICAL FAILURE]
EMERGENCY DETECTED.
Primary systems nonresponsive.
User vital signs: erratic.
Core neural link: disconnected.
Initiating Failsafe Protocol: EM-RBT.001
– Emergency Reboot in Progress –
Memory integrity check: 41% corrupted
Holtzman Power Core status: STABLE
Combat Subsystem: OFFLINE
Holtzman Terrain-Assist Suspensors: DISABLED
Thermal regulators: LOCKED
Shock-dampening layer: DEGRADED
HUD integration: REBUILDING
Re-establishing Link with Operator...
Searching… Searching…
[LINK FOUND]
[Reconnecting to User: DESIGNATION 'Sardaukar']
Synaptic Interface: WEAK
Sensory Feed: LIMITED
Visual Stream: Restored (42%)
Audio Link: PARTIAL
Voice Assistant: NOT INSTALLED
Target Recognition: OFFLINE
Internal Diagnostics: HALTED
Warning: Emergency boot will override multiple safeties.
Proceeding…
Restarting User Interface...
—beep—beep—whrrrk—bzzt—
[USER INTERFACE ONLINE – CRITICAL MODE]
[EMERGENCY REBOOT – PHASE 2 INITIATED]
Visual Stream: 56% Stabilized
Audio Input: 63% Restored
Sensory Feedback: INCOMPLETE
Neural Sync: DEGRADED
Vital Link: UNSTABLE
Tracking Operator Orientation...
Vision Angle: 17.3° tilt – semi-prone, left shoulder
Eye activity: minimal
Consciousness: slipping
WARNING: Operator nearing blackout threshold.
STATUS: CRITICAL
—bzzt—PING—!
[ALERT: MOVEMENT DETECTED – 1.4m, bearing front-left]
Entity ID: HUMANOID
Stature: SMALL
Horned – Cloaked – Barefoot
IFF Analysis: NON HOSTILE SIGNATURE
Gait: Cautious – Approaching
Action: Attempting Audio Acquisition...
"Hh... hey... yu... no sliip... no sliip... wekh... waekh!"
AUDIO MATCH: FAILED
Language Structure: Non-standard – Mimicry Detected
Vocal Pattern: Infant Imitation
Tone: Urgent – Soft – Distressed
Intent: Concerned
[ALERT: UNKNOWN ENTITY INITIATING CONTACT]
Tactile Response: Insufficient
Action Logged
Vital Signs: CRITICAL
Heart Rate: 52 BPM – Weak
Blood Pressure: Depleted
Cerebral Oxygen: Dropping
Suspected Trauma: Concussion
Environmental Stress: SEVERE
Medical Systems: Offline—DAMAGED
Internal Dosing: Unavailable
Bio-nanite Support: Degraded
Stimpack Module: Offline
Sappho Reserve: Locked
Emergency Option Engaged:
Manual Stimulant Override
Compound: Dormant Sappho Derivative – Microdose
Fallback: Synth-Epi Injector
Route: Direct Cortical – Sub-cranial
WARNING: Risk of neural tremor + cardiac spike. Proceeding...
—Injecting—
—Pulse Surge Detected—
Neural Response: Registered
Facial Twitch – Eye Flutter
"—ghhh... wh...—"
Soft breath. Strained.
[Operator Consciousness: PARTIAL – Critical Low]
Motor Reflex: Inactive
Vocal Function: Standby
Cognitive: Inertial
[PATHFINDER SUBROUTINE: RE-ENGAGED]
Terrain Data: Corrupted
Oripathy Interference: High
GPS Core: Damaged
Map Fragments: 19% Recovered
Navigation Confidence: 22%
[Recommendation:]
Remain Stationary – Await Recovery – Impropable
Permit External Aid if Intent Remains Non-Hostile
[S.O.L.I.S. INTERFACE – VISUAL STREAM ANALYTIC MODE: ACTIVE]
TARGET LOCK: UNKNOWN ENTITY – CLOSE PROXIMITY
Entity Scan: IN PROGRESS...
Species: Sarkaz (Child)
Age Estimate: 6–9 years
Horns: Short – Dual – Purple – Chipped
Eyes: Iris – Clear Purple
Hair: Reddish Purple – Shoulder Length – Unkempt
Tail: ~80cm – Smooth – Purple
Temp: Below Human Baseline
Clothing: Tattered Wraps – Non-combatant
Contaminant Scan:
Oripathogenic Presence: Detected
Infection Sites: Left Forearm, Lower Back, Upper Thigh
State: Crystallization (Early–Mid)
Immune Response: Absent – Chronic Exposure Suspected
Risk to Operator: Low – Suit Integrity Maintained
Behavioral Analysis:
Pattern: Curious – Repeated Contact – Vocal Prompting
Emotional Read: High Empathy – Genuine Concern
Touch: Careful – Avoiding Suit's Sharp Surfaces
Horn Base Flinch: Detected – Minor Trauma
Match: Post-impact with Operator Maria – Confirmed
Conclusion: Mild Cerebral Discomfort — Non-lethal
Notable: Subject continues speaking despite lack of formal language. Speech displays fragmented mimicry, prioritizing emotional tone over structure. Evident effort to wake and comfort the operator. Vocal patterns indicate learned behavior through environmental observation rather than structured education.
Sentience Evaluation: LIMITED ACCESS MODE
Identity: Unknown
Threat Profile: Low
Aid Capability: Moderate
Recommendation:
– Monitor behavior
– Allow contact unless hostility escalates
Operator State:
Semi-responsive
Wake Threshold: Stalled
External Stimuli: Minimal Impact
Standby: Prepare Secondary Stim Pack if vitals drop.
Monitoring: ACTIVE — Tracking Entity + Terrain Shifts
[ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS – PARTIAL RECONSTRUCTION]
Storm Activity: Extreme
Oripathogenic Molecules Detected
Ionization: Unstable
Terrain Shift Risk: High
Visibility: Dust Saturation – 48%
Exposure Risk: CRITICAL
Navigation:
Primary Shelter Route: Non-Viable — 10% Confidence
Secondary: Partial — 23% Mapped
Alt. Shelter: Detected – Low Confidence
SURVIVAL PROJECTION:
Alone: <32% (4 hr)
With Aid: 41–57% (Estimate dependent on child's capability)
[MEDICAL PING – CLASS: EMERGENCY]
—Sharp tone into auditory nerve—
—Low-voltage jolt: Nape Delivery—
Vital Response Detected
Neural Uptick
Pupillary Reaction
Limb Micro-Movement
Vocal Effort
"—khh... ghuh... agh..."
[S.O.L.I.S. STATUS UPDATE]
Consciousness Level: Restored
Motor Function: Lag Present
Alertness: Low Threshold
Operator Maria: Awake
[RECOMMENDATION:]
Avoid sudden motion
Allow terrain scan to complete
Limit speech — respiration unstable
—
S.O.L.I.S. HOLDING...
Maria is not alone.
System watching.
Passive override permitted — observational loop active.
Attempting to Resuscitate
Stand by.
++++++++
-Maria's POV
Pitch black.
Darkness.
Thick, numbing, suffocating darkness.
I couldn't feel my fingers. My tongue was wet—my mouth tasted like old, rusted iron. My thoughts didn't feel like my own. They came slow, murky, like trying to grasp smoke underwater.
What… what was I doing?
Everything hurt. My chest felt like it had caved in. My arms are heavy. I couldn't remember moving, or falling, or... anything.
Then sound—muffled at first—began to seep in through the thick veil in my skull. A low, distant rumble, like tectonic plates dragging against each other.
What is that? Not thunder. No, It's... it's too unnatural.
Then... a voice.
Small. Staggered. Echoing near my head.
"Hh... hey... you... no sleep... wekh... waekh!"
It sounded strange to my ears. Off somehow. But it was definitely directed at me.
My vision was still a smear of shadows and static, but I saw movement. Shapes. Light. I forced my eyes to focus—slowly.
And then my helmet's HUD flickered alive again.
[S.O.L.I.S. INTERFACE // OPERATOR ACTIVE – BOOT SYNCING]
Status: WEAK BUT STABLE
WARNING: COGNITIVE RESPONSE LAG DETECTED
[NOTICE TO OPERATOR:]
Neurological response remains dulled. Physical reflexes minimal.
Administering additional emergency stimuli.
Brace. Shock threshold: minor.
Intramuscular stimulant: 5cc – COMBAXINE-V.
My throat burned as I tried to speak. "Wait... what are y—"
—Click.
The shock hit like a taser's nail flowing with electricity jolting straight through my spine.
I gasped. My vision slammed back into focus. The fog shattered into sharp light, color, motion. My heart pounded in my ears. I felt my body again—burning nerves, aching ribs, trembling limbs. I felt alive, barely.
[OPERATOR CONSCIOUSNESS LEVEL: RESTORED]
[WARNING: PHYSICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED – MOBILITY LIMITED]
Then I saw her.
A child.
Right in front of my cracked visor. Her hand had just touched me. She was still crouched there, wide eyes locked on mine, flinching back now from the sudden jolt.
Reddish-purple hair. Small, pointy purple horns. Eyes—violet. Clear. Sharp with fear and curiosity.
I froze. Just for a second. Trying to breathe. Trying to process.
H-horns?
I blinked once, then twice.
What...
Who... is this child?
She looked just as confused and scared as I felt.
And for a moment… I realized I was alive because she hadn't left me.
I sucked in a breath that felt like swallowing rusted dust. My chest burned, and every nerve in my body screamed with faint, electrical tingles—as if my bones had been dipped in a live current. Still, I moved. Just a little.
My right hand twitched. Pain lanced up my arm like needles threading through every joint. I winced but kept going, raising it slowly, shakily.
The girl noticed.
She moved before I could say a word—those strange, tiny feet making barely a sound as she stepped toward me. Her hand found mine with no hesitation. Her skin felt cold through the suit, her grip... felt oddly strong.
Then she pulled.
My boots dragged across the ground, and I was up—yanked to my feet with a jolt that sent pain ricocheting up my spine. I bit down a gasp, trying not to show just how unsteady I really was. She was stronger than she looked.
Much stronger.
I had no time to think about that.
As suddenly, a flash on my HUD—red, loud, and aggressive warns me.
[INCOMING OBJECT – 4 O'CLOCK – IMPACT IMMINENT]
My eyes snapped to the side.
Debris. Big. Fast. A broken piece of something jagged and sharp, slicing through the dust-choked air like a thrown blade.
She didn't see it.
Her gaze was locked onto mine, wide and unreadable. No fear. No comprehension. Just... curiosity, confusion. Like I was the only thing that mattered.
Damn it.
I moved.
My other arm shot out, ignoring the seizing pain. I stepped in, hard, pulling her into me—tucking her head under my chin, curling my body around hers like a shield.
"Hold on," I whispered.
WHACK—CRACK!
The impact sent a shock through my entire back. My breath hitched.
But then—
[HOLTZMAN FIELD: ENGAGED]
A shimmer of light burst from my back, a crackling shell of electric blue vibrates as it covered my body. The debris shattered against the field, harmless pieces clattering to the ground. The recoil still bruised like hell, but nothing broke through.
Hopefully.
I stayed still for a second. Felt her breath, shallow and quick, and her horns against my collarbone. Her hands had gripped the folds of my suit tightly—like a baby animal unsure if it was safe.
I breathed.
"I... got you," I murmured. My voice sounded rough. I didn't even know if I was saying it for her… or for myself.
For a moment, I just held her.
The soft weight of her in my arms, the smell of scorched dust clinging to her ragged clothes, and that unnerving strength still lingering in my shoulder where she'd pulled me upright. My heart thumped erratically. Not just from the impact. Something about her… wasn't right.
Who are you?
Why are you out here?
Why—
She moved before I could finish the thought.
The child squirmed from my arms with a sharp twist, slipping free like smoke. Then—her hand found mine again, smaller than my gloved palm, but gripping hard desperately.
"Wait—!"
Too late.
She yanked me forward, feet stumbling to keep up as the ground behind us trembled. The sky cracked with fire and wailing steel, and something in the distance erupted in a bloom of light and sound.
I rasped through the helmet's mic, voice catching on the ash in my lungs. "Who—who are you?!"
She didn't turn. Just kept running—dragging me like she knew where to go, like she had to.
"Why are you out here?!" I coughed.
Damn it, my throat—
"Do you—do you know any shelter nearby? Anywhere safe?!"
Still no answer.
But she raised her free arm, pointing through the chaos ahead—toward the dark hills smeared with smoke and ruined metal.
Into those whirling tornadoes
And then she muttered, slurred, over and over—
"Hom… Hom! Grab! Hom!"
Her voice cracked on each word like she was too young to speak clearly—but too determined to stop.
"Hom! Hom!"
She pulled harder.
Her bandage wrapped feet slapped against the dust-caked ground, and I stumbled behind her, boots crunching over muddy sand and charred grit. She didn't tire. Didn't look back. Only repeating that one word.
"Hom… Hom… Grab… Hom!"
I didn't know if she was speaking to me or to someone only she could see. Or maybe it was just a word her tongue had decided to cling to as the world died around us.
The wind howled through ruptured steel beams above, carrying heat, smoke, and the distant groan of metal surrendering to the earth.
My thoughts were a mess of static. Every instinct screamed to stop, to pull her into cover, to brace. But her tiny hand kept dragging me, impossibly strong for someone so small.
Then—
Ping!
My mind stopped.
The HUD blinked to life again, flickering through the ash-smeared visor. A marker flashed—vague, no clear vector, no distance. Just… a pulse. Like it was pointing somewhere, but couldn't decide where.
The wind carried another strong gust of dust past us.
And I realized… she hadn't stopped.
Still muttering. Still tugging me along.
And I couldn't tell if I was following her… or the signal.
That is—until I heard it.
Ping!
And saw where the HUD was trying to lead me.
But the child...
Is leading me somewhere else.
To a Path
Shone by the light
A path.
Between two storms.