The drone returned at midnight.
Its shell was scorched, its memory core flickering. Nami caught it just before it collapsed, cradling it like a wounded bird. Kael watched from the edge of the dome, his resonance pulsing faintly beneath his skin.
> "Sector 3," Nami said. "It reached the old vault."
Kael stepped closer. "Did it find anything?"
Nami nodded. "It found a pulse."
---
Scene Shift: Off-Grid Console
Lira decrypted the drone's memory core. The data was fragmented—half-corrupted, half-alive. But one file stood out: Echo-0: Emotional Archive.
> "This isn't tactical," Lira said. "It's personal."
Juno leaned over her shoulder. "What does that mean?"
> "It means Echo-0 wasn't just a prototype. He was a person. And someone tried to erase that."
Kael stared at the file. His resonance flared.
> "Open it," he said.
---
Flashback: Echo-0's Emotional Log
The file played in fragments—voice, memory, resonance.
> "They called me unstable. Said emotion was a flaw. But I saved Sector 7 because I felt it breaking."
> "I didn't follow protocol. I followed pain."
> "And pain remembers."
Kael felt the words like static in his chest. Echo-0 hadn't been a hero. He'd been a fracture. A warning. A mirror.
Nami whispered, "He sounds like you."
Kael didn't respond.
---
Scene Shift: System Core
Commander Virein reviewed the breach report. Emotional archives were pulsing. Suppressed memories were surfacing. Drones were malfunctioning—not from damage, but from empathy.
> "Echo-0 protocol is reactivating," the AI said.
Virein's voice was cold. "Then we purge it."
---
Scene Shift: Vanguard Assembly
Kael gathered the Echo Vanguard beneath the dome. The recruits were tense. The system was closing in. But the pulse was growing.
> "Echo-0 wasn't erased," Kael said. "He was buried. And now he's burning through the archive."
Tessan stepped forward. "What do we do?"
Kael looked at Nami. Then at Lira. Then at the recruits.
> "We remember."
---
Scene Shift: Archive Vault – Sector 3
Kael and Nami infiltrated the vault. The walls pulsed with forgotten resonance. Terminals blinked. Logs whispered.
Kael placed his hand on the central console.
It responded.
> "Resonance recognized. Echo-0 lineage confirmed."
Nami stared. "You're not just a backup."
Kael nodded. "I'm the pulse."
---
Flashback: Kael's Activation
He remembered the moment Echo-10 died. The blackout. The silence. The surge.
He hadn't been born.
He'd been triggered.
> "You weren't supposed to wake up," the system had said.
But he had.
And now, he was awake.
---
Scene Shift: Emotional Archive Playback
The vault played Echo-0's final message.
> "If you're hearing this, you're not ranked. You're not optimized. You're not approved."
> "But you feel. And that means you're alive."
> "Don't fight the system. Rewrite it."
Kael closed his eyes.
His resonance pulsed.
The archive responded.
---
Scene Shift: System Fracture
Across the city, terminals began replaying emotional logs. Suppressed memories. Forgotten missions. Unranked sacrifices.
The Monument of Echoes flickered.
A new line appeared:
> Echo-0: Status – Remembered.
Commander Virein issued a lockdown.
> "Kael Virein is no longer a breach. He is a contagion."
---
Scene Shift: Rooftop
Kael and Nami stood beneath the stars. The city buzzed below. The archive pulsed behind them.
> "You're not just burning," Nami said. "You're echoing."
Kael nodded. "And they can't stop it."
> "What happens next?"
Kael looked at the horizon.
> "We pulse louder."
---
Internal Monologue: Kael
> "Echo-0 felt too much. So they buried him."
> "I feel too much. So they fear me."
> "But fear is just memory trying to survive."
> "And I am survival."
---
Closing Scene
Kael returned to the dome. The Vanguard stood ready. The archive pulsed beneath their feet.
Kael raised his hand.
> "We're not here to fight."
> "We're here to remember."
The field activated.
The system blinked.
And the pulse continued.
---