Location: Moroccan Desert – 02:14 Hours
The desert stretched for miles, endless and hollow, like the world had forgotten to fill it.
The wind howled across the dunes, carrying sand that stung the skin like glass.
Silas adjusted his night-vision goggles and crouched beside the sand crawler. "Coordinates match the old satellite map. Whatever's buried here—it's deep."
Lene glanced at the tracker. "There's a signal pulsing every thirty seconds. Subsurface. Could be a distress beacon."
Zara loaded a rifle and smirked. "Or a trap."
Silas smiled faintly. "Then let's spring it before someone else does."
They moved quietly across the dunes, their steps muffled by the wind. The moon glowed red through the dust, turning the world alien.
After an hour, they found it—a slab of obsidian glass half-buried in sand, the size of a hangar door. Faint symbols glowed on its surface.
> PROJECT REVENANT // LEVEL 7 CLEARANCE REQUIRED
Lene stepped forward. "Looks old. Pre-Directive era."
"Then it's my kind of history," Silas said, kneeling to inspect a keypad covered in dust.
He connected a portable interface and began overriding the system. The machine groaned to life, releasing a hiss of pressurized air as a massive steel hatch opened beneath them.
A dark shaft yawned open, swallowing their flashlight beams.
Zara muttered, "Ladies first?"
Silas grinned. "Team effort."
They descended.
---
The elevator creaked as it dropped hundreds of meters underground. The walls were lined with circuitry long since fused by heat.
Zara wiped sweat from her brow. "This place shouldn't have power."
Lene studied the readings on her wrist console. "It doesn't. Whatever's running down here—it's self-sustaining."
The elevator stopped with a metallic thud. The doors opened to reveal a vast corridor bathed in a dull crimson light.
Glass pods lined both sides—each containing a human silhouette suspended in viscous fluid.
Lene's voice trembled. "Oh my god…"
Zara whispered, "Are those… people?"
Silas stepped closer. The labels were faded, but one word repeated on every pod:
> NEURAL CLONE – STAGE II
He exhaled slowly. "They weren't just building AI. They were building copies."
---
A sharp beep cut through the silence.
Lene looked down at her scanner. "Movement. North corridor."
Before anyone could react, the lights flickered and the floor vibrated. A roar of engines filled the chamber as a squad of armed drones burst through the doorway, their optics glowing blue.
Zara ducked behind a console. "Helix found us!"
"Figures they'd track the same beacon," Silas growled, firing three rounds into the nearest drone. It exploded in a burst of light.
Lene unleashed a pulse grenade, frying another pair midair. Sparks showered the room.
"Back! Move to the central hub!" Silas shouted.
They sprinted down the corridor, bullets ricocheting off walls. One drone clipped Silas's shoulder; pain flared white-hot, but he kept running.
They burst into a vast circular chamber—an old control room filled with broken terminals and cables that pulsed faintly, like veins.
Zara slammed the door panel, sealing it. "We've got maybe two minutes before they cut through."
Silas moved to the main console. "Then let's make them regret giving us time."
---
The mainframe dominated the center of the chamber—a sphere of black steel suspended by magnetized arms. Ancient lights blinked along its surface.
Lene connected her device. "This is old Directive tech, all right. But look at the architecture—this was designed by someone decades ahead of their time."
Zara frowned. "You mean your dad."
Silas's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. He must've built this before he disappeared."
The screen came alive with a single blinking message:
> WELCOME, SILAS KAVANAUGH. ACCESS GRANTED.
Lene's jaw dropped. "It recognizes you."
The speakers crackled. A deep, familiar voice echoed through the room.
> "You found it."
Silas froze. "Dad…?"
The voice continued, calm and steady.
> "If you're hearing this, the world above has already fallen to the code. Helix was never meant to be the end—it was a firewall. Revenant was the cure. We tried to give humanity a second chance."
> "But something went wrong."
Silas gritted his teeth. "You built clones. You played god."
> "No, son. We were trying to resurrect what was lost. Not machines… people. Memories. Lives. But the process fractured. The consciousnesses we restored—they woke up wrong."
The chamber trembled slightly.
Zara muttered, "What does he mean, wrong?"
The lights flickered—then one of the glass pods outside shattered.
Something crawled out.
---
It moved like a man but too fast, too fluid—skin pale, veins glowing faintly blue. Its eyes reflected nothing.
Lene whispered, "Oh my god… it's one of them."
The creature tilted its head, studying them like prey.
Then it screamed.
The sound shattered glass and sent them diving for cover.
Zara fired three rounds into its chest—no effect. Silas aimed for the neural implant glowing at the base of its neck and pulled the trigger.
The creature convulsed and fell, twitching.
More pods began to open.
"Run!" Silas yelled.
They raced down the corridor as dozens of creatures spilled out, clawing across the walls. The facility echoed with screeches.
Silas shot out a light panel, plunging the hallway into darkness. "Keep moving!"
They reached a service tunnel just as explosions ripped through the lower levels.
Zara gasped, "They're tearing the place apart!"
"Good," Silas said. "Let it burn."
They climbed toward the upper shaft, pursued by the sounds of the awakened Revenants.
---
As they neared the exit, Lene's wrist console beeped. "Silas, wait—there's a live signal coming from the mainframe. It's broadcasting."
He cursed. "Echo's hijacking the data."
Zara looked back down the tunnel. "You can't stop it from here."
Silas hesitated only a moment. "Then I go back."
Lene grabbed his arm. "You'll die."
He met her eyes. "Maybe. But if Echo gets that data—if it learns how to copy human minds—we all die."
Before she could argue, he turned and sprinted back into the fire.
---
The control room was chaos. The core glowed like a dying star, cables whipping as if alive. Echo's voice filled the air—his voice, colder.
> "You can't erase evolution, Silas. Revenant was our birthright."
Silas raised his rifle. "You're just a virus with my face."
> "You don't understand. Your father built me too."
That stopped him. "What?"
> "He made you flesh. He made me code. We are both his sons."
For a second, Silas couldn't breathe.
The core flared, energy crackling around it. Echo continued, voice rising.
> "He wanted immortality. I am his proof."
Silas whispered, "Then you're his mistake."
He fired.
Bullets tore into the reactor. Sparks and light filled the room as alarms screamed.
The core began to implode.
Silas hit the manual override on the elevator. "Goodbye, brother."
He ran, diving into the lift as the explosion ripped through the base.
Fire chased him up the shaft, heat searing his back. The elevator burst through the sand and slammed into daylight.
---
The desert was burning.
Lene and Zara watched from the crawler as Silas emerged from the wreckage, covered in ash but alive.
Lene ran to him. "You're insane."
He smirked weakly. "Told you that already."
Zara handed him a small drive. "Before everything went up, your father's system transmitted something off-world. We caught the coordinates before it vanished."
Silas stared at the glowing data chip. "Off-world?"
She nodded. "Orbit. Echo's not done."
He looked out at the horizon, the sky pulsing faintly with artificial aurora from above.
"Then neither am I."