Chapter 312: Retrieving the Shard

Snow covered almost everything by the time the Pylow valleys came into view.

The Falcon followed the same route Kordula had taken several days earlier, although Hans only recognized it because the System map remained open beside him.

PCL-2 came into view first.

A few vehicles stood around the forward position, while Engineers moved between the facility and the temporary shelters farther down the valley. The transmission lines connecting the four sites remained steady.

No storms appeared anywhere around the mountains.

They left PCL-2 behind and continued northeast.

The farther they went, the quieter the cabin became.

The two Engineers were the only ones who seemed uncomfortable.

Specter Squad remained exactly as they were, while Callum sat beside Hans without reacting at all. Whatever pressure Kordula described in her report wasn’t getting through to any of the DASFs.

Hans felt nothing either.

The Falcon continued deeper into the mountains without much interference.

...

PCL-1 sat inside a narrow valley on the northeastern side of the range.

The damaged entrance came into view as the Falcon descended.

One of the heavy doors still hung crooked from its frame, and several sections around the opening carried old blast and weapon marks.

The yard in front had already been cleared enough for aircraft.

The Falcon touched down.

Hans stepped outside with the rest of the group behind him.

The cold wind struck him the moment he stepped outside.

A pale golden layer appeared around his body before he even thought about doing anything. The strongest part of the wind split around him, leaving only the temperature behind.

Hans looked at it for a second.

He hadn’t even tried to use his ability. His body had decided that part for him.

A DASF squad waited near the entrance with two Engineers.

Hans recognized the squad leader from Kordula’s report. He had been part of the group that entered PCL-1 and passed the corridor beside the sealed chamber.

"Commander."

"How is it inside?"

"Same as when the Overseer left. Security units haven’t moved from their positions. Facility Operations is stable. No new contacts."

"And the shard?"

"Still sealed by the bots. They didn’t contact us, and we didn’t contact them either."

Hans looked toward the entrance.

"Let’s go."

The Engineers joined them.

There were no dogs with the detachment this time.

...

PCL-1 looked worse in person than it did in the reports.

The damage started after the entrance.

One section of the corridor had working lights again, while another remained dark except for temporary lamps placed along the floor. The walls were scarred by old weapons fire, with sections of the panels blackened or broken away entirely.

Most of the bodies were already moved away from the paths the Engineers regularly used.

Some remained deeper inside—unreachable or too hassle to clean with.

Hans saw enough of them and noticed that they didn’t look like ordinary infected.

Some had grown far larger than a person should have. Others had limbs that were too long, joints twisted into shapes they shouldn’t have been able to support, or patches of hardened skin that looked almost like bark.

Most of the damage on them came from gunfire. A lot of it.

Kordula’s report said the people nearest to the shard had changed faster and far more severely than the infected found around the other sites.

Seeing them in person made that easier to believe.

The psychic field around the inner section grew stronger as they continued deeper. The Engineers were the only ones affected. Specter Squad, Callum and the local DASFs showed no reaction.

A metallic sound came from the corridor ahead.

The local DASF squad stopped. Specter Squad slowed at the same time, spreading slightly across the passage.

Callum remained beside Hans.

A tracked machine rolled around the corner. Hans recognized the shape from one of Kordula’s report.

Its tracked base carried a heavy upper body with a weapon mount on one side and a manipulator arm on the other. One section of its armor was blackened, with several plates visibly damaged.

The weapon stayed pointed toward the floor.

Its sensor head turned toward the local squad first.

Then toward Hans. A small display on its chest lit up.

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ASS-015 — PCL-1 — UNIT 01

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The machine stopped, while Hans waited.

The local DASF squad leader spoke first.

"We returned."

The sensor head shifted toward him.

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I REMEMBER.

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Then it turned back toward Hans.

Another security unit appeared farther down the corridor, followed by another.

Neither raised its weapon.

The first unit scanned Hans from head to foot. The pause lasted longer than he expected.

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YOU ARE NOT IN MY RECORDS.

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"No."

Another pause followed.

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YOUR READINGS EXCEED THE OTHERS.

THEY ALSO EXCEED THE COMPROMISED PERSONNEL WE TERMINATED HERE.

WHO ARE YOU?

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Hans glanced toward Callum and Specter Squad before looking back at the machine.

"Let’s just say I am the man in charge."

The security unit remained silent.

Hans expected another identification request.

Instead, its display changed again.

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WHY ARE YOU HERE?

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Hans looked past it.

Farther down the corridor was the heavy door Kordula mentioned in her report.

Even from here, the people around him were already feeling whatever sat behind it.

Hans wasn’t. He pointed toward the door.

"For the thing you’re keeping in there."

The security unit stayed still.

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DO YOU INTEND TO REMOVE IT?

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"That’s why I came here."

Another pause followed.

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THE MATERIAL COMPROMISED THE PERSONNEL.

IT IS DANGEROUS.

IT IS BAD FOR US AS WELL.

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Hans chuckled.

"You just said my reading exceeds the others. What makes you think I will be affected as well?"

Hans looked toward the sealed door again.

"I can keep it somewhere it won’t affect anyone. And you won’t have to worry about personnel getting contaminated again."

The unit’s sensor head shifted slightly.

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HOW?

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"This isn’t the first fragment I’ve handled. I have seen larger ones, nastier ones."

The machine remained quiet for several seconds.

It was pondering between approval or rejection, yet it couldn’t come up with a quick answer.

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ERROR: ANSWER CANNOT BE GIVEN.

THE AREA REMAINS DANGEROUS.

I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO PROCEED.

YOUR READINGS ARE TOO VALUABLE TO BE CONTAMINATED.

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"I’m not even in your records. Why would I look very valuable to you?"

The security unit stared at Hans longer this time around.

Hans didn’t back down, returning with a smile of his own.

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WE WILL ALLOW ACCESS UNDER CONDITIONS.

ONLY REQUIRED PERSONNEL MAY APPROACH THE CHAMBER.

THE CHAMBER WILL REMAIN OPEN ONLY FOR RETRIEVAL.

IF YOUR CONDITION CHANGES, SECURITY WILL CLOSE THE CHAMBER.

IF YOU BECOME COMPROMISED, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE.

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"Not a problem for me."

Hans turned toward the group behind him.

"All of you, stay here."

Callum didn’t say anything. The Commander’s words were final, and he was stronger than any of them right now.

The security unit turned around.

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FOLLOW.

------

The three ASS-015 units led them deeper into the facility.

The corridor beyond the operations area was narrower than the sections Hans passed earlier. Several lights had failed completely, leaving only every second or third fixture working above them.

The pressure increased as they moved.

The group remained behind, but Hans could still see their markers farther back on the map.

Eventually, the security units stopped in front of another heavy door. Three more ASS-015 units were already there.

All six of them now surrounded the same entrance.

That alone told Hans enough about how seriously they treated whatever was behind it.

The first unit rolled forward.

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SECURITY CONTAINMENT HAS REMAINED ACTIVE SINCE THE INCIDENT.

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"How long?"

The display stayed blank for a moment.

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ERROR.

TIME RECORD AVAILABLE.

CONTEXTUAL MEMORY INCOMPLETE.

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"Your hardware is getting rusty. Perhaps it is time for you to undergo maintenance."

Hans joked a little.

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CANNOT LEAVE POST.

MUST PROTECT AREA FROM INTRUDERS.

MAINTENANCE ALSO DOWN.

CANNOT CONTACT OVERSEER.

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The unit moved to the side.

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PREPARE FOR ACCESS.

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The heavy door unlocked.

The psychic field across the corridor strengthened immediately, but the System’s protection stopped it from going any farther.

Several ASS-015 sensor heads turned toward Hans at once.

"Do you believe me now?"

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PHENOMENON EFFECT IS ILLOGICAL.

RE-ASSESSING INDIVIDUAL.

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"Continue with your own work," Hans chuckled. "I have a stone to retrieve."

The security units didn’t stop him.

The air coming from inside was colder than the corridor, although Hans felt nothing else unusual.

He stepped inside the chamber, smaller than what he had expected.

Most of the equipment along the walls was dead. Several panels had shattered during the outbreak, and one section of the ceiling had been repaired with temporary braces.

Near the center stood a damaged containment assembly. The outer enclosure had cracked along one side.

Inside it sat an irregular black fragment, pink lines pulsing slowly around its surface.

"There you are, little stone."

One shard had been enough to collapse an entire laboratory.

Six damaged security machines were all that remained after killing the personnel they had once been built to protect.

Hans moved closer and a System notification appeared.

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[ Anomalous Material Detected ]

[ Psychic Meteorite Fragment ]

[ Conversion Status ]

Unavailable

[ Reason ]

Unstable Psychic Energy Detected

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Hans stared at the familiar message.

"So still no Gold."

That would have been too easy, and even then, his bank was already rich with millions of Gold.

He dismissed the conversion line and focused on the last one instead.

The System already knew how to isolate it.

Hans reached toward the damaged containment assembly, stopping before touching the fragment itself.

"Store it."

The System responded immediately.

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[ Containment Transfer Initiated ]

[ ... ]

[ Containment Transfer Complete ]

[ Anomalous Material Secured ]

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