STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Lucien met his eyes, his voice quieter now. “I don’t expect you to.”

Lyra turned back to the group, refocusing them. “The Spire is dangerous, but it ’s our best shot. If the terminal is as isolated as Lucien says, we have to take the risk. ”

Harun nodded, though his brow furrowed in thought. “What about getting in? The patrols around the Spire are constant. ”

Lucien took a breath, pushing past the scrutiny of Corin. “There’s a service entrance on the south side —an access hatch used for drone maintenance, but we’ll have to time it perfectly to avoid detection.”

Corin muttered under his breath, arms crossed. “Perfect timing, huh? Convenient. ”

Lyra ignored him, her attention fully on Lucien. “And once we’re inside?”

Lucien leaned over the table, tracing a rough map of the Spire’s lower levels with his finger. “The maintenance route leads directly to the redundancy terminal. It’s a narrow passage—mostly used by repair bots—but it’s isolated. If we ’re careful, we can get in without being seen.”

Corin snorted. “And if we’re not?”

Lyra hardened. “Then we deal with it.”

Lucien ’s expression was grim. “Once we activate the terminal, we’ll have ten to fifteen minutes before the system picks up the anomaly. We need to move fast.”

Harun nodded. “What exactly are we extracting?”

Lucien glanced at the chip lying on the table between them. “The erased charts are the key. But there’s something else—something I couldn’t access before. A file called the ‘Recalibration Protocol.’ If we can get that, it might give us the full picture.”

Lyra considered this, then addressed the group with finality. “Lucien, Harun, and I will go in. Corin, you ’ll be lookout.”

Corin’s expression darkened. “What? You’re leaving me out of this?”

Lyra’s voice was firm. “We need someone monitoring for us. If something goes wrong, we ’ll need backup.”

Corin shook his head, glaring at Lucien before turning away. “Fine. But if this goes sideways, don ’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lyra ignored him, locking eyes with Lucien. “You’ll guide us through. We ’ll follow your lead.”

Harun leaned forward again, his tone serious. “What about getting out? If the system flags the terminal while we ’re inside, how do we avoid getting pinned down? ”

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