STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Harun stopped, muttering under his breath. “Damn it.”

Lucien swallowed hard. “What was that?”

Harun didn’t answer immediately. His fingers traced along the cables, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Could be the system recalibrating. These tunnels are old —sometimes they glitch.”

Lucien's gut twisted. “And if it’s not?”

Harun finally looked up, his expression carefully neutral. “Could mean we’re triggering something we shouldn’t be.”

A sharp prickle ran up Lucien’s spine, but Harun shrugged, offering a forced grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Relax. The redundancy routes aren ’t synced with the main system anymore. They were phased out years ago. If anything, it ’s just old wiring acting up.”

Lucien nodded, but he wasn’t convinced. The walls felt closer now, like the Spire was listening. Watching.

Lyra flicked between them, sharp and unrelenting. “Let’s go. We don’t have time to second-guess. ”

Her urgency snapped them back to movement. They pressed on, the lights overhead casting their shadows against the curved metal walls in warped shapes that stretched and shifted unnaturally.

***

As they rounded a bend in the passage, Lucien heard it —faint, distant, but distinct. A rhythmic click-click-click, like mechanical footsteps echoing through the tunnels.

He turned to Lyra, his voice barely above a whisper. “Did you hear that?”

She nodded once, her eyes narrowing as she motioned for them to be quiet. Harun slowed his pace, listening carefully, his hand pulling at the strap of his bag.

Lucien ’s heart pounded. He reached for his wrist device, thumbing it to their secure channel. “Corin, do you see anything on surveillance?”

Corin’s voice crackled in his ear, laced with annoyance. “You’re asking me if I see something inside the Spire? Do you think I have eyes in every shadow? ”

Lucien swallowed, keeping his voice steady. “Just check.”

A pause. Then Corin ’s voice returned, a little sharper now. “Nothing in your sector, but I’m seeing heat spikes two floors above you. Might be routine maintenance... or not.”

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