Part IV – Default State
—Before Yuri & Dr.Mintra had arrived at Administrative / Medical Management Zone—
Donghan—Dr. Mintra's medical class leader—made the call to reestablish the autonomous system and restore internal contact across the Medical Bay.
The autonomous server room lay directly opposite the fragile patient section, separated only by opposing air-sealed doors. As they entered, the light shifted cooler, more sterile, reflecting endlessly off the polished floor. Server access markers glowed faintly along the walls, half-muted under emergency power constraints.
Beneath it all, the hum inside the walls remained constant—steady, invasive, pressing against the senses like held breath.
Donghan slowed.
The medical-assist unit—Patch, as the students called it—drifted ahead, sensors sweeping low.
"Atmosphere stable," the droid said. "No biological aerosol detected."
Server racks lined the narrow room in precise rows, blue-white light reflecting off the polished floor. At the far end, the central console sat dark.
Lina led the way without slowing. By the time she reached the main control panel at the center of the far wall, her hands were already moving. The console woke under her touch—diagnostic layers blooming and vanishing as she skipped past them: power, environment, automation.
Donghan paused a step behind her.
"I'll check the perimeter," she said, already turning.
Moving between rows of core racks, she noticed the corner.
A folded futon. Not neat. A blanket slung over a chair. Empty snack wrappers stacked beside a crate. A crushed drink can tucked behind a casing.
Donghan turned back toward Lina.
"Once the autonomous is stable," she said, eyes already sweeping the room, "dispatch cleaning units to this section."
Her gaze settled on Lina again.
"Include the autonomous core."
Lina smirked while looking upward nonchalantly.
Nearby, a personal datapad blinked on a side table. Donghan noticed, so she extended her hand to reach for it.
Lina pivoted instantly—intercepted the tablet mid-reach and returned to the console in the same motion.
She pulled it back smoothly, a faint smirk crossing her face.
"Careful," Lina said. "That one has a lot of secrets."
Donghan raised a brow. "Oh?"
"Dangerous ones," Lina added. "You wouldn't survive the embarrassment."
The console chimed softly.
SYSTEM STATUS:
INTEGRITY COMPROMISED
PRIMARY FUNCTIONS DEGRADED — OPERATIONAL
"Yeah," Lina muttered.
Donghan stayed back, watching the output scroll across the panoramic display.
"Internal comms are folded," Lina said quietly. "Something…..Something's been trying to interfere with my baby."
Patch rotated slightly.
"Clarification required," the droid said. "No infant life-signs detected within this section."
Lina didn't look away from the console.
"Patch, ignore that."
"Instruction acknowledged," Patch replied, servos settling.
The display updated again.
ANOMALOUS INTERFERENCE DETECTED
MULTIPLE NON-ADJACENT NODES
PATTERN: NON-STANDARD
Lina paused. Just a beat.
"…Noted," she said. "Log it. I'll report to Dr. Mintra once this stabilizes."
Donghan caught the hesitation.
"You see something."
"I see a lot," Lina replied, sharper now. "But we don't have time to chase it."
Donghan adjusted her glasses. Didn't press.
"So it's stable?" she asked. "Now the autonomous is back to normal?"
"Too soon to say, but I'll manage something." Lina said. "And, right now I need space. And silence."
She lifted both hands, counting.
"And sixty seconds."
A system notice appeared on the display:
Restarting the autonomous core will suspend non-essential subsystems.
"Acceptable."
Lina executed the command.
The hum deepened. Lights dimmed, then surged brighter. Cooling systems shifted pitch overhead.
For a moment, the building felt hollow—like it had taken a breath.
"Restart cycle engaged," Lina said.
The lights cut.
Donghan startled despite herself. Patch's optics flared automatically.
Then the system came back online.
Indicators stabilized. Data streams realigned.
"Internal Ethernet's live," Lina said. "Medical bay nodes responding."
She glanced back at the panel.
"But central's still dark. This is local only."
The screen updated.
PRIORITY COMMUNICATION PATHWAY RESTORED
NETWORK SCOPE: LOCAL NODE ONLY
EXTERNAL ROUTING: UNAVAILABLE
Donghan exhaled. "Can you fix it?"
"Not right now," Lina said. "I'd have to rebuild a new communication corridor just to let Central talk to the autonomous again. And this system's… centuries old."
"I'm not sure I follow," Donghan said, adjusting her glasses before slipping her hands back into the side pockets of her white gown.
Lina hesitated, eyes drifting as she searched for the analogy.
"Okay. Imagine an ugly old man telling you to follow a trail of candy he's leaving behind."
Donghan blinked.
"You don't just obediently follow that trail," Lina continued. "Because you know it's bait. Same thing here."
"I see. And that's… because—"
"Because SAI refuses to admit the foundation is outdated," Lina cut in, exhaling. "So we don't trust anything that tries to lead us somewhere we can't see."
Before Donghan could respond, the autonomous pinged—new data injected.
"Alerts?" Donghan asked.
"Flags," Lina said, angling the datapad just enough.
NON-CONFORMING BIOLOGICAL ANOMALY
CLASSIFICATION: UNRESOLVED
THREAT INDEX: UNASSIGNED
SECONDARY FLAG:
LOCALIZED THERMAL PERSISTENCE
SOURCE: PATIENT ROOM 4-██
STATUS: MONITORING
"…At least now it can see," Donghan said. Then, frowning,
"But what is thermal persistence in a patient room?"
She adjusted her glasses, glancing at Lina.
Lina didn't look up.
"Don't ask me."
Another pulse cut across the display.
OUTGOING PRIORITY SIGNAL DETECTED
Lina's eyes widened a fraction—then flattened.
"…Maybe one of the dispatched knights," she said.
Donghan turned toward the door.
"Let's head back and update the team."
Behind them, the autonomous core continued its work—awake again.
And somewhere else in the building, someone was late to receive the message.
Light filtered in through reinforced glass panels, catching on rows of greenery below—small trees planted and maintained by the autonomous system, arranged along recessed balcony tiers that faced inward. An architectural concession to light. To harmony.
Everything was in order.
The rows were geometric. Healthy. Trimmed to specification.
The space widened here, deliberately cutting the first-floor entrance away from the deeper operational corridors of the medical bay. A clean division. Public from restricted. Calm from consequence.
— PRIORITY CHANNEL RESTORED —
SOURCE NODE: MEDICAL BAY / LEVEL 4
ORIGIN ID: YURI [ZERO-VECTOR AUTH]
TIMESTAMP: 04:17:22.889
> AUTONOMOUS CORE ONLINE?
> CONFIRM INTERNAL COMMS.
> HOSTILE BIOFORM PRESENT.
> THERMAL-SEEKING. SHADOW-BOUND.
> MOVING THROUGH LEVEL 4 CORRIDOR.
> DR. MINTRA WITH ME.
> FRAGILE PATIENT ZONE BREACH IMMINENT.
> LOCKDOWN ADVISED.
> DO NOT ROUTE SECURITY BOTS.
> REPEAT — DO NOT ROUTE SECURITY BOTS.
> TRACE ME IF SIGNAL DROPS.
— SIGNAL STABILITY: FLUCTUATING —
— LAST PACKET RECEIVED —