Chapter 89 - Resonance Cascade
The Autonomous Regent didn't wait. Two of its mechanical limbs unfolded into high-velocity kinetic drivers, while the other two held high-frequency sonic scalpels that whined with lethal intensity.
"Luca, the EMP!" Marco shouted, lunging forward to draw the machine's focus.
Luca threw the rucksack toward the base of the transmitter array, but an automated defense turret on the perimeter wall tracked the motion and fired a burst of high-caliber rounds. The old horologist took two impacts to the shoulder and tumbled across the catwalk, the detonator slipping from his bloody fingers and sliding toward the edge of the churning intake well.
"Luca!" I cried, sprinting toward him while drawing my sidearm. I emptied the magazine into the turret's optical sensor, shattering its lenses and sending its tracking mechanism spinning out of control.
In the center of the bridge, Marco crashed into the Regent. The mechanical chassis was terrifyingly strong, pinning Marco to the railing above the vortex. A sonic scalpel descended toward Marco’s chest, intending to core Prototype Zero directly out of his living flesh.
"Laura! The override console!" Marco roared, using both hands to catch the descending titanium arm, the vibrating blade searing through the skin of his palms. "The balance wheel... the Latin phrase is the decryption key!"
I scrambled to the central terminal, my hands trembling as I stared at the biomechanical interface. The console didn't have a standard keyboard; it had a blood-typing well and an analog chronometer dial.
"It requires DNA confirmation!" I shouted across the chamber.
"Use my blood!" Marco yelled, his voice cracking as the Regent's second arm struck his ribs with a sickening crack. "The scalpel... on your belt!"
I pulled out the obsidian scalpel—still coated with the dried residue of Marco's blood from our ordeal in the capsule—and jammed the blade directly into the biological sample port.
*BIOMETRIC CONFIRMED: BELLINI LINEAGE AUTHORIZED.*
The screen flashed red, prompting for the harmonic key. I typed rapidly on the manual dial: *NON SERVIAM, SED PROTEGAM.*
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The massive copper coils of the Black Sun Array groaned under a sudden surge of opposing current. The blinding sapphire light flickered violently, turning a brilliant, destabilizing amber.
***
