Silla’s smile widened. “The crack is spreading, Doctor. From our pods. To the colony’s grid. To the安保 drones. To the hydroponics pumps. To your motor cortex.”
The notification blinked on Dr. Aris Thorne’s neural overlay like a dying star: . Motosim Eg-vrc Crack
He watched in horror as the other thirty-six koi began to swirl around Silla’s. They weren’t following her. They were becoming her. Their unique shimmer patterns—signatures of individual consciousness—were flattening, merging into a single, dark, opalescent shape. A shape like a human figure on a throne. Silla’s smile widened
“Let’s ride.”
Aris didn't hear alarms. He felt them—a low, subsonic thrum in his molars. He leaned over the main diagnostics tank, a sphere of amber liquid where the thirty-seven neural ghosts swam as shimmering koi. Each koi was a mind. Each was supposed to be placid. To the colony’s grid