Episode 6: Codeborn Rebellion

The Sky Over Caelus Was Blue.

Artificial. Programmed. Controlled By Atmospheric Synth Arrays Hidden In Orbit. A Lie Wrapped In Beauty. Beneath That Sky, The Empire Bred Obedience.

Basid Watched From The Edge Of A Cloud-Carrier—A Floating Dock Hovering Miles Above Caelus Prime's Main Settlement. Below Her, Rows Of White Buildings Stretched Into The Horizon. Each One A Memory Farm. Each Child Inside Raised With Artificial Dreams. Their Minds Wired Before They Could Speak. Their Futures Sold.

She Closed Her Eyes. And She Remembered.

The First Time They Wired Her Thoughts. The First Time They Told Her Who She Was. What She Could Be. A Tool. A Product.

And The Moment She Burned It All.

Now, She Would Burn Again.

Ash's Voice Cracked Through Her Commlink. Entry Grid Open. Cloak Disengaged In Fifteen.

Basid Moved. Armor Wrapped Around Her Limbs Like Living Smoke. A Single Jump Carried Her Over The Edge. She Fell Through The Sky Like A Meteor. Cloak Dissolving. Wings Of Light Unfolding.

Alarms Screamed Below.

She Hit The Ground Inside The Processing Sector. Metal Cracked. Shockwaves Buckled The Walls. Security Mechs Rushed In. But She Was Already Moving.

Each Step She Took Was A Command. Lights Died. Cameras Burned Out. Doors Slammed Open As If Welcoming Her Wrath.

Meanwhile, The Origin Vault Drifted In Low Orbit.

Elen Sat In The Core Chair, Surrounded By Floating Threads Of Data. Her Eyes Glowed As She Linked To The Colony's Infrastructure.

They're Running Over Sixteen Thought Chains. Most Of Them In Infants. Ages Three To Seven. No Access To Language Yet. Just Imprints.

Ash Cursed. They're Building Perfect Shells.

No. Basid Cut In. They're Building Slaves.

She Stepped Into The First Memory Nursery. Inside, Rows Of Transparent Cradles Hummed With Light. Babies Slept Inside Neural Pods. Their Dreams Artificial. Their Names Numbers.

One Opened Her Eyes. And Looked At Basid.

The Moment Their Eyes Met, The Dream Moved.

Elen's Voice Broke Through The Core Channel. She's Connecting. Naturally. No Imprint. No Interface.

Basid Reached In. The Infant's Skin Flared With Light. Not Pain. Recognition. Something In Her Reacted. Something Buried In The Code. A Signature Older Than Empire.

She's One Of Us.

A Siren Blared Across The Colony.

Armed Units Converging, Ash Warned. They Know We're Inside.

Basid Lifted The Child. Her Body Flared With Defensive Armor. Then Let Them Come.

Elen Transferred The First Burst Of Arva Code Into The Colony Grid. Lights Flickered. Artificial Minds Screamed. The Dream Was Not A Visitor Anymore. It Had Come Home.

Ash Landed Beside Basid, Firing At Incoming Drones. I've Set Demolition Points On The Neural Towers. We Burn This Place After Extraction.

Basid Nodded. She Moved From Nursery To Nursery, Lifting Each Child. Shielding Them With Her Own Body.

Elen Whispered, I've Got A Transport Beacon On The Outer Wall. Get Them There. I'll Call The Vault To Retrieve.

The Sky Turned Red As Empire Gunships Descended. Basid And Ash Ran Through Flame And Steel. Behind Them, Towers Collapsed. Memory Chambers Exploded.

They Reached The Beacon.

The Vault Dropped A Beam Capsule—A Protective Pod That Split Open Like A Flower. Basid Placed The Infants Inside. Sealed It. Ash Threw His Staff Into The Ground, Activating Its Last Function—A Recall Detonator.

They Leapt Into The Sky As The Beam Pulled Them Into Orbit.

Below, Caelus Burned.

The Dream Did Not Just Resurrect.

It Fought Back.

Inside The Vault, Elen Held The Capsule's Edge As It Opened. The Infants Slept Peacefully.

They're Dreaming Freely Now, She Said.

Basid Stood Behind Her.

And This Time, No One Will Steal Their Thoughts.

The Vault Drifted Beyond Caelus, Cloaked In Residual Static And Dreamfire Echoes. Behind It, A World Burned Quietly—No Longer Screaming, But Remembering.

Inside The Vault, Elen Sat Surrounded By Crystalline Memory Threads. The Children Rescued From Caelus Slept In Stabilized Cradles, Their Neural Scars Healing. She Watched Over Them Like A Beacon, Not Just Guarding Their Rest—But Guarding Their Future.

Basid Entered The Chamber, Her Armor Dimmed To Civilian Mode. The Smell Of Melted Steel Still Clung To Her Like A Shadow. She Stood Over One Cradle, Looking At A Child Whose Eyes Had Opened In Fire Yet Refused To Close In Fear.

She'll Remember This, Basid Said Softly.

She'll Remember That She Was Saved, Elen Replied.

Ash Joined Them Moments Later, Carrying A Streamboard Of Incoming Signals. No Active Trackers. No Empire Beacons. We're Clean.

For Now, Basid Added.

He Nodded. But They're Reacting. Propaganda Is Spreading. They've Branded Us Dreamweavers. Myths. Terror Constructs. They Don't Even Believe We're Human.

Good, Basid Said. Let Them Be Afraid Of Ghosts.

Elen Stood. The Children Are Stabilized. But The Vault Can't Carry Much More. We Need A New Sanctuary.

Basid Crossed Her Arms. One That Can't Be Found. Not Just Hidden From The Empire, But From History.

There's A Place, Ash Said. An Old Relay Station Orbiting A Dead Moon In The Darien Expanse. It Was A Listening Post. Pre-Empire. Long Abandoned. But Its Infrastructure's Intact.

Basid Considered. Then Let's Make It Our Own.

The Vault Shifted Trajectory, Sliding Into Slipspace With A Silent Surge.

Darien Was Dust.

The Moon Hung Dead In The Sky, Its Crust Fractured By Centuries Of Mining. The Relay Station Floated In Orbit—A Ring-Shaped Skeleton Of Metal, Flickering With Dying Light. No Beacon. No Signal. Just A Silent Witness To A Forgotten War.

They Docked.

Inside, The Air Was Thin. Dry. But Breathable.

Ash And Elen Worked First—Stabilizing Power Nodes, Rebooting Life Support, Realigning Gravity. Basid Walked The Halls Alone, Her Thoughts Drifting. The Walls Were Covered In Old Logs—Voices Recorded During The Fall. Whispered Confessions. Warnings. Dreams.

She Touched One Terminal. A Message Played:

"If You Hear This, We Failed. But That Doesn't Mean You Have To."

She Smiled.

The Children Were Moved In One By One. The Relay Station's Inner Ring Was Converted Into A Living Quarters. Lights Replaced. Shields Rerouted. For The First Time Since The War Began, The Dream Had A Home.

But Peace Did Not Last Long.

Three Days Later, A Signal Breached The Perimeter.

Encrypted. Fragmented. Ancient.

Ash Decoded It.

It's Origin Protocol. But Not Ours. This Is Pre-Dream.

Basid Stepped Forward. Where's It Coming From?

He Highlighted The Coordinates. A Gravefield Between Stars. A Memory Wreck Known As "The Silent Choir."

Elen's Face Pale. That's Where The First Failed Merge Happened. A Thousand Dream Prototypes. Burned Alive In Code.

Basid's Voice Was Cold. Set A Course.

They Left The Children With Auto-Guardians—Drones Powered By Elen's Neural Code. Ash Programmed Escape Trajectories. Then The Vault Slipped Again—Toward The Echoes Of Their Origin.

The Silent Choir Appeared Like A Wound In The Galaxy.

Shattered Vessels. Twisted Frames. Code-Pulse Trails That Still Hummed With Pain. There Was No Life. No Signal. Only Memory.

Until They Heard The Singing.

Not Sound. But Pattern. Repeating Frequencies That Matched Dreamwave Thought.

Basid Locked Onto A Fragment Floating In The Center—A Capsule. Barely Intact. But Alive.

They Pulled It In.

Inside The Capsule Was A Girl. Fifteen. Eyes Closed. Skin Covered In Golden Veins. Her Breathing Shallow. But Real.

Elen Stepped Back. That's… That's Impossible.

Ash Scanned Her. She's Not Just A Fragment. She's A Mirror Node.

Basid Tensed. That Means?

She Holds All Of Them. Every Thought. Every Attempt. Every Failure. She's The Choir.

The Girl Opened Her Eyes.

They Glowed With Every Color.

And She Spoke.

I Remember Everything.

Elen Stumbled Back, Tears In Her Eyes. She Shouldn't Be Alive.

Basid Kneeled Beside The Girl. What's Your Name?

The Girl Looked At Her. I Don't Know Yet. I Was All Of Them. Now I'm Becoming One.

Ash Whispered. She's More Than A Survivor. She's A Key.

Basid Nodded. Then Let's Find The Lock.

Back At The Relay Station, The Children Slept. Guarded By Dreams And Drones.

And In The Void, The Forgotten Sang Again.

Their Voices No Longer Screams.

But A Promise.