Unknown Location,
Vortex Frontier,
Galaxy of Cornelius.
At an unknown location in space, a distant and extremely perilous planet, Plato, was located just at the edge of the Vortex Frontier, the unstable and chaotic region of space. Its orbit was dangerously close to the Vortex Frontier boundary, where reality itself can warp and tear. Even the light it receives from a dark-green star slightly misaligned with its orbit, emphasizes the sense that the planet exists in a fragile and almost unnatural balance. Plato was under constant cosmic strain, with spatial tensions visible in its skies and the formation of small fractures in its upper atmosphere. By ordinary laws of physics, the planet shouldn't exist as it does. It was protected only through an advanced, nearly invisible technology, employed to endure the anomalous forces posed by the Vortex Frontier. Not even any form of plant could be seen on the planet.
The planet's defense was a lattice-like, invisible dome extending beyond the atmosphere, functioning not as a mere shield but as a corrective mechanism. It doesn't just block threats. It actively counteracts the chaotic forces from the Vortex Frontier. Vortex particles, which could obliterate the planet, would stall at the invisible dome's surface from time to time, and the dome's rims distribute strange energies to keep the structure intact. This technology was architecture and physics employed in harmony, a living barrier that balances destruction with correction.
Plato's surface was bleak, desolate, and metallic with endless plains of the planet's natural black stony ground. However, the central erected structure was what attracted the eye: A sprawling structure that was not quite tall vertically but vast horizontally in a highly layered complexity. The fort took up almost one-third of the planet. Its design looked organic and purposeful because it has flowing, smooth contours with precise and sharp angles. From above, the fort looked like a symbol carved into the earth itself.
This was the mighty structure of a secret fort known as Aorx.
Inside the fort, light behaved strangely. The entrance into the fort contained a yard that was alive with mechanical movement. Interlocking cubes of marble walls shifted slowly, sliding, rotating, and folding like the gears of an enormous breathing labyrinthine machine.
The ceilings were arching and continuously dividing into smaller marble walls that were then rotating slowly and slid strangely haphazardly before interlocking back into their original shape. The floors would sequentially but slowly rise into stairways, and even the passageways were narrowing with some challenging arrangement patterns before opening again into wide, unexpected halls. The walls themselves were brimming with soft light, creating shadows that strained and broke with each small change. The whole surreal scene was like walking into a living puzzle, where the architecture directed and moved on its own volition. The entrance was was known only to the residents of the fort. A stranger would be trapped in this maze-like entrance for all time.
Aorx was obviously a hell of a place because the cube walls' shifting pattern was completely random and there was very little chance that the same shifting and arrangement pattern would repeat itself. Only the actual occupants of the fort could navigate this maze, and every movement of the marble walls appeared to have a purpose. Mesmerizing, terrifying, and sublime was the labyrinth's interior alone. It was an extremely intricate and advanced mechanical structure, unlike any other in the New Facility, with each wall functioning in a subdued rhythm.
Just then, a human figure walked alone through the corridor, boots making no sound against the pale surface beneath them. But instead of interlocking in the random manner, the corridor simply opened up, giving way for the human figure as the surreal marble structures interlocked, this time, in a weirdly arranged manner. The interlocking cube walls would close up again immediately the figure leaves their initial spot.
As the person emerged from the maze-like passageway and entered the fort, they came to a halt before a massive, smooth and upright building set into the wall, its surface dimly illuminated by slow, flowing lines of light. The apparatus released a radiation that moved through the figure's head and spine structure without making any noise or movement, reading neural signatures with silent accuracy before allowing further entry into the fort.
[Neural patterns confirmed]
[Access granted]
Then a shimmering, phase-shifting barrier dissolved and reconfigured seamlessly after their neural clearance is verified, granting them passage.
Immediately, the person was greeted by an inhumane voice.
"You are late, Neesha."
The figure in particular, turned out to be a woman. She inclined her head slightly, more out of habit than necessity.
"The temporal variance increased near the outer lattice," Neesha replied aloud. "The Frontier is restless today. More than usual, to be precise."
"It is always restless."
Not even Neesha could identify the source of the voice. It simply spoke from an unidentifiable origin.
Then Neesha stepped into a very large room. The atmosphere itself seemed to hum with silence as the ceiling extended far above and hunched upward into a misty haze. Transparent panels glistened with life along the chamber's edges, their surfaces showing flickering neural maps and probability statistics, complex spatial patterns, and streams of data. There was a holographic three-dimensional projection in the center of the room, suspended in midair and gently pulsing.
"Subject acquisition window has narrowed," Neesha said. "The Academy deployment sped up their schedule."
"Expected. He was never going to use more than the time frame we calculated."
The projection turned slowly, becoming a more detailed image. Neural pathways lit up, intertwining in complex ways that went beyond the usual mapping standards of the New Facility.
"This one," Neesha continued, "was not flagged by the VCI metrics."
"Metrics observe thresholds. They do not observe divergence," the voice replied.
Hearing that, Neesha paused.
"So you think divergence is the point?"
The voice did not respond for a moment.
"Divergence is always the point."
The holographic projection shifted again. A designation appeared briefly and then dissolved before it could fully form.
Neesha did not ask for clarification though. She shrugged it off. She already knew better.
Elsewhere in the fort, things continued with quiet precision as teams of workers and lab analysts referred to as Wardens, moving through labs where all forms of materials were folded, unfolded, and reconstituted with struct procedures. Neural constructs were tested against simulated vortex stressors. Their interfaces responded with adaptation instead of resistance.
In one area, a group of Wardens stood before a widely curved display showing the projected path of the Aurora Veil. They were actually monitoring the ship's movement.
"Prometheus is moving faster than usual," one of them noted. "They're nervous."
"They should be, another replied. "Cerberus involvement confirms it. Also, this is the first time something this strange will take place within New Facility."
A third analyst leaned closer, eyes narrowing.
"The cadet is onboard?"
"Yes."
"Unremarkable profile?"
"Yes."
At the highest accessible level of the fort, a chamber remained deliberately empty.
There were no instruments, displays, or projections in the room. One of the four walls that should have been there was a reinforced atmospheric veil of glass.
From a distance of the large window, a single leather seat faced the distant shimmer of the Vortex Frontier visible through the reinforced atmospheric veil.
The seat was occupied though.
A figure was seated, their leg crossed over the other. They were continuously tapping their finger against the armrest of the seat. They held a small glass cup containing liquor.
The figure remained still, their gaze fixed on the distant field of vortexes in space.
---
Somewhere in the New Facility, a ship suddenly sliced through space with controlled speed toward Prometheus Planet.
One of the cadets in the ship shifted in his seat, seemingly affected by the successive space warps they had just passed through. Perhaps he was sensitive to space warp flights.
"Goodness gracious. I hope we reach out destination soon enough."
---
Back in the chamber, Neesha tilted her head slightly.
"So," she said quietly, her voice barely audible even in the sealed space. "The Academy finally lets him leave."
There was no response.
She then smiled faintly.
"Good."
The voice responded with a satisfied tone.