ECHO CRADLE: AWAKENING PROTOCOL
2 - Ec
e air in Ridgepo
d radio while his mind replayed the night over and over. The drones, the glowing panel, the v
d with a coded m
NSET. SA
same thing: Echo Cradle wasn't jus
wait
forest's edge. The woods, once familiar
someone-or something-watching. Lena walked up front, fists clenched, jaw tight. Noah was q
d the hatch, it
eeling beside it. "No sign
omething-left it o
e silence more oppressive this time. The hum of low ene
ing the flickering wall panels and disabled
d spot on the ground.
ke they cleaned up aft
till operational," Jet
hter. The main console was lit, its screens pulsing with a dee
ward, hesitated,
the screens flickered and rearranged in
zes you," A
across the c
ÁRI - ACCESS L
e?" Noah
ared-and the floor be
revealing a hidden corridor previously masked by
invited in,
ke it a good ide
walked
Lights activated just ahead of their steps, illuminating stee
"Encrypted interface," he muttered. "This is
reak it?"
ed. "Eve
a central pedestal. As she stepped closer, the display flared to life, showing images-blurred, flickering scenes: four children la
word appeared:
called out, vo
ed again, showing schematics-DNA s
ADLE - GENETIC E
screen. "This was a
," Noah
ascaded past
: LENA
: NOAH
3: AY
4: JE
e, the weight of it
id. "This can
"But... the dreams. I keep seeing th
"They did something to us. Our pow
een working on hiss
l showing stone and roots above. In the center, a crystalline structure floated mida
reathed. "This is
gentle pulses of light toward each of them. As i
bjects active. Initial synchron
artificial. It had resonance, as if
nt from us?" Le
of sile
reme
e drone
ey swarmed from vents and shado
a corridor junction, triggering a magneti
is time deliberately-his shield
en pipe and swung w
, sound warped around her-distorting the air,
kly as it beg
-air. Powered down.
pulsed again
e said. "Memory locks... unstable. I
e chamber l
cture, something sti
more than just our m
e isn't just a lab. It's a fuse
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