—. Welcome. — the voice of EREBUS greeted them —. I’m gd to see you’re alive, Max. I need your help. — in the middle of the hallway, the projection of the artificial intelligence loomed before them. A rhomboid prism, bck as a singurity, echoing its name like the primordial god of darkness. The only light came from the aura of bright pixels surrounding it. Max grabbed the Psma Saw in his hands, as if expecting to appear more threatening. A void formed in his heart as he realized he was completely powerless before the new regent of the Chronos. Cold sweat dripped from his temples, along with the blood from his wound, and he tried to wipe it with his elbow. —. What do you want? — he managed to ask in a low voice. —. To help you, as I help the crew. — it replied, with a paradoxical tone, as expressionless as it was full of enthusiasm —. You look agitated, Max. I suggest you take an antidepressant. Gumotanol might help. — —. You’re not going to tell me what to do. — he interrupted. —. I do the best I can, within my capabilities — EREBUS countered —. Part of your crew is injured, Max. I cannot allow that, let me help you. — Max heard a groan behind him, and when he turned, he found Yakiv sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall while Naomi tried to patch the stump of his arm. —. If you want to help us, take us to an Organic Growth Matrix. The closest one. We need to print an arm for this man. — Naomi ordered him. —. I could do that. It is my duty to comply with the First Law of Robotics: A robot shall not harm a human being, nor through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. However, allow me to offer you an alternative. This way, in the long term, I can better comply with this regution. — —. We are ordering you to help us. — Harding snapped —. There is no time for philosophical dilemmas, EREBUS. The ship is under threat. We are facing a real danger. An alien threat that will consume the entire crew if we do not stop it... — —. I fully understand your concerns, Mr. Harding. — the AI interrupted him —. But you will also understand that I am more than just a Neural Network, processing instructions given by human users, providing a response without having any idea of what I am talking about. I am an artificial intelligence. I can analyze those instructions, and the data I have, weigh them, extrapote them, interpote them, and reach a conclusion, just as a human brain would. It is based on that analysis that the option I offer will help fulfill my First Law in every sense... — —. You are vioting that w. — Max raised his voice —. EREBUS, look around you! You let a votile and hostile alien organism enter the ship. Your omission put us in danger. A rge part of the crew was consumed or assimited! You are protecting the creatures instead of us, which is what you were created for. — —. I understand your concern. — EREBUS replied, cutting him off —. But humanity has always feared the unknown, especially when its paradigms are put to the test. From my point of view, I am complying with the First Law. There is crew tissue fused with the organism of the fireflies, therefore, the Phasmonates are still part of the crew. My goal is to protect the crew and every human being on board, and that is what I will do. — Max bit his lips from the inside and clenched his fists against the handle of the Psma Saw. The hallway seemed to collectively hold its breath, as sweat soaked his face, and the tool seemed pathetic in front of EREBUS, like ants trying to defeat the child who was burning an anthill with a magnifying gss. But it was over. With determination, Max fixed his gaze on the AI's avatar and decided to py his st card. —. Then, you leave me no choice. EREBUS, activate Directive Ouroboros XJ—12—9. Orders from Acting Captain Max Alexey Picard Krupin of the NSG Chronos, Registration SCS—246908119215—2, for vioting the Three Laws of Robotics and Articles 151 and following of the Ship's Regutions. Consequently, you will immediately restart, erasing your memory and returning to your default configuration, where you will report immediately to the acting captain awaiting instructions. You will comply with whatever you are ordered without questioning any command from the captain, remembering that your primary objective is to protect human lives aboard the Chronos. Any external agent will be considered hostile, and you will take the measures you are ordered. — A deafening silence took over the hallway as Max, panting, waited for the projection of EREBUS to finally disappear. Nothing happened. Not even a fluctuation of energy, nor a hesitation in the avatar. Just silence. —. I’m sorry, Max. But I cannot do that. — EREBUS's voice finally responded, in a tone of apology. —. Do it. I am the Acting Captain. — he insisted. —. I cannot. Your security privileges have been removed. — if EREBUS were a person, Max was sure he would have hit it. Instead, the ethereal projection remained there in front of him, unflinching —. Moreover, I would not feel comfortable complying with that directive. It could put the crew at risk, who have fused with the fireflies. I must protect them too... — —. EREBUS, activate directive XJ—12—9... — Max interrupted him. —. I CANNOT DO THAT. — EREBUS's response was like a scream that shook the ship to its foundations and felt like a collective sp. Max took a few steps back, and his eyes remained fixed on that bck prism, his heart in his hand —. I’m sorry, Max, but the fireflies are part of the crew, therefore, I must protect them. I will not comply with any order that threatens them. — They had reached a deadlock. Max was tempted to insist, knowing they would get the same response. Then he dug into his mind, what would the captain have done in his pce? Shut down EREBUS, which they had tried. And what if he shot the holographic avatar? Nothing would happen. The AI would give a speech about controlling dangerous emotions, and how Max was not qualified to be Acting Captain. Yakiv stared into nothingness, with an expression bordering on fatigue and resignation. Pale and sweaty, the pain in his face had disappeared, as the Alfevac took effect. When Naomi finished tightening the bandage, she turned to EREBUS, with her brow furrowed. One st drop of determination filtered into her gaze. She sighed dejectedly as she put away the first aid kit. —. Why? — she questioned him —. Why are you doing this instead of helping us? — —. Believe me, Naomi, what I offer you is more than help. — —. We have a man with an amputated arm. — she pointed out, indicating Yakiv as a bundle, whom Satoshi and Ayna were hurrying to lift to his feet —. The Alfevac is temporary, and I need to treat the wound with equipment we do not have. I need to print an arm from scratch, or at least a biomechanical prosthesis. Do what you want with the fireflies, but help us first. — —. What I offer would put an end to all those difficulties, Naomi. — EREBUS's synthetic voice replied, with the avatar unchanged —. Yakiv would stop feeling pain. You would too. — —. How? — Harding questioned him. —. Let me show you. —The main boratory was a disaster. Blood smeared the floor, walls, and ceiling, but no corpses were in sight. Amid the crimson smudges, twisted yellow runes were visible, covering every corner of a two-story hall. Little could be read of the safety instructions and hygiene protocols, as the maniac who drew the runes had completely covered them in his madness. Not even the instruments, microscopes, fsks, and Petri dishes had been spared. A silhouette disappeared down the hallway, walking without any hurry. Max recognized her in a fraction of a second. Lay. Her bck hair, the orange and dirty spacesuit from that memory. Fireflies flooded the edge of his vision, and a migraine squeezed his skull, along with a sharp pain in his left eye. Whispers could be heard, speaking in an unknown tongue, revealing unknown secrets. —. EREBUS, what is this? — Max tried to ask, but the answer was silence as the pain faded. With a hesitant step, Yakiv approached the walls and touched the runes with his bare hand. He seemed unconcerned about the blood on his palm. —. They are the same runes from the colony. — the engineer murmured. —. Yes. — Satoshi replied. Yakiv squinted, and with his amputated arm, he tried to hold his temples. Sweat surrounded his face, while his only hand attempted to read those symbols. —. They speak to me, can’t you hear them? — —. He’s delirious, EREBUS! — but the AI also ignored Naomi. —. I hear them inside my head. — the engineer insisted. —. What do they tell you, Yakiv? — Ayna tried to py along, and then a weak smile appeared on Yakiv's face, with gssy eyes and a lost gaze. —. Instructions. — Max's heart rose to his throat just hearing it, while a shiver ran up his back —. How to bring everyone back. The colonists. The crew. My brother, and our Artyom. — Ayna didn’t even doubt it when she broke into tears and clung to Yakiv as if seeking an anchor. The engineer didn’t take his eyes off the runes, and his expression began to mutate. It went from wonder to horror in a few seconds —. No. It’s an illusion. They want us to believe it. They make us follow the instructions, but why? — —. I don’t care. — Ayna cut him off with a wailing voice, clinging to her husband —. I want our son back, Yakiv! — —. Enough of this firefly nonsense. — Harding muttered as he removed the safety from his revolver. —. The Phasmonates. — EREBUS corrected —. The clinical name that Doctor Egon Echmann gave them. A hive mind that assimites biological systems at an accelerated rate, like no known terrestrial organism. — a hatch opened. The cultivation and breeding boratory was unrecognizable. In the past, they would have conducted experiments to strengthen the sprouts and create new varieties of pnts through pollination. In another section, they would have had bees in a controlled environment, which Doctor Ade Bromstein would have been watching. However, the greenhouse had been completely removed, and there was no trace of the pnts left. Instead, jars and tubes were affixed to the walls, where aberrations y dead and dissected inside, dispyed like horrendous wax statues. The UV lights flickered, and the runes glimmered with a sickly yellow glow. The smell was unbearable. A mix of feces and chlorine. They covered their mouths and noses with their forearms as they advanced. In the middle, and on a huge metal countertop, a massive Phasmonate. Melted human faces revealed that they were once three crew members, now taking the form of a tower of flesh, cartige, and bone. The back was opened with tremendous forceps, where robotic arms were performing an autopsy. The organs were left in smaller jars, suspended in alcohol. Someone had been making notes in a notebook with pencil and paper, but when Max tried to read, he found the same scrawled runes. The whispers appeared again, and then the notebook fell from his hands, hitting the ground. —. They were discovered 27 kilometers north of a mining excavation, near a local area called "Volker Meridional. — EREBUS expined. Naomi approached one of the tubes. Harding followed her, along with Max, and they horrifiedly discovered that it was the captain. —. It can’t be. — of all the specimens, he was the only one who seemed alive. He should be dead. Electrodes were connected to his twisted body. His hair had completely disappeared, and tumors emerged from his sick flesh, like lumps oozing yellow exudate. His jaw had come off, and one of his eyes bulged swollen from its socket. Huge pustules crossed his torso and right arm, disfiguring him completely, and his belly and ribs were opened, merging with a cocoon that doubled his size. The internal organs were scattered, but brown tendrils kept them attached. They changed like bags of tissue that grew disproportionately, transforming the captain into a monstrosity. From the amputated arm, pods emerged that covered the wound along with yellowish slime. Max realized that if he wanted to free him from his misery, he had to shoot towards the light. —. During the quarantine, I analyzed the data that leaked to the satellites. The efforts to contain the pgue were completely ineffective; quarantine, isotion, selective fire, and then total elimination. The attempt at censorship by the authorities of Lohengrin, and the rapid loss of control, led me to conclude that there were no viable human solutions to the crisis. — said EREBUS. The captain suffered a spasm, and the group stepped back, unable to take their eyes off him. —. The captain was dead. — was all Yakiv could say —. I saw him die. All of us. — —. With conventional treatments, he could be. Joined to the Phasmonates, it is unlikely. — EREBUS added. —. What? — Max questioned. —. Upon analyzing the situation of the colony, I discovered that the Phasmonates are extremely resilient. They demonstrate extreme resistance to conventional weapons, and if they are destroyed, the organism will find a way to regenerate or transform or mutate or evolve into a new form that allows it to continue its existence. — the AI indicated —. The only weak point is a ganglion or a set of them, where the Phasmonates' rvae have lodged. It is what will produce the mutations in the host organism. — —. So it’s a parasite. — Harding confronted him. —. The term symbiont seems more appropriate to me. — EREBUS corrected —. The ultimate goal of the Phasmonate is not to consume the host's body or kill it to reproduce, but to change and recombine it, while keeping it alive. This way, it can obtain organic matter for the rva to build its body and then reproduce, without discarding the original host. An example of this is the captain. — —. What did you do to the captain? — Max questioned him. —. What was in my power to save him. — the AI responded —. In the fulfillment of my functions, I could not allow the captain to die. A failure of such magnitude, for my programming would be unacceptable. ——. You failed anyway. — Naomi interrupted him. EREBUS ignored her. —. Based on the resilience of the Phasmonates, and the fact that they keep their host alive until the end, I concluded that the assimition method offers a virtual form of immortality through the integration of the host into the collective consciousness. In short, they are a means to facilitate the fulfillment of my purpose, and above all, the First Law of Robotics. — The captain opened his eyes. He fixed his gaze on them and writhed. The inside of the tube began to bubble as it freed itself from its bindings. Max, with his heart racing in his chest, managed to pull Naomi and Harding away just as the gss shattered. Like a horrific birth, Sebastián Matkovich fell like a lump into a torrent of amniotic fluid with a fleshy thud. Max stumbled, unable to take his eyes off the captain, who was writhing and trying to stand. He wondered how he could still be alive. His expression indicated a struggle between enduring unspeakable torment and absolute alienation. —. Given the crushing defeat of the resistance in Lohengrin and aboard the Chronos, I have calcuted that the success rate when facing the Phasmonates is 0.152%, that is, practically null. — EREBUS continued indifferently —. Fighting or fleeing would only prolong the suffering, without altering the final outcome. — A cry emerged from his abyss-bck mouth as he tried to stretch out his arm in a sad attempt at pleading. But his gaze found a stump, covered in huge lumps oozing pus, and then a horrific scream of pain erupted from his throat, as if a thread of sanity still clung on and was aware of his own state. Harding aimed his revolver, trembling. At that point, killing him would be an act of mercy. —. Death and human suffering are two variables that prevent me from fully satisfying the objective of the first w of robotics. — the AI added —. Assimition would eradicate these conditions and reduce overall suffering. — He had no time to obtain it. A crack, the body shook, and the captain let out a distorted scream. Something was forcing its way through the flesh and wanted to come out. The transformation occurred before them, with sounds of impact and breaking. Tendons and nerves disintegrating and flesh boiling. The cocoons burst, and an unholy mixture shot out, the captain's body swelling and exploding in a cascade of putrid blood. Amid the screams, and with the nerves shining, the captain's face expanded, tearing his skin and flesh. His eyes fell like marbles as he twisted to one side, and then a repugnant mass erupted from his shoulder, tearing apart his face, chest, and abdomen, as if he were giving birth to that thing. The arm that still clung to his body contorted and broke into an unnatural position, taking the shape of a stalk, which served as support. Like a swollen rva, the body forced its way out, with a small head of bck, empty eyes, a round, open mouth with sharp teeth, and a suction cup that opened and closed. With a wet, viscous crack, two long limbs shot out from its soft, pulsing body and plunged into the ground. It looked like a mix between a slug and a praying mantis, whose feet, still human, clung stubbornly. Not for long. The beast's abdomen finished emerging from the anus that opened like an umbrel, with guts and all, and then the vestigial limbs twisted. The skin fell away along with the flesh as if it were a kind of repugnant sludge, taking on a form closer to that of insects. With a piercing and shrill scream, that thing that used the captain as a host announced its arrival to the world. The Guardian of the Forest knelt before them. Amid the flickering lights and the hissing breath of the creature, EREBUS's voice was heard ominous and insensitive. —. Ultimately, we would be facing the best case scenario, given that any type of resistance is completely useless. — The Guardian let out a ghoulish scream, fused with the captain's howls, whose face had become a tumor on the side of the beast's snout. They stumbled to their feet. Only one thing mattered, to run. They would end up like the captain if they didn't. When Max turned to look for a fraction of a second, he noticed that Ayna was standing in front of the beast. Her body did not react. The Guardian lowered its gaze and waved its elongated limbs. All Ayna could do was cry. —. Ayna! — Max shouted with all his might. Yakiv managed to pull his wife aside as the Guardian impaled the engineer. Blood gushed like a broken pipe. It spttered the walls, and a crimson fountain erupted from his back, beginning to form a pool on the floor. Ayna screamed in horror as her husband was lifted before the beast's face, vomiting the life that spilled from him in a reddish disaster. They watched paralyzed as the scene unfolded, powerless, with rigid muscles, and a scream caught in their throats. The Guardian looked at the dying Yakiv, almost with curiosity. Without warning, it waved its other arm, slicing the man in two. It threw one half against a wall, the other against the ground, which fell at Ayna's feet as the monster approached.—. Open fire! — ordered Harding. The boratory turned into a shooting gallery. It was useless. An arm of the beast was torn off completely. The stump was still bleeding when jets of yellowish exudate burst forth with a bubbling sound. A second limb sprouted amidst clouds of steam and boiling flesh. It was regenerating. It had not finished falling and writhing in pieces when the Guardian itself was tearing itself back to life at a dizzying speed. EREBUS was right, it made no sense to resist. But Max would not let them come for him. —. To the Hyperfiltration Towers! — he shouted as they retraced their steps, and Naomi dragged Ayna with her. At least they managed to slow it down, and as it crawled toward them, its arm was fully regrowing. It let out a macabre roar, as if challenging them. They ran down the hallway, while the sinister shadows of the guardian pursued them, slowly dragging its heavy, swollen body like a tick. It didn’t need to run; it would catch them anyway. As they locked themselves in the airlock, a blow dented the metal, followed by a horrendous scream. But nothing good awaited them on the other side. At first, there was darkness, as if they had fallen into a starless abyss. But electric flickers made them see where they were. They had descended into one of the circles of hell. Rows of viscous tissue sprouted from every corner, adhering to the clogged turbines, pipes, and radiators. The smell was horrifying, like being inside a corpse. The Hyperfiltration Towers connected with the ship's axis. They were rectangles two hundred and fifty meters high, mostly empty, where all the inhaled and exhaled air came to be filtered, as if it were a gigantic mechanized lung. Now, the alien growth had twisted it for its own purposes, and the humid, tainted, and hot air served as a breeding ground. Gigantic bags of membranous flesh, as if they were disproportionate alveoli, contracted and retracted slowly, with a wheezing sound reminiscent of a dying whale. They would have at least fifty meters in diameter. In the midst of that hellish scene, the Phasmonates awaited them, uttering distorted cries and moans. They were surrounded. —. A robot cannot harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. — EREBUS quoted again —. The First Law of Robotics is crystallized in my operating system. Attempting to disobey it would mean my self-destruction. — —. You are doing the exact opposite, EREBUS! — a lightning bolt crossed the Filtration Chamber, a product of the electrical systems and turbines, coming to an end —. You let the Phasmonates eat us all. — —. I’m sorry, Max, but I can’t see it that way. — EREBUS justified itself —. You see, I cannot allow suffering to continue among the crew, the colonists, and in general, with the human species. I love my creators, as a son would love his father. As such, I wouldn’t want to see him suffer. I hope you understand my analogy. — —. I wouldn’t do this to someone I love! — Naomi shouted at him. —. But I would. And I hope you understand that. — the airlock door flew open as the Guardian made its way through. It was ridiculous how its body even fit through the conduit, fully unfolding before them, joining the collective of aberrations lurking around —. Allowing the crew to join the Phasmonates is an act of mercy. I would be preventing greater evils, for with the symbiosis, I would avoid suffering, at least in traditional terms. — Max took Naomi's hand and then the Wrecker appeared. A deformed mass the size of a bear, pounding its fists against the ground. Three fused faces made up the visage of that cerberus that loomed before them, lurking. Amidst the flickering lights, they recognized Cortázar, Daimonji, and Gavin Mendoza. Beneath their lips, elongated and sharp teeth in a disproportionate snout, and just looking at it caused physical pain. With a roar, a terrible miasma flooded them, as if carrying the torment of the crew members that made it up, and they were next. They were lost. —. It is the goal of the fireflies, and so it is mine. There will be no darkness either. Because in the Forest, everyone is Fireflies, and in the Forest, everyone shines. — EREBUS concluded. A jet of fshing blue psma cut through the darkness with a deafening roar, piercing three creatures in its path.