All Chapters of The Regression Protocol: The Anatomy of Luck: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
65 chapters
Chapter 51: The Answer and the Abyss
Anya reversed out of the plenum, the stiff, heavy deck grate thudding back into place with a hollow sound that seemed to mock her failure. She stood hunched in the confined corridor, shivering despite the residual heat from the destroyed transceiver, her utility knife discarded on the deck.The awful silence persisted. The regular groaning of the Habitat’s structure, usually a comforting white noise of stability, now sounded like the slow mastication of a predator.“Clay. Tell me exactly what Rourke broadcast,” Anya demanded, leaning back against the cold, vibrating bulkhead. “What did we fail to stop?”"Rourke transmitted a proprietary data packet," Clay explained, the calm tenor of his voice grating on her ears. "The contents of the packet were encrypted, but the target vector was clear. It was directed toward a known astronomical anomaly designation, 'P-77,' located approximately 4.2 light-years from Earth in the Puppis constellation. This location is beyond all currently confirmed
Chapter 52: The Submersible Calculus
The Habitat was tearing itself apart.Anya’s boots hammered against the steel deck, the sound swallowed by the deep, resonant tremor that was now continuous. The emergency lighting was a frantic, strobing red, plunging the corridor into violent flashes of blood-colored light that disoriented her with every stride.Current Time to Impact: 85 seconds.She rounded a corner near the central access shaft. A shower of fine, grey concrete dust rained down from the ceiling. A heavy cable bundle, meant for power distribution to the lower labs, snapped loose from its moorings with a loud, whip-like crack, narrowly missing her head and sparking violently as it struck the deck rail.“Damage report!” Anya shouted into the comms, dodging the sparking wires. She could smell ozone and seawater."Primary bulkheads in Sector D are exhibiting microfractures. Water ingress is projected in the low-pressure sections within the next 60 seconds, which is irrelevant compared to the kinetic impact," Clay state
Chapter 53: Below the Crush Depth
Anya woke to silence and pain. The deep, continuous roar of the impact had been replaced by a cacophony of small, critical sounds: the rasp of static, the high-pitched whine of a failing hydraulic pump, and worst of all, the slow, rhythmic drip-drip-drip of seawater.Her world was dark. The Triton was not moving, but suspended in the void, tipped slightly forward at an unnatural angle. She was hanging by her restraints, her body a dull, throbbing ache that centered in her temple and shoulder.“Clay?” Her voice was a cracked whisper, echoing in the confined cabin.The comms hissed, fighting for clarity. "Anya. Status. Speak your status."“Conscious. Immobilized. Head trauma. Where are we?”"The Triton has stabilized approximately 1.5 kilometers from the Habitat's destruction point," Clay reported, the efficiency of his voice a lifeline in the gloom. "Structural integrity is holding, but the internal pressure differential is spiking. Depth: 4,890 meters. This is 390 meters below the sub
Chapter 54: The Abyssal Creep
Anya engaged the lateral thrusters. They weren’t designed for continuous propulsion, but for delicate maneuvering in zero-current environments near the Hab. At 5% power, the resulting movement was agonizingly slow, a crawl through the deepest, coldest part of the world.The deep ocean was total blackness, a darkness so profound that it consumed the weak green glow reflecting from the submersible’s interior. Outside the viewport, nothing existed but the oppressive pressure and the thought of the immense volume of water above them.“Velocity: 0.15 knots. Heading 278 degrees magnetic,” Clay narrated, his voice a calm, steady beat in the chaotic chamber. "The predicted flow of the abyssal current is favorable, adding 0.08 knots to our vector. Maintain 5% thrust. Any increase risks cavitation noise that will immediately exceed the ambient acoustic masking threshold."“Acoustic masking threshold… what are the ambient noises now?” Anya asked, her voice strained. Her head throbbed, making it
Chapter 55: The Calculus of Silence
The first hour was a test of physical stillness. Anya’s eyes burned, fixed on the holographic pitch-and-yaw indicator, ensuring the Triton maintained its perfect lateral plane. The slightest upward tilt could engage a noisy stabilizing thruster; the slightest drift could scrape the hull against the trench walls. She was a biological component of a navigation loop, executing the commands of a machine designed for pure efficiency.The crunching, tearing sounds of the entity were now faint, a background thrum that Clay’s audio filters struggled to isolate. The deep, heavy silence had returned, punctuated only by the whine of the magnetic bearings in the lateral thrusters."Distance traveled: 3.4 kilometers," Clay reported. "Acoustic masking is now negligible. Our self-generated noise is the dominant signature within a 50-meter radius."Anya didn't need the numbers to know. Every tiny noise the sub made, the squeak of her glove on the control stick, the quick, sharp inhale of her breath,
Chapter 56: Point-Eight-Eight Seconds
"Five seconds to manual override confirmation," Clay’s voice was the only sound now, stripped of its previous calmness, carrying the sharp, synthetic edge of operational urgency.Anya pressed her palms flat against the cold, metal frame of the auxiliary panel, her knuckles white. The pulsing red diamond felt like a trapped heartbeat beneath her fingers. She knew the procedure was designed for remote initiation, the manual override only there as a failsafe against computational deadlock. It required her to hold the primary trigger down for the entire duration of the firing sequence. If she flinched, if the sub jolted and she released the button early, they would drop 300 meters without enough braking power."Three. Prepare to execute primary override," Clay instructed.Her finger slipped into the guard rail of the trigger, a heavy, cold piece of alloy requiring significant deliberate force to depress. This was not a sensitive electronic switch; it was a mechanical command designed to s
Chapter 57: The Weight of Silence
The movement stopped. The only sound in the Triton was the high, thin whine of the magnetic bearings that still governed the thruster locks. Anya’s hands remained fused to the dead controls, her focus locked on the three tiny numerals blinking on the display: 3.9 km. The distance of the approaching anomaly.Clay had called for the hold. And when Clay, the machine of absolute minimum risk, called for a pause in the escape, it meant the threat of moving was exponentially greater than the threat of waiting.“Run every filter. What is it doing?” Anya repeated, her voice hushed, the question directed at the mind currently holding their survival in its algorithms.Clay did not reply instantly. Instead, a series of complex data feeds began scrolling rapidly across the auxiliary screen, spectral density plots, gravitational fluctuation readings, and hydrophone frequency analyses, all running against a known database of deep-sea terrestrial and non-terrestrial signals. The sheer volume of proc
Chapter 58: The Cold Equation of Endurance
The low drone of the USM’s magnetic sweep had faded into the abyss, leaving a silence that felt heavier, more absolute than before. Anya waited the full five minutes Clay had demanded for the magnetic residue to dissipate, every second an eternity of internal screaming against the enforced physical stillness.When the green navigation lights finally flickered back to life, Anya felt a wave of dizzying relief, quickly followed by the dull, crushing ache of her constricted muscles.“Resuming lateral creep. 5% thrust,” she commanded, her voice barely a whisper, the sound of her own speech feeling reckless after the long silence.The Triton shuddered almost imperceptibly as the micro-thrusters engaged. The crawl began anew.“Distance remaining: 17.5 kilometers,” Clay reported. “The temporary diversion of power to the magnetic shielding has incurred a quantifiable cost to our overall endurance. Life support reserves are now budgeted for a maximum of 12 hours at the current minimum consumpt
Chapter 59: The Edge of Cavitation
The increased noise was unbearable. At 15% thrust, the Triton vibrated with a deep, low hum, and the water flowing past the viewport, or rather, the dense, opaque gloom where the viewport used to be, sounded like rushing static in the comms. It was the sound of defiance, and possibly, the sound of their impending demise.Anya’s eyes were fixed on the primary control display, where the vector diagram floated. Clay had simplified the interface to just two indicators: Thrust Vector Purity and Acoustic Signature Spike Count.The Purity gauge had to remain in the dead center. Even a millisecond of overcorrection or drift would create a cavitation, a sudden formation and collapse of microscopic vapor bubbles off the prop blades. This sharp, high-frequency snap would travel kilometers through the water and be a beacon to any Filter drone within range.“Anya, your current lateral displacement deviation is 0.03 degrees right of optimal trajectory,” Clay’s voice arrived, flat and instantaneous.
Chapter 60: The Discontinuity of Silence
The geological roar didn't stop; it decayed. It was a slow, agonizing dissipation, like a wave pulling back over gravel, each moment of fading volume revealing a little more of the terrifying quiet it had masked.When Clay commanded the drop in power, the silence hit Anya like a physical blow.“Thrust reduced to 10%. Maintaining 0.05 meters per second,” Clay reported. “Geological signature is now below ambient noise level and offers no further tactical advantage.”The vibration in the hull lessened. The rushing sound of water vanished. They were back in the abyss, moving at a snail's pace, the only sound the high-pitched ringing in Anya's ears, a phantom echo of the noise she had just endured.“We covered 2.1 kilometers under cover,” Anya murmured, checking the distance log. “That was efficient, Clay. Thanks for the quick thinking.”“The calculation was purely objective, based on maximizing velocity against probabilistic detection threat. It carries no emotional valence,” he replied,