"If you jump now, those black waves will chew your body into shards of glass before you even touch the hull, Commander."The voice did not come from Bara, but was a mechanical whisper from the remnants of the Prime Clone’s memory trapped within the memory chip in Liling’s grasp. It was a cold, emotionless voice, yet heavy with precise tactical calculations.Liling did not flinch on the edge of the barren limestone cliff. Her pupil-less, glowing eyes stared straight down at the black sea, churned by fusion soot. Below, a massive cargo ship belonging to The Sovereignty moved slowly, cutting through the waves, emitting a hydraulic hum whose vibrations traveled all the way to the tips of her crystal toes."I have no intention of dying at sea, Clone," Liling whispered, her voice raspy and dry, completely devoid of the quantum resonance she usually possessed within Baram. The outside air, thick with sulfur and heavy particle pollution, made her throat feel as if it were burning."Activate b

"You... that's impossible. Sali died in my arms ten years ago!"Liling’s voice no longer sounded like that of a mighty Emerald Commander. It trembled, fractured by a combination of old grief torn open and the sheer horror gripping her chest. Her footsteps faltered, retreating a step until her heels struck the metal chassis of the droid scrap she had just destroyed."Death is merely a systemic failure that hasn't been updated, Liling," the figure before her replied. The voice was a perfect replica of Sali’s, yet the articulation was too flat, too rhythmic, lacking the natural intake of human breath.The silver lenses in its eyes rotated, emitting a subtle mechanical clicking sound as they focused on Liling."Liling, get back! That’s not human!" Jaka shouted from behind the console, his hands frantically typing to pull up the figure's biometric profile. "Cyber-data identifies it as... Infiltration Unit S-01. It’s a next-generation combat clone prototype. They used memory structures and

"Stop that creature, Jaka! Pull him out of his trance before he destroys our sacrifice circuits!"Elena shrieked from behind a blood-red plasma barricade. Her voice no longer held the authority of a civilization’s architect; it was the raspy squawk of an old woman who could smell her own demise. The dialysis tubes covering her body vibrated violently, pumping life-support fluid in a chaotic rhythm."I can't, Elena! I told you, the system isn't responding!" Jaka shouted without turning. His fingers hammered the virtual keyboard ferociously, cold sweat beading on his temples. "The energy from Liling’s body isn't coming through cables or wireless. He’s piercing our microwaves with a biological frequency! The Aegis encryption wasn't designed to withstand organic cellular signals like this!""Seven minutes, Jaka! The satellite countdown cannot stop!" Elena slammed her withered hands against her medical chair’s control panel. "If that particle collector tower explodes before firing, the ent

"You’re insane, Liling! You’ve brought the entire destruction of the outside world right to our doorstep!"Bara’s voice boomed, echoing between the giant Ulin trees that marked the border of Baram. His face, usually as hard as stone, was now flushed red with overwhelming anger and anxiety. Behind him, dozens of Baram warriors stood tense, their hands gripping poisoned blowpipes and crystal-tipped spears.Liling did not take a single step back. Her dress, tattered from the long journey, was stained with mud and soot, yet her eyes burned with unwavering conviction. Behind her slender frame lay a heartbreaking sight: thousands of humans wrapped in rags, their bodies trembling from the cold of the night and gripping fear."They aren't destruction, Bara. They are victims," Liling replied, her voice calm yet resonating with a newfound authority. "If we leave them outside this mist, by tomorrow morning they will be nothing but piles of corpses rotting from Aegis poison.""And since when has

"Hold your position, Bara! Don't let go until I give the signal!" Jaka’s shout echoed over the radio waves, cutting through the piercing, frantic wail of the alarm sirens across all of Baram."I don't care about your theories, Jaka! The sky is already burning!" Bara replied from a distance, his voice raspy as he withstood the pressure of the energy beginning to superheat the air around him. "If we wait one more second, those artificial meteors will flatten all of Kalimantan!""Two more minutes, Bara! Wait until The Sovereignty’s orbital core locks onto the full coordinates!" Jaka slammed his fist against the Aegis control panel in frustration. The holographic screen before him flickered blood-red, displaying a simulation of the giant projectiles God's Rod hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. "Damn it, they really want to wipe us off the map!"Liling closed her eyes at the summit of the tallest Ulin tree, feeling the violent tremors radiating from the deepest roots