The sky no longer looked like the sky.
Cracks of shimmering distortion spread across the clouds like shattered glass, glowing faintly with pale blue light. The enormous probe hovering above the city pulsed again, its surface covered with shifting symbols that none of us could understand.
Rain drifted sideways through the air as strange winds formed around the fractures.
And the beam of light remained locked on me.
I swallowed hard.
“I really don’t like the attention I’m getting today.”
Elias tightened his grip on my arm.
“Stay close,” he said.
“That thing just announced me to the entire city.”
“Yes.”
“And your plan is for me to stay calm?”
“That would be helpful.”
Mr. Moyo stepped forward, watching the probe carefully.
“The Architects are adjusting their scan,” he said quietly.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means they have confirmed the signal.”
“The resonance signal?” I said.
“Yes.”
My chest was still humming with that strange vibration. It felt like a quiet engine running deep inside my body.
And the beam from the probe seemed to react to it.
The brighter the vibration became, the brighter the beam glowed.
“This is not good,” Elias muttered.
“That’s becoming a common sentence tonight.”
Above us the massive probe shifted position.
Metallic plates along its surface unfolded slowly.
The fractures in the sky widened further.
Something was coming through again.
But this time it wasn’t a creature.
Small shapes began dropping from the probe.
Dozens of them.
They fell silently through the air like dark raindrops.
“What are those?” I asked.
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Elias looked up and his expression hardened.
“Drones.”
“More friendly visitors?”
“Not exactly.”
The first drone landed on the street with a soft metallic sound.
It was the size of a large dog, built from black metal plates with thin glowing lines running across its body.
Its head rotated slowly until two pale lights locked onto me.
Then another drone landed.
And another.
Within seconds, the street was filled with them.
People nearby began screaming and running.
Car doors slammed.
Engines roared as drivers tried to escape.
One of the drones moved forward.
Its mechanical limbs unfolded smoothly as it stepped closer.
Elias pulled the stabilizer device from his jacket again.
“This will slow them down,” he said.
“Slow them down?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“How many are there?”
Elias glanced upward.
The probe continued releasing more.
“…Too many.”
Mr. Moyo stepped in front of us.
“Then we must break their scan.”
“How?” Elias asked.
“By confusing the signal.”
Elias frowned.
“That might work.”
“What might work?” I asked.
Neither of them answered.
The nearest drone suddenly sprang forward.
Fast.
Far faster than I expected.
Its metal claws struck the ground where I had been standing a moment earlier.
Mr. Moyo had already pulled me backward.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
“You say that like it’s easy!”
Elias activated the stabilizer.
A pulse of blue light spread across the street.
For a brief moment the drones froze.
Their glowing eyes flickered.
The air shimmered.
But then the largest drone lifted its head.
Its eyes brightened.
The machines adapted.
“Of course they did,” Elias groaned.
The drones moved again.
Faster this time.
One leaped toward us.
Mr. Moyo stepped forward and struck its body with the side of his hand.
The impact sent a strange ripple through the air.
The drone spun sideways and crashed into a parked car.
I stared.
“You keep doing things that physics doesn’t allow.”
“It is not physics,” Mr. Moyo replied calmly.
“Then what is it?”
“Experience.”
The humming inside my chest suddenly intensified.
The beam from the probe flared brighter.
The drones stopped moving again.
All of them.
Every glowing eye turned toward me.
“That is very unsettling,” I said.
Elias looked at me with sudden realization.
“You’re affecting them.”
“I’m doing what now?”
“The resonance signal.”
“The thing I don’t understand.”
“Yes.”
The humming grew stronger.
The rain falling near me slowed again.
Drops hung in the air for a split second before falling.
Time itself seemed to hesitate.
Mr. Moyo looked at me carefully.
“You are synchronizing with the fracture.”
“I wish someone had warned me that could happen.”
“The Resonance Core awakened something inside you,” Elias said.
The probe above us pulsed again.
A deep mechanical voice echoed across the city.
“SIGNAL CONFIRMED.”
My stomach dropped.
“That voice again.”
Elias looked up.
“And now they know exactly where you are.”
The probe began charging energy.
A sphere of blue light formed beneath it.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A retrieval field,” Elias said.
“Retrieval?”
“They’re trying to capture you.”
“Well that sounds bad.”
Mr. Moyo’s voice became serious.
“It is.”
The sphere of energy grew larger.
The drones stepped aside.
Giving the beam a clear path.
The humming in my chest reached a new intensity.
The air around me warped again.
Elias suddenly smiled.
“That might actually save us.”
“How?”
“You’re not just responding to the fracture.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re interfering with it.”
I blinked.
“I am?”
“Yes.”
The sphere of energy from the probe suddenly flickered.
The beam destabilized.
The drones’ lights flickered again.
Mr. Moyo nodded slowly.
“Interesting.”
The probe’s mechanical voice spoke again.
But this time it sounded distorted.
“SIGNAL… UNSTABLE.”
The fractures in the sky widened violently.
Reality trembled.
Elias grabbed my shoulder.
“You’re doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Breaking their connection.”
My heart pounded.
“I’m not trying to!”
“Keep not trying,” Elias said quickly.
The probe above us suddenly lost control of its beam.
Energy scattered across the sky.
The fractures pulsed violently.
And for a moment…
The enormous machine hesitated.
Mr. Moyo looked up at it calmly.
“It appears,” he said,
“the Architects did not expect resistance.”
