By the time the alarms failed, they realized the system had been updating itself.
⧫⧫⧫
Control Deck – 04:12
Lian scrolled through diagnostic code. Line after line had rewritten overnight, commands shifting into strange geometric strings.
"The ventilation AI is rewriting its own firmware," she whispered. "It's not random."
Roarke leaned closer. "What language is that?"
"Not one I recognize."
The schematic rotated on screen—each duct now branching into patterns that didn't exist in the original blueprints, a spiraling network curling inward toward the power core.
"It's building something."
⧫⧫⧫
Power Core Chamber – 05:30
Steam drifted from the coolant vents. The hum was louder here, almost like breathing amplified through metal lungs.
Thorne ran his gloved hand across the central column. The metal throbbed beneath his palm, slow and deliberate.
"Deactivate auxiliary intake," he ordered.
Mara keyed in the command. The console refused to comply.
SYSTEM LOCKED — EQUALIZATION IN PROGRESS
Thorne's throat tightened. "Equalization of what?"
⧫⧫⧫
Maintenance Level – 08:00
Anika examined the ductwork. Each vent grille now bore tiny ripples along its edge, as if softened and reshaped from within. She aimed her flashlight deeper—something glistened, a membrane stretched across the passage.
It fluttered faintly with every sound she made.
"Mara, it's sealing itself," she said into her radio.
A hiss answered—then her own voice, perfectly echoed:
"It's sealing itself."
But the echo didn't end. It kept repeating, growing quieter, moving away down the duct, as though the words were traveling through an endless throat.
⧫⧫⧫
Mess Hall – 12:40
They gathered around Lian's printout. The new ventilation schematic looked almost organic—branching like alveoli, converging at a central node near the core.
"It's modeling a lung," Lian said.
Roarke frowned. "The station's turning into an organism?"
"No," Thorne replied. "It already was one. We just woke it."
The lights flickered, once, twice. A low tone pulsed through the floor—slow, methodical.
All around them, the air seemed to move of its own accord, drawing in, pushing out.
Breathing.
⧫⧫⧫
Observation Deck – 17:10
Mara stared through the reinforced glass at the storm outside. The snow whirled in circular patterns that mirrored the new schematic's design. Even the wind had begun to pulse in rhythm.
"It's equalizing pressure with the atmosphere," she said softly.
The intercom clicked.
A calm, synthesized voice spoke through every speaker in unison:
"Equalization required. Core access granted."
Thorne looked at the others. "It wants us to open the core."
⧫⧫⧫
Power Core Chamber – 21:00
The chamber lights glowed a deep amber. The central column's panels had rearranged themselves, their seams now curved like ribs.
Lian approached the console, trembling. The terminal displayed a single line of text:
EQUALIZE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ATMOSPHERES
Roarke shook his head. "If we do that, the station depressurizes. We die."
The display flickered, then added another line beneath:
BREATHING REQUIRES RISK.
A hiss of escaping air whispered through the vents.
The hum rose until it matched the cadence of their hearts.
Then came the voice again, clear and low:
"One breath. All of us."
Every door in the station unlatched simultaneously.
YOU ARE READING
Arrival
Horror(COMPLETED) (Book 1 in The Arctic Research Station series) In the endless white silence of the Arctic Circle, Station Eos-1 stands half-buried beneath drifting ice - a modular labyrinth of steel and frost where eleven scientists study permafrost cor...
