Location: Terra A, Sector 6, en route to Fort Neptune
Tena woke to the low hum of machinery. His legs ached from all the running earlier, a dull burn that reminded him he was still alive.
The clean Speed Monorail was nearly empty now. When he first boarded back in Sector 6, it had been packed with travelers—merchants, workers, and wanderers hoping to move up in the world. But as the train moved through higher sectors, the crowd had thinned. People like Tena, born from the gutter of Sector 6, rarely had any reason to travel beyond Sector 5, let alone to Sector 4.
He sat up straighter and adjusted the creases in his new cargo pants, running a hand over the pockets before looking out the window. The sky was beginning to darken.
In just a few hours, his world had changed completely.
First, he learned that Oracle was essentially an infinite money glitch. Since Oracle had administrative access to major banking networks and credit systems, it could wirelessly transfer credits without raising red flags. As far as the system was concerned, everything looked normal.
Before boarding the train, Oracle had guided Tena through a series of stops, beginning with a sprawling clothing complex filled with shops. There, Oracle suggested a new outfit: cargo pants and a warm hoodie. Something practical, with plenty of storage. Clothes he would have killed for back when he was scavenging for food and stealing to survive... over 170 years ago.
Oracle paid digitally. On Tena's HUD, he saw a deduction of about a hundred credits from a number so long it broke formatting.
[!&^#&!@^#* - 126 creds]
Next came food.
Oracle brought him to a restaurant beside the clothing center. It was upscale by Sector 6 standards, the kind of place that would have kicked him out before he even touched the door. Inside, Oracle walked him through everything—how to order, how to act, how to pay. Tena didn't waste a single bite. Oracle ordered a little of everything, and it was the best food he'd ever tasted. After a lifetime of half-rotten scraps and nutrient blocks, it felt unreal.
Finally, they arrived at the Trans-Sector Transport Station. A massive, rectangular hub with hundreds of rails and people from every walk of life, it buzzed with movement and purpose. Rich businessmen from higher sectors mixed with Sector 6 merchants and workers, all of them rushing to their next destination.
Oracle purchased a boarding pass online, registered under an artificial identity—Tena's new ID, built from scratch. A clean slate. One the system wouldn't question.
During the process, Tena also discovered that Oracle could use his eyes to scan and identify people, pulling information from public and private networks. The data appeared on his HUD in real time, a constant stream of names, profiles, and records overlaying his vision thanks to the dormant nanotech still thriving inside him.
A soft, monotone voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Welcome to Fort Neptune, Terra A Sector 6. Please take your belongings with you."
The doors hissed open.
Tena didn't move right away. The past few days had been a blur of pain, confusion, and impossible truths. He had been tortured, used as a test subject, kept alive by the very nanobots that once broke him. Then came the long sleep—170 years frozen in time—followed by the discovery that he now shared a mind with Oracle, a sentient AI born from his own consciousness and shaped by a century and a half of evolution.
Then the explosions. The masked figures. The chase.
And now, here he was—about to enlist in Kyber's military division at Fort Neptune. Not for patriotism. Not for glory. But for protection. From Techlink. From the past.
It was ironic. The Void was the very thing humanity feared and fought against... and now Tena was joining the front lines just to avoid a different enemy. One he had known before the world even became what it was.
Still, he trusted Oracle. In the end, they were born of the same mind.
Tena sighed, stood, and stepped off the train as the doors slid shut behind him.