Arkulus reached the bridge, fully clothed and armored, when a ping noise could be heard. It came from his wrist computer. He pressed a button on it, and he could hear a man's voice. He recognized it as belonging to Colonel O'Hara.

"Listen, Arkulus." said O'Hara. "I've arrived at Mount Weather, and I've just finished interrogating those Riptide goons. It looks like they've spilled the beans. Not only did they make a mess about Miami, but they've also told the military about who gave him that exosuit."

"Miami?" asked Arkulus. "I wasn't aware that there were people living there."

"Well, it looks like there were a lot of civilians still holed up there. And a group of them came up to Mount Weather with a Chimeran survivor in tow. They already left before I got here, or I would've stopped them. Wells said they were en route to Nova Scotia with some Blue Fleet members, so you probably already got to them."

"I hope I didn't." said Arkulus. "I don't want any innocents to be involved in this."

"So you didn't kill any civilians?"

"No." said Arkulus. "Halifax was abandoned during the war. Nobody would even think of living there unless they had a death wish. But Devil's Isle was swarming with Canadian military personnel and what appeared to be mercenaries. All armed to the teeth. If there were civilians, it would have been hard to tell. I served in Afghanistan with the Soviets, and it was just as hard to tell combatants from non-combatants there, too. I'm sure your country will know what that was like from your own military history. But I digress. How many people know about this?"

"By the sound of things, the commanding officers at the base, that Special Forces team that was sent down to Miami, and that Dr. Cameron guy they're flying up to Canada."

"Dr. Cameron, you say? Of Project Blue?"

"Formerly of Project Blue, but yes. It's him."

"Is it possible to intercept them?"

"Won't need to; he's already among my men." said O'Hara. "He won't go anywhere."

"Send Dr. Cameron my way." said Arkulus. "I will have Lucya transmit the coordinates."

"I'll take care of the rest." said O'Hara. "I think Mount Weather's been overdue for a change in management anyway."

Arkulus paused for a moment.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing. I just want to clean up some loose ends."

"I hope you're not planning to do anything rash."

"What I'm planning to do, old man, is none of your damn business. Just stick to the doc and your robots. O'Hara out."

Then the call was disconnected. Arkulus quietly sighed.


The helicopter carrying Dr. Cameron, Sgt. Monroe, and his men was passing over the American-Canadian border, when Sgt. Monroe's wrist device beeped repeatedly in a strange pattern. Monroe stared at it for a brief moment, then turned to his squadmates.

"Change of plans, boys." said Monroe. "It looks like we're taking the doctor on a special trip!"

"What do you mean?" asked Cameron. "We're supposed to be meeting with the Canadian government."

"Not anymore, you're not." said Monroe. "We have orders from Colonel O'Hara to take you someplace else. You're not to be trusted with that intel."

"This is absurd!" said Dr. Cameron, rushing to the cockpit. "Pilot, do something!"

But the pilot pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Dr. Cameron, cocking the hammer threateningly.

"I recommend that you sit down." the pilot told him. "You don't want to get hurt, do you?"

"I can't believe this!"

Suddenly, Dr. Cameron felt something strike him in the back, followed by a surge of electricity that coursed through his body. In an instant, he dropped to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness, he could hear Monroe say:

"That takes care of him. Okay now, head to coordinates..."


Campbell, who had been working on the helicopter for hours, was now sitting in the pilot's seat. He looked out again at the ruins of Halifax, and sighed. He opened the door of the helicopter and was about to step out, when he suddenly found himself staring into a pair of dark eyes, causing him to jump back in shock at who those eyes belonged to. It was the First Nations man that he had seen throughout the city. He whipped out his Glock, and pointed it at the old man's head.

"Okay, enough of this." he said, excitedly. "Who the hell are you?!"

The old man said nothing, just blinked his eyes, and adjusted his grip on his walking-stick.

"Are you lost or something? Are you trying to get out of here?" asked Campbell. "Or am I going crazy right now, and you're not really here? Ever since I came here, I've been seeing you all over the place."

Still, the old man said nothing. But now he bowed his head down and frowned.

"Okay, if you want food or something, there's some of it downstairs with the others." said Campbell. "Just tell them I sent you. Now please, let me continue working on the helicopter. I'm almost done. Then we can all fly out of here, and you can tell me all about your life story."

The old man stepped forward, ignoring Campbell's pistol, raised his arms, and in the blink of an eye transformed into one of the infected humans, which then lashed out at him, with a guttural roar erupting from its frothing mouth. Just as the creature's claws were inches away from his flesh, Campbell opened his eyes, when he felt someone grab him by the shoulder. He jolted up and hit his head on the helicopter's ceiling.

"Hey!" said Erik. "Are you okay?"

"Ow! Damn!" he yelped, rubbing the newly formed bump on his head. "That really hurt!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your beauty sleep." said Erik. "But I just wanted to check and make sure you were doing fine. Knox wanted to know what was taking you so long."

Campbell had been dreaming for twenty minutes.

"Are you finished yet?"

"I think so. Just a few minutes, and everything should be fixed." said Campbell. "Then you can tell the others to come up here."

"Got it." said Erik, whipping out his Easthouse rifle.

He ran downstairs, and in a couple of minutes, he returned with the other survivors, all wearing gas masks and carrying what weapons they had left. In just a few minutes, the helicopter was airborne. The passengers looked back at the flooded city of Halifax, glad to finally be away from it. As they flew, Erik sat in the co-pilot's seat next to Campbell.

"So what's your mom like?" asked Erik.

"Well, my mom..." Campbell paused, lost in thought.

Erik raised an eyebrow and leaned forward.

"My mom's probably the coolest lady ever." said Campbell. "She's a real techno genius. On my ninth birthday, she set up a program on her computer that could play twenty different games from a batch file, and she let me play it as long as I got my homework done. Yeah, she's also a hardcore gamer. When I last heard from her, she got done applying for a job at Eternal Robotics."

"Eternal Robotics?" asked Erik.

"Yeah, that hardware and software developer." said Campbell. "I heard that Dr. Tornovich himself was impressed by her work on computers, and gave her a job at his company. I wouldn't blame him!"

But before Campbell could continue, a vast shadow passed over the helicopter. A loud humming filled the air, drowning out even the engines and propellers of the helicopter.

"What the hell...?" asked Erik.


Verg stared into NEROC's luminous visor, growling menacingly at the large robotic humanoid.

"So what is it that you do here?" asked Verg, trying to make the most of his time.

"I protect this facility from potential intruders, or in your case, escapees." said NEROC.

"And what about that woman?" asked Verg. "Who is she? What is she?"

"Her name is Kyra Lane." said NEROC. "She is a bio-robot."

"I was born a human." said a voice.

Verg turned, and there was Kyra, leaning against the now open doorway, pulling her hood back. and placing her hand on her left temple.

"My human self was dying of a terminal illness, but my boss was nice enough to give me a second chance at life. I owe him for it."

She approached NEROC, and put her hand on his torso.

"I fix his machines, clean out all the bugs in their programming, and stuff like that." she said, as she casually ran her fingers up and down NEROC's chestplate. "I never had the chance to actually meet NEROC until you barged into my room. He was in sleep mode. until you triggered the alarm."

She pulled her hand away when NEROC turned around, to stare at the wall terminal.

"Lucya, is our master awake yet?" asked NEROC.

"He just woke up, NEROC." said Lucya's voice.

"Requesting permission to contact him." said NEROC, sternly.

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible at the moment." replied Lucya, with a regretful tone in her voice. "He is expecting company soon, and it will be important for him to not receive any outside interference. But I'm here if anyone wants someone to talk to."

"How long do you estimate this meeting will last?" asked NEROC.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know." said Lucya. "Humans are very...should I say, unpredictable."

"Understandable." said NEROC, flatly.

After a brief pause, Lucya then added sheepishly:

"Heh, heh. No offense, Kyra."

"No need to apologize, Lucya." said Kyra. "I'm not exactly a human anymore."

"Of course." said Lucya. "But you still have the brainwaves of a human, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't offending the human side of..."

"Why are you two talking to a little girl?" asked Verg. "Who is that?"

He looked around the room, but didn't find anyone else except for a few robotic guards, none of which looked like they could be the source of the voice.

"Why is it that I can hear her, but I can't see her anywhere? Even Arkulus was on the screen whenever he talked."

"You can't see me because there is nothing to see." said Lucya. "I am an A.I.. Artificial intelligence. I operate my master's airship, his computer servers, and will obey every command and request that he gives to me."

"So you're just another stupid machine." scoffed Verg. "Just like everything else here. I'm already starting to miss talking to that old bastard. Hell, I would rather listen to my sister's poetry recitals for an hour straight. And those bore me so much."

"Well...I'm sorry that I can't provide you with better company." said Lucya, sullen.

"Maybe if you at least had a body, or just a face, you could provide me with better company." said Verg.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. Not yet." said Lucya.

"Don't listen to him, Lucya." said Kyra. "He's just a big, ugly shark. He's not worth getting upset over."

"I don't get upset so easily, Kyra." said Lucya. "Anyway, I have to check on my master now. If Verg gives you any trouble, I will be on standby."

"Lucya, before you go..." said NEROC, crossing his metal hands behind his back. "I wanted to ask you: Do you think that our master will ever give me a chance to see the outside world?"

"Well, you have a better chance than I do, NEROC." said Lucya. "You and Kyra have bodies of your own, while I'm confined to our master's computer servers, so the chances of me ever meeting anyone else of my own choice are very slim."

"Lucya, is something wrong?" asked NEROC.

"No, nothing's wrong." said Lucya, with a little snicker. "Well, it looks like I've got to go now."


Dr. Cameron slowly opened his eyes, and found himself on a bed in a darkly lit room. He was definitely not aboard the helicopter, but the sound of strong winds blowing outside suggested that he was still airborne. He was still fully clothed, and even his shoes were still on. He staggered out of bed.

"Hello?" he called out into the dark. "Is anyone here?"

"Good afternoon, Dr. Cameron." said Lucya's voice. "Did you sleep well? I hope those soldiers didn't mistreat you."

"Who is talking?" demanded Cameron. "And where am I?"

"You are aboard my master's airship, the Perun. I am Lucya, the airship's primary A.I. system. Are you able to walk on your own?"

"I believe so." said Dr. Cameron.

"Then when you are ready, please walk out of the room, and follow the drone to the bridge, where my master will meet you."

"Drone?" repeated Dr. Cameron.

Cameron walked up to the door leading out of the bedroom, and pondered for a moment how he was meant to open it, when it suddenly opened itself. In the hall, waiting patiently for him, was a small spider-like robot. As soon as the door opened, it gave him a friendly beep, and proceeded down the corridor. Cameron walked after it, both nervous and fascinated by his surroundings. Eventually, he reached the end of the corridor, until they came to another door.

"Please step into the lift." prompted Lucya, as the door opened.

Cameron obeyed, and stepped inside. The lift started almost immediately, and descended two levels before the door opened into a vast, darkly lit room. The room was rich with an ambience of clattering, clanking, whirring, and other sounds of machinery. There were robots everywhere, operating terminals on the walls, cleaning robots crawling or hovering across the deck, and security cameras sweeping the room from both the ceiling and the walls. But straight in the middle, at the other end, was a tall, thin figure, flanked by two humanoid security robots. The figure was abnormally tall, gaunt, and had long, messy black hair that reached down to his elbows. Between the man's physique and the vast array of machinery, it did not take Dr. Cameron long to deduce who Lucya's master was.

"Grigori Tornovich, I presume?" asked Dr. Cameron.

"Yes, Joseph." said Arkulus, turning to face his involuntary guest. "It is me."

"So this is your airship. This was all your doing!"

Tornovich nodded.

"Do you realize what you are doing?" asked Dr. Cameron. "What are you trying to achieve?"

"I will explain soon, Dr. Cameron." said Tornovich. "For now, I'm going to ask you to join me for dinner. You're not the only guest I have aboard this airship, and they too will want to know everything."