They reached the structure just past midday.
What had once been a transit substation was now half-swallowed by dirt and time. Concrete walls slumped inward under the weight of wind and erosion. One side had collapsed completely, revealing twisted cables and exposed rebar, like veins from a broken arm. The main entrance was buried, but the side access panel still blinked, dim and barely alive.
Cassian tilted his head. "Charming."
Riven scanned the surrounding ridge before approaching the panel.
The air here was different. The noise of Sector Nine was long behind them now, leaving this place feeling disconnected from everything.
Cassian hung back as Riven crouched near the panel. He watched as he pulled something from his coat, small, palm-sized, covered in scratches. A reader of some kind. Old tech. Riven connected a wire to a rusted port beneath the panel.
The light blinked.
Cassian stepped closer. "Is this where the thing in your bag starts glowing again?"
Riven said nothing, watching as the panel gave a faint tone, then slipped into static.
Cassian glanced around and let out a sigh. "This place is completely dead..."
Riven moved to the side of the door and wedged his shoulder against the seam. It groaned then gave way with a faint crunch of dirt and rust. Cold, stale air spilled out from the gap.
Cassian hesitated, but followed.
Inside, the space opened into a sunken corridor. A thick layer of dust coated everything, from the floor to the walls. Riven stepped carefully. The ground sloped downward, and the light from the entrance faded fast behind them.
"Whatever you're looking for," Cassian muttered, "it better be worth the respiratory damage."
They moved past old vending frames and shattered lockers. Once, this had been a transfer point, maybe for rail workers or regional delivery crews. Now, it was just in ruins.
The corridor ended in a room half-submerged in dirt and gravel. One terminal remained upright, its screen cracked but mostly intact. Riven crouched beside it, brushing dust from the interface.
Cassian leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. "I don't know what kind of answer you're hoping that machine will give you. Looks like it hasn't seen power since the Collapse."
Riven pulled the satchel into his lap.
Cassian spoke again, quieter this time: "This doesn't count as asking, since I know I promised... but… can you give me just one tiny hint as to what we're playing with here?"
Riven looked up at him. "It hasn't even been half a day..."
He let out a sigh, more resignation than frustration.
"This station used to route water from Stillwater," Riven said, making an effort to seem cool about Cassian's insistence. "It was a small control node, part of the old purification grid. Before the Collapse, places like this managed local distribution, but now they're just ruins. No one maintains them anymore, no one even remembers how they worked."
Cassian tilted his head. "Are we talking about the old water flow grid?"
Riven ignored it.
"I think the Lady reached through here at some point."
Cassian glared, half-annoyed, half-incredulous. "The Lady. That ancient AI everyone swears is long dead. Am I getting warm?"
"She's not dead."
"And I'm the governor of Sector Ten". Cassian pushed off the wall and started circling the area slowly. "You know how many people have died chasing fairy tales like that?"
"I'm not chasing," Riven said.
"Oh, right, you're following logic," Cassian said, stopping in front of the console. "With your glowing relic and your half-map of dead coordinates."
Riven looked up at him. "It's not a relic."
"Then what is it?" Cassian asked, sharp now. "Come on. What is it really? You expect me to drag you across three sectors without knowing what's in that bag?"
Riven went quiet for a while, considering his options.
"It's a key."
"To what?"
"I don't know yet."
Cassian let out a short, humorless laugh. "Fantastic. You're walking blind into one of the most guarded dead zones in the east, carrying something that glows when it's nervous, and you don't even know why."
"I have to find out," Riven said calmly.
"Why?"
Riven hesitated. "Because no one else will."
Cassian stared at him.
Riven wasn't dramatic, he wasn't even trying to convince him. He just meant it. And for some reason, that made it worse.
Cassian stepped back, shaking his head. "You're not even desperate, that's the part I don't get. You're just... calm. Like, all this makes sense to you."
"It does."
Cassian's jaw tightened. "Well, it doesn't to me."
He turned sharply toward the exit. "I should've left you in the alley," he muttered.
Riven didn't stop him.
Cassian paused at the doorway. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Maybe."
Cassian held his stare a moment longer, then left.
The room felt different after that. Riven didn't move right away, thinking through what had changed and what it meant, but he adjusted to the new variables the way he always did: one step at a time.
The core sat beside him, still and silent, but the console next to it buzzed softly with uneven pulses. Riven reached out and tapped the terminal. The screen blinked, then a single line of text appeared, just for a moment. Half-legible, half-broken.
Signal trace identified. Offset: 4.78 degrees from base path.
Then it was gone.
That shouldn't have been possible. There was not enough power out here for a trace program to properly work. Maybe the core was powering the console somehow?
Then suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
He placed the core inside the satchel once again, shut the flap quickly, and stepped away from the console, backing into the shadows near the side wall. He crouched low and slowed his breath.
Voices echoed faintly through the corridor beyond. Two, maybe three people. Boots scuffing against dirt. Someone muttering. Then a faint electronic click.
He didn't move.
One of the voices came closer.
"The signal hit here. It might just be leftover noise from the old utility hub after all..."
"Or just some scavenger dragging around junk."
"Maybe. Still worth checking."
A pause followed, then came the sound of someone approaching fast.
Cassian.
His eyes swept the space in one clean motion. When he spotted Riven in the dark, he moved straight to him, grabbed the front of Riven's coat, and pulled him down into the narrow space behind a row of collapsed storage bins.
Cassian crouched beside him, back to the wall. "Don't move," he said.
Riven didn't.
Two figures passed by the room moments later, their outlines warped by old glass and shadows. One of them carried a scanner, its pale blue light sweeping slowly across the hallway. The device gave off a faint, rhythmic beep.
They paused near the doorway.
Riven barely breathed.
"No signal now... Probably passed through already."
"Check the far rooms too."
Then they moved on.
Cassian waited until the footsteps faded completely, then a few seconds more. Then he let go of Riven's coat and leaned back against the wall, exhaling.
"Told you you'd get killed," he muttered.
Riven didn't answer.
They stayed crouched for a while, listening. When the last echo of footsteps disappeared into the upper corridors, Cassian finally stood. He dusted his hands off on his coat and gave Riven a sidelong glance.
"You alright?" he asked. It wasn't really a concern at that point, more like logistics.
Riven nodded once.
"Good," Cassian muttered. "Because if I'm dragging you out of here after saying I wouldn't, the least you can do is keep walking on your own."
He stepped back into the main corridor and started toward the exit.
Riven followed without a word.
They said nothing as they climbed. The path was narrow, filled with loose gravel and old wiring. They soon reached the top of a stairwell where sunlight struggled to get through.
Cassian stopped at the threshold, keeping his hand on the frame.
"I'm not staying in this forever," he said flatly. "You get your answers or whatever it is you're chasing, then I'm out."
Riven didn't give any reply.
Cassian didn't wait for one, he stepped outside with a firm and certain step. Riven followed, and just as he did, the satchel at his side vibrated once.
He froze.
Cassian turned. "What now?"
Riven opened the flap slowly and saw the core lit up with a clean and steady pulse. Light moved across its surface, then symbols flickered to life, numbers tracing patterns across inset panels. And then, at the center, a message surfaced.
Detected.
The word floated across the small internal display, then it disappeared.
Cassian leaned slightly toward him, frowning. "What did it say?"
Riven didn't look up. "Detected."
Cassian exhaled and repeated the word almost out of reflex: "Detected..."
They stood there a moment longer, both still, surrounded by wind and dust and the silence of things long fallen.