Dead man surviving .. survival chance 0.002

Catalyst Protocol

Rayn looked out the broken window. In the distance, the top of a tower blinked red.

The signal was steady now, pulsing like a heartbeat. A low, ominous glow that cut through the smoke-choked sky. Milo leaned beside him, arms folded, eyes narrowed.

"That tower wasn't blinking yesterday," Milo said quietly.

Rayn nodded. "Or in the last timeline."

They both stared in silence. Below, the ruins of the suburb were quiet. Too quiet. The mimics hadn't followed them from the church. In fact, they hadn't seen a single mimic since the mural.

Rayn's fingers still tingled from touching the stone wall. Something had stirred behind it. Something alive. But it hadn't emerged. Not yet.

Milo shifted beside him. "You think it's the Doctor? The one Jun keeps talking about?"

"Maybe. But if she is alive... why now? Why send a signal after all this time?"

Milo shook his head. "Maybe she was waiting for you."

---

Back at the base, Jun watched the message beacon repeat for the third time. A soft green glow shimmered over the small metal cube. She sat alone in the comms room, the others scattered through the lower levels trying to recalibrate their sense of reality.

The message played again:

"This is Dr. Elara Voss. Code: Catalyst Protocol. I'm alive. Coordinates attached. Repeat: Catalyst Protocol is active."

Her voice was calm, controlled. But Jun heard the strain beneath it. She hadn't heard that voice in over a year. Everyone assumed she was dead.

Jun stood, tapped her earpiece. "Cole. Gear up. We're moving."

Cole's voice crackled in. "You're sure it's her?"

"Doesn't matter. If there's a chance... we have to follow it."

---

Two hours later, the group stood at the edge of the dead zone. A jagged rift in the earth stretched before them, ringed by broken machinery and collapsed towers. The old world had died here. Rayn remembered it from the memories that weren't entirely his.

"This canyon used to be a testing ground," Jun said. "For deep-seal biolabs. The Doctor ran one of them. Said it was impossible to breach."

Rayn glanced down at the coordinates. They matched the tower.

Jun pulled the group into two teams. "We split here. Cole, Mara, and I will track the signal. Rayn, Milo—you two continue toward the Gate. If the Doctor is sending warnings, we can't ignore either path."

Rayn nodded. "We'll rendezvous at the signal point in three days."

Jun handed him a second beacon. "If anything goes wrong… you call. Even if it's just a whisper."

Rayn met her eyes. "Be safe."

She hesitated. "You too."

And then they parted ways.

---

Rayn and Milo moved fast, skirting through the edges of the ruins. The mimics still kept their distance, watching but not attacking. It made the silence heavier.

"I think they know something," Milo muttered.

Rayn agreed. The mimics weren't the same. They weren't mindless predators anymore. They were waiting.

They reached the base of the tower by nightfall.

The building was part of a collapsed lab complex—twisted steel and reinforced concrete jutted from the earth like bones. The tower itself leaned slightly, embedded in layers of ash and melted debris. A single red light blinked at the top.

"This is it," Rayn said.

They found a hidden hatch near the base. Sealed tight.

"Manual override's burnt out," Milo noted. "Looks like someone locked it from the inside."

Rayn pressed his hand to the surface. It was warm. The same as the church wall.

He tried a signal code from memory—one the Doctor had once used in a mission briefing, years ago.

To his surprise, the hatch hissed.

And opened.

---

Inside, the temperature dropped. The air was filtered, but old. The lights flickered as emergency power kicked in.

They descended narrow metal stairs into a long hallway, walls lined with sealed observation rooms. Everything was silent.

"No bodies," Milo noted. "No signs of panic either."

Rayn felt the same strange calm from the church.

At the end of the hall, they found the central chamber—a massive circular room filled with computer terminals, all in standby mode. A large glass tank stood in the center, empty.

"Some kind of core system," Milo said, brushing dust from a console.

Rayn checked the logs. "Last access: six days ago. No exit recorded."

Milo walked to a nearby door. Sealed. Locked tight. But smeared on the window was a handprint.

"She was here," Milo whispered.

Rayn tapped into the mainframe. Most of the data was corrupted. But one folder remained intact.

PROJECT: CATALYST PROTOCOL

Rayn opened it. Lines of code. Diagrams. Photos of the Merge Engine. Notes about timeline fractures.

Then a video.

He hit play.

Dr. Voss appeared on-screen. Gaunt, tired. Her lab coat stained.

"If you're seeing this, it means the thread has broken. The Key is active. The Gate is nearing phase convergence."

Rayn leaned forward.

"Mimics are not our enemy. They never were. They are displaced organisms reacting to collapse. Preparing for what comes next. The real threat is already inside the system."

Static.

"Catalyst Protocol is the only way to slow the breach. If Rayn survived the Merge, he must not be allowed to open the Gate until the alignment is complete."

The screen cut to black.

Rayn stared.

"She knew," he whispered. "She knew what the Merge really did."

Milo glanced at the door. "Then where is she now?"

They tried to open the sealed chamber. Nothing worked. No response to override codes. No signal from inside.

Rayn backed away.

The silence was louder here. Like something was holding its breath.

He turned to Milo.

"She locked herself in. From the inside."

And then—on the wall panel—a small green light blinked.

A message appeared.

"RUN CATALYST PROTOCOL? Y/N"

Rayn hesitated. The Merge. The Key. The Gate.

"Not yet," he said aloud. "We need answers. Not another collapse."

He canceled the prompt.

They searched the rest of the facility. No bodies. No movement. Just an empty lab full of questions.

Outside, the red beacon on the tower stopped blinking.

Whatever signal they'd received… it was over.

Rayn stepped outside, staring into the ash wind.

"We found her," Milo said quietly.

Rayn nodded. "But not in time."

Behind them, the door sealed itself again.

From the inside.