Two days later.
Catrin sat in the dark, quiet security hub of the Ark. The glowing light from a dozen monitors reflected in her tired green eyes.
She hadn’t slept for more than a few hours at a time. Her right side throbbed where Julian had stabbed her, despite the heavy bandages and painkillers. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the gnawing anxiety in her chest.
On the center monitor, the camera feed showed the secure nursery. Nico was sitting on the carpet, happily stacking his colorful magnetic blocks. His hair looked perfectly normal. The touch-up spray was holding up.
But Catrin couldn’t stop staring at his hands. She watched every single movement he made, waiting for a block to float. Waiting for his eyes to glow.
The heavy door to the security hub hissed open.
Quinn walked in. The sniper was wearing her usual comfortable sweatpants, carrying a silver tray with a steaming bowl of chicken soup and a cup of black tea.
"You’re supposed to be in bed, Boss," Quinn said, setting the tray down on the console.
"I’ll heal," Catrin replied, her eyes never leaving the screen. "Is the outer perimeter quiet?"
"Dead silent," Quinn said, pulling up a chair and sitting beside her. "The word got out about what happened to Silas and his boys. The other scavenger camps in the valley are terrified. Jax says nobody has even stepped within three miles of the gate. The Ark is a ghost story now."
"Good," Catrin said softly. "Keep it that way."
Quinn looked at the monitor showing Nico. The little boy sneezed, rubbed his nose, and went back to his blocks.
"He’s a tough kid," Quinn said, a rare, soft smile touching her lips. "To go through something like that and just bounce back. You’re raising him right, Cat."
Catrin felt a sharp twinge of guilt, but she buried it instantly. "He doesn’t remember much. The brain is good at protecting itself."
"Speaking of brains," Quinn sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Elias is driving everyone crazy down on the maintenance level. He’s been staring at a fried circuit board for six hours. You might want to go talk to him before his head explodes."
Catrin’s posture went rigid. "What is he doing?"
"Trying to figure out how Silas’s bomb worked. He keeps mumbling about math and gravity."
Catrin stood up so fast her bruised ribs screamed in protest. She bit the inside of her cheek to hide the wince.
"Watch the monitors for me, Quinn," Catrin ordered. "If Nico asks for a snack, give him the sliced peaches in the fridge. Do not give him the cookies."
"Copy that," Quinn saluted lazily.
Catrin left the security hub and took the elevator down to the maintenance deck.
The corridor where the fight happened had been mostly cleaned up. The blood was scrubbed away, and Jax’s men had hauled the bodies to the incinerator. But the structural damage was impossible to hide. The heavy steel wall was heavily dented where Julian had been thrown, and the ceiling panels were completely fried.
Elias was sitting on a metal crate in the middle of the hallway. He had a pair of safety goggles perched on his messy hair and a datapad in his hands. He looked extremely frustrated.
"It doesn’t make any sense," Elias muttered to himself, tapping the screen aggressively.
"What doesn’t make sense, Elias?" Catrin asked, stepping into the corridor.
Elias jumped, nearly dropping the datapad. "Boss! You shouldn’t be walking around. You punctured a muscle."
"I am fine. Report."
Elias stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at the dented steel wall. "It’s this blast data, Catrin. You said Silas’s explosive was a sonic charge, right?"
"That is what I said," Catrin replied, her face a perfect, unreadable mask.
"Right. Okay. But the telemetry logs from the Ark’s internal sensors don’t match a concussive wave," Elias explained, holding up the datapad to show her a complex graph. "A sonic bomb pushes air outward. It shatters glass and bursts eardrums. But the sensor data shows a localized gravity collapse."
Catrin kept her breathing perfectly even. "Explain it simply, Elias."
"Whatever hit Julian wasn’t an explosion. It was like... a tractor beam. Or a kinetic strike," Elias said, his eyes wide with manic curiosity. "And the energy spike? It didn’t just fry the lights. It shot a concentrated beam of unknown radiation straight up through the roof. It’s like Silas was carrying a pocket-sized nuclear reactor. I’ve never seen tech like this. If I can reverse-engineer the residue..."
"Stop," Catrin cut him off. Her voice was sharp and cold.
Elias blinked, freezing in place.
Catrin took a step closer to him. She had to shut this down right now, before her brilliant, paranoid scientist figured out the truth.
"Elias, look at me," Catrin said, her tone leaving zero room for debate. "We are in the middle of an apocalypse. Silas was a warlord who scavenged a military black-site. He had weapons we don’t understand. And frankly, I don’t care how his bomb worked."
"But Boss, the energy signature..."
"The energy signature is a dead end," Catrin said firmly, tapping her finger against his datapad. "The Rust faction is dead. The threat is over. I need my lead engineer focusing on fixing the hydroponics grid and reinforcing the outer gates, not chasing ghost data from a fried circuit board."
Elias looked at the datapad, then up at Catrin’s fierce, commanding eyes. He deflated a little, his shoulders slumping.
"You’re right," Elias sighed. "I’m getting distracted. I just... it was a really weird reading."
"Delete the localized logs for this corridor," Catrin ordered smoothly. "Scrub the corrupted data. It’s a waste of server space. Just fix the lights and get back to the lab."
"Yes, Boss. Scrubbing the data now," Elias tapped a few buttons on the screen.
Catrin watched him delete the only digital proof of Nico’s power. She felt a massive wave of relief wash over her. The digital trail was gone.
"Thank you, Elias," she said, her voice softening just a fraction. "Get some coffee."
Catrin turned and walked away, heading back to the residential level. She had handled the team. Now, she had to handle the source.
When Catrin reached the nursery, the door slid open quietly.
Nico was still sitting on the carpet. He had built a tall, impressive castle out of his blocks. He looked up when she walked in, a massive grin spreading across his face.
"Mommy!" Nico cheered. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to her, wrapping his small arms around her legs. He was careful not to squeeze her bandaged side. "Look at my castle! Uncle Elias said it’s structurally sound!"
Catrin smiled, kneeling down to his eye level. She brushed a lock of brown hair out of his eyes, checking the roots. Still brown. No silver.
"It’s a beautiful castle, baby," Catrin said softly.
She sat down on the carpet next to him, ignoring the dull ache in her ribs. She needed to know what he remembered. She needed to know if he could trigger the power again.
"Nico," Catrin started, keeping her voice light and casual. "Do you remember when the lights went out in the hallway? When Papa was there?"
Nico stopped playing. His smile faded, and he looked down at his lap.
"Yeah. It was really dark. And Papa was yelling."
"Were you scared?" she asked gently.
Nico nodded, his bottom lip trembling slightly. "I saw your boo-boo. You were bleeding. I was really, really mad at Papa."
"And then what happened?" Catrin pushed, watching his eyes closely for any flash of gold.
"Then there was a loud noise," Nico mumbled, shrugging his small shoulders. "And the lights broke. And then I got super sleepy. I woke up in the big white bed."
Catrin let out a breath. He truly didn’t remember. The power had acted like a primal defense mechanism, an instinct triggered by absolute terror and rage. It wasn’t something he could turn on and off like a light switch.
He’s a loaded gun, Catrin thought, her heart breaking a little. And he doesn’t even know it.
"It’s okay, baby," Catrin said, pulling him into a gentle hug. "The bad man is locked away. He can never, ever hurt us again. Mommy is going to keep you safe."
"Promise?" Nico whispered into her shoulder.
"I promise," Catrin swore, her eyes turning hard and ruthless over his shoulder.
She spent the next hour playing blocks with him, making sure he was calm and happy. When it was finally time for his afternoon nap, she tucked him into bed and pulled the heavy dinosaur blanket up to his chin.
"Sleep tight, little boss," Catrin whispered, kissing his forehead.
She turned off the main lights, leaving only a soft blue nightlight glowing in the corner of the room. She walked to the door, stepping out into the hallway.
Before she let the door slide shut, Catrin looked back one more time.
Nico was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling in a deep, peaceful rhythm.
But sitting on the nightstand next to his bed, completely disconnected from gravity, was a single red magnetic block.
It was hovering two inches above the table. It silently, slowly spun in mid-air, bathed in the faint blue light of the room.
Catrin stared at the floating toy, her blood running cold.
The power wasn’t asleep. It was leaking.
She closed the heavy titanium door, sealing the nursery shut. She had scrubbed the data. She had silenced Julian. But she couldn’t silence biology.
Catrin leaned against the wall outside his room, pressing the palms of her hands against her eyes. She was a billionaire. She had an army. She had an infinite spatial dimension full of food and weapons.
But none of that mattered if she couldn’t figure out how to control whatever her son was turning into.