Project Y by Carolaine Fonseca at Inkitt

Chapter 1 - Last Viable

Clack... clack... clack...

The steps echoed through the metallic corridor—slow, measured, inevitable.

Five of the galaxy’s most powerful figures advanced without haste. Their presence alone compressed the air into silence. The corridor stretched long and cold, its walls etched with faint blue sigils pulsing steadily like a living system channeling energy through the Sovereign Biocore.

Behind them, high-ranking generals followed in rigid formation, far more tense than their superiors, prepared for a conflict that could erupt at any moment.

At the end of the corridor stood a massive door reinforced with adamantium and tungsten—an unmistakable sign that whatever lay beyond carried immense importance.

Vorthak advanced.

Without hesitation, he pressed his clawed, green-scaled hand against the scanner.

The motion was effortless. Repeated. Automatic.

A low mechanical groan followed.

The door split apart down the middle with mechanical precision, releasing a deep metallic rumble as white light flooded outward, cutting through the corridor’s gloom. Darkness retreated beneath the sterile glow. Everything inside felt tightly regulated... responsive... artificially alive.

More than twenty reptilian scientists worked in perfect coordination.

At the center of the chamber stood a raised platform. Resting upon it was an oval sphere nearly four feet in length.

Its surface shimmered with a soft pearlescent glow while a faint white pulse moved beneath it—steady, restrained, like a heartbeat.

The moment Vorthak entered, all activity ceased. Every gaze turned toward him.

They struck their chests in unison.

“Greetings... Sovereign King of the Eternal Scales!”

Vorthak raised a hand calmly.

“That’s enough.”

Movement resumed immediately.

Sszar, the lead researcher, stepped forward and handed him a translucent holo-slate.

“Sir, here are all analyses of Project Y over the last three hundred veks_(days).” His gaze shifted briefly toward the sphere before his expression returned to its usual neutrality.

“After a vorath without a queen_(a millennium)... we’re finally seeing promising results.”

Vorthak’s amber eyes moved to the sphere, his vertical pupils narrowing slightly before returning to the slate. The device flared to life as genetic sequences unfolded mid-air, recalibrating in real time.

“It is developing slower than projected,” he said. “But still within acceptable parameters.”

A pulse of light surged through the interface.

“Several embryos reached formation. None survived stabilization. For centuries, the outcome never changed... until now.”

His gaze remained fixed on the stabilizing data as the holograms flickered once before settling.

A scoff cut through the silence.

“Strength doesn’t hesitate.”

Tau’rik crossed his arms, the muscles beneath his dark blue skin tightening as his stare fixed onto the sphere with undisguised hostility.

“It’s weak.” His lip curled, showing his sharp fangs. “That’s all it is.”

Vorthak didn’t even look up.

Cold fragments of holographic light drifted across his eyes.

“Predictable.”

“Exactly what one would expect from a species devoid of structural reasoning.” His tone remained even.

Tau’rik’s head snapped toward him, muscles tightening. Not with restraint.

Only then did Vorthak finally turn toward him.

“Perhaps a neurological evaluation would be... enlightening.” His head tilted slightly.

“Your horns may already be interfering with higher cognitive function.”

Clack.

Tau’rik surged forward.

“Say it again.” His voice came low and strained through clenched teeth.

Another sharp step followed.

“I dare you... Sskath-ka!_(rotten scale).”

The insult hung there—heavy.

Pressure settled into the space between them.

While the two remained locked in tension, another figure moved.

Zolthar.

He approached the vessel in complete silence, closing the distance with controlled precision. The atmosphere around the sphere seemed to tighten as he neared it, the air itself growing heavier—like prey sensing a predator before understanding why.

He stopped just short of it.

No hesitation.

Only intent.

His hand rose slowly, four elongated fingers extending toward the sphere.

For a brief instant, they hovered there.

Then contact came.

The instant his claws brushed the surface, the sphere reacted. A low pulse formed beneath the surface—uneven, like something attempting its first rhythm.

Not quite a heartbeat. An attempt at one.

The light beneath the shell shifted subtly, adjusting... curious. The chamber registered the change, though too faintly to trigger alarm.

Zolthar remained motionless.

Something beneath his touch responded.

Not fully formed, but reaching.

It wasn’t recognition—not yet. It was preference.

“...It feels like a queen,” he murmured, his voice rough and ancient, each word dragged slowly through his accent.

Warmth gathered beneath his claws. The energy no longer drifted aimlessly through the sphere.

It leaned toward him instead.

Small and gentle.

“But it is not.”

His eyes sharpened.

The sphere’s glow fractured across his mask, never quite settling into shape.

His armor told a harsher story—scarred, heavy, shaped by countless battles. Every mark carried history. Every fracture proved he had endured them all.

He tilted his head slightly, dreadlocks shifting with the restrained movement.

His hand withdrew slowly.

The sphere reacted immediately. Warmth faded. The glow loosened, losing direction as a final weaker pulse rippled outward.

Then stillness followed.

Not the same as before.

Something inside the sphere had shifted.

Zolthar turned toward Vorthak, saying nothing—waiting.

“I believe it is because she is a hybrid,” Vorthak stated without looking at him, his attention returning to the holo-slate.

A brief pause followed.

Then Orien tilted his head slightly.

“We’ve created hybrids before. What makes this one different?”

Orien’s voice slipped lightly into the atmosphere.

He leaned against the wall with loose posture, appearing almost detached from the confrontation.

Faint streams of data moved across his pale violet irises, the interface fused directly to the optic nerve behind them.

Only then did his gaze shift fully toward the sphere.

“That explanation is insufficient.”

“What did you use this time, exactly?”

Vorthak began walking slowly toward the vessel.

“As you are aware... all previous attempts have failed.”

Behind him, his lizard-like tail swayed with measured rhythm.

“We applied every approved method.”

Data unfolded beneath his claws.

“None produced a viable continuation.”

A controlled silence followed.

“The outcome was statistically predictable.” He never looked up. “So I decided to remove—limitations.”

The statement landed flat. His hands never stopped moving.

“Consultation was unnecessary,” he added, his tone cooling further, “particularly from minds unequipped to process variables at this scale.”

His lips curved slightly—not warmth, but confirmation.

His gaze swept briefly across the room, registering reactions without assigning importance before returning to the tablet, as though everyone present had already become secondary to the data.

A claw tapped the holographic interface.

Light gathered into a holographic projection.

The image stabilized.

“Among all tested lineages, only one repeatedly reached advanced integration stages.” His tone carried contempt.

“Say it clearly.” Tau’rik spat.

Vorthak did.

“Hyuman.”

The word landed heavily across the chamber.

Tau’rik’s expression twisted instantly.

“That species is extinct!” His face hardened with visible disgust.

“Hyumans vanished long ago—unstable, inconsistent, erased by time.”

Vorthak’s gaze tightened briefly.

“Their extinction was an expected outcome.”

As the words settled, Zolthar didn’t respond.

The name seemed to reach farther back than the others understood.

A faint click came from his mandibles.

tk—

His head shifted slightly, allowing the light to sweep across his mask. Beneath it, dark predatory eyes remained fixed on Vorthak—steady, unreadable. Evaluating.

For a brief moment, the room seemed to hold its breath.

Zolthar moved.

Not a step—an intrusion.

The distance collapsed between them in a single, controlled advance.

The skulls hanging from his waist struck together with a muted clink that carried unnaturally far through the chamber.

Conversations died mid-breath.

One of the researchers froze, claws suspended above a console.

Another leaned back before forcing himself still.

Zolthar ignored all of them.

His presence pressed forward with suffocating weight, like a predator closing the distance not to attack... but to decide whether it should.

He stopped close enough to make the threat unmistakable.

The space between them no longer felt neutral.

He still hadn’t spoken.

Lethal intent required no announcement.

The kind that ended things before they began.

If violence began, it would be brief.

Vorthak didn’t react.

Not a step. Not even a breath out of place.

His focus stayed on the data drifting across his holographic device.

“Proximity is inefficient.” His voice remained clinical as his claws adjusted variables with calm precision.

“The subject remains within a critical developmental phase.”

Silence stretched between them.

“Neural structure: incomplete. Collapse probability: absolute.”

“External interference at this stage would result in immediate and irreversible structural damage,” Vorthak concluded.

Only then did he look at Zolthar.

“As would the loss of controlled access.”

The chamber quieted further.

“Step back,” Vorthak said, tone unchanged. “Or remain... and accept the outcome.”

His attention returned to the data.

Zolthar didn’t move immediately. The silence tightened once more as his mandibles clicked softly.

Tk...

Then he stepped back.

Not because he had been ordered to.

Because he chose not to act.

Yet.

Orien pushed himself away from the wall.

“So... you’re building our future out of a corpse.”

No emotion.

Just observation.

Zolthar studied the projection longer than the others.

Recognition passed through him silently. The name stirred an old irritation beneath his scars.

“I am using what remains functional.”

Something sharpened beneath Vorthak’s voice.

Not anger.

Correction.

“Efficient...” Orien murmured.

Neither praise nor criticism.

Tau’rik stepped forward heavily.

“You’re contaminating the Queen with weakness!”

The words tore from him. His claws partially extended before stopping midway.

Behind him, his tail lashed violently once.

“Weakness is irrelevant if it functions,” Vorthak replied calmly.

The contrast between them was absolute.

“How long will the incubation take?” another voice entered quietly.

Precise.

Kaelthar.

He stood partially concealed within the shadows, observing in silence. The holographic light moved across his pale gray eyes in fractured patterns.

A pale secondary membrane slid briefly across them while a faint blue glow circled the iris.

Then retracted.

As if processing.

His gaze shifted toward the sphere.

Not with curiosity.

With evaluation.

“How long,” he repeated more quietly, “until instability becomes non-recoverable?”

Vorthak answered without hesitation.

“Indefinite. We lack reference parameters.”

Kaelthar tilted his head slightly.

“You are measuring progression... but not failure thresholds.”

A beat.

“So your model assumes stability.”

Another.

“Without proving it.”

A hush spread across the chamber.

Orien stepped forward at an unhurried pace. One hand slipped behind his back while the other hovered loosely near the holographic projections without fully engaging them.

His gaze shifted between Vorthak and the sphere, lingering only where necessary.

“And you believe this creature can fulfill the role of a queen?”

His head tilted slightly in idle assessment.

His fingers moved once in subtle dismissal.

“Low durability. High instability. Inefficient baseline.”

A quiet breath escaped him, faintly amused.

His gaze remained on the sphere for another moment before returning to Vorthak.

“They do not even approach a Xenomorph queen.”

Nothing in his posture challenged.

Nothing yielded.

“A pitiful species.”

“There are no guarantees,” Vorthak looked at him. “But it is the only viable path.”

Silence settled once more.

Heavier this time.

All eyes turned toward the sphere.

It pulsed once.

Then again.

A slow rhythm formed beneath the surface—not random.

The light hesitated faintly, as though something inside had paused to listen.

Then came the shift.

Deep.

Smothered.

The entire system flickered for a fraction of a second as pressure tightened across the room again.

The sphere reacted instantly.

Its glow dimmed.

Then another pulse rippled outward.

Orien’s gaze sharpened.

“...It’s not responding to input,” he murmured. “It’s responding to attention.”

“That is incorrect,” Vorthak replied immediately. “It is adapting to observational interference.”

His tone remained dismissive.

“Do not assign intent. It is a response pattern—nothing more.”

Tau’rik cut in sharply.

“Stop hiding behind words.”

His claws flexed slightly.

“It’s acting like it felt us.”

Zolthar tilted his head slowly, the movement carrying predatory weight.

“It did not feel.”

No one spoke after the statement.

A subtle adjustment passed through his shoulders, controlled power settling beneath the surface.

“It marked.”

Orien glanced toward him.

“That’s a polite way of saying it recognized our presence.”

A trace of sarcasm edged his voice.

Vorthak continued analyzing the readings.

“Incorrect,” he replied calmly. “It is stabilizing.”

The system flashed:

SIGNAL STABILIZED — NON-RANDOM PATTERN DETECTED

Then shut down.

Silence followed.

“...That is not stabilization,” Orien said quietly. “That is awareness forming a perimeter.”

“For the first time...”

Vorthak’s expression tightened slightly.

“...the Queen has introduced unpredictability into the system.”

Silence lingered briefly.

“That cannot be allowed to escalate.”

The chamber gradually descended into silence after the discussion ended.

Only the low organic hum of the structure remained, vibrating faintly through the walls like a distant pulse beneath living flesh.

The incubation sphere rested at the center of the chamber.

Massive. Smooth.

Its pale pearlescent surface reflected the dim bioluminescence surrounding the room while soft currents of light drifted beneath the opaque shell surrounding the life hidden inside.

Gradually, the chamber emptied.

Tau’rik was the first to leave, irritation still radiating through the violent movements of his tail.

Orien and Kaelthar followed in silence.

Zolthar lingered for several seconds longer before disappearing beyond the corridor without a word.

Vorthak remained only long enough to secure the final data stream.

Then he too vanished into the sterile glow beyond the chamber doors.

Several reptilian scientists remained stationed around the chamber, monitoring the flowing holographic data projected across the organic structures connected to the sphere.

None of them noticed the figure standing farther within the shadows.

Silent. Motionless beneath the towering biomechanical pillars woven into the living walls.

Unlike the others, he had not participated in the discussions surrounding Project Y.

Had not approached the sphere.

Had not spoken once.

A faint violet glow pulsed weakly beneath his pale skin before dimming again.

Unstable.

Fragile by the standards of his own species.

And yet, his attention never left the sphere.

Not because he could see what rested inside.

But because he could feel it.

A distant presence.