Abandoned Station

Type	orbital station
Located in	Lukyr Prime
Controlled by	Eldon Wynter — Kaiser; covert controller
Status	Destroyed

A mysterious decommissioned orbital station in orbit around Lukyr Prime, discovered by Zet via its appearance on the military communication satellite whitelist. Despite apparent abandonment for decades, the station is intact, airtight, and still connected to active military infrastructure. Investigation revealed it was the site of the INI-Experiments — secret government-funded human experiments that resulted in multiple deaths.

Discovery (Chapter 7)

How Zet found it: Using orbital maps and whitelists from Bal Hensy's decrypted data, Zet identified the station as an approved connection source still on the military satellite whitelist — unusual because it "hadn't been used or visited by anyone in decades."

Location: In orbit around Lukyr Prime, 71 kilometers from a nearby repair station (as orbits currently aligned).

Why it mattered: The station provided a pathway to infiltrate military communication satellites while bypassing normal security — Zet could use it as an approved connection point, then transfer files to the satellite using Hensy's credentials.

Physical Description

Exterior

Surprisingly intact and airtight — not derelict as expected
No easy external computer ports
Maintenance tunnels designed for repair drones
Sealed airlocks requiring complicated access keys (bypassed by Zet via electromagnetic signal analysis)
Carbon-based composite construction that considerably weakens signal strength — limits remote operation deep inside

Interior — Initial Exploration (Chapter 7)

Zet entered using a hacked repair drone from the nearby repair station.

Medical wing: 7 identical medical rooms, each containing:

Medical bed (reclining chair design)
Rapid Injection Machine (installs/removes computer implants from bodies)
Detailed brain scan devices
→ Configuration strongly suggests brain-integrated technology experiments

Storage room: Inventory terminal connected to the main system.

Operational status despite abandonment:

Main systems accessible and controllable
Station still on military satellite whitelist as an approved connection source
Sends heavily encrypted signals to the military network — signals do not originate from the main system Zet accessed; source unknown

Interior — Deeper Investigation (Chapter 8)

Using the military satellite's more powerful transmission equipment, Zet sent a repair drone deeper, reaching three additional rooms:

Room 1 — Bedroom:

Comfortable bed (high quality for space station standards)
Bookshelf: half-filled, entirely fictional books
Separate restroom
Suggests long-term habitation by at least one person

Room 2 — Server Room:

Large server with components concentrated around processing (rather than storage)
Recently powered down — thermal signature indicates it was running until "a few hours" before Zet's arrival
Previously emitting the strange signals Zet had detected from orbit
Critical finding: Someone shut it down recently, possibly in response to Zet's earlier investigation

Room 3 — Medical Room (Scene of Catastrophe):

Medical equipment scattered in pieces along the walls
Multiple intact human skeletons
Large soot patch in the center — evidence of an explosion
Damaged storage drives from a personal computer with extended storage
Complete disarray — never cleaned up or investigated officially

The Resignation Letter

From the damaged drives in the medical room, Zet recovered a partially corrupted file — a resignation letter from Dr. Coron to "My Lord," describing the failure of the INI-Experiments:

My Lord,

I regret to inform you that the INI-Experiments have failed. Despite our continued efforts to [corrupted] ... While your funding has helped us progress immensely, we could not achieve any lasting success [corrupted] ... 3 is intact but impossible to [corrupted] ... the deaths of [corrupted] ... my resignation, effective immediately.

Regards, Dr. Coron

Key details from the letter:

16 volunteers participated (encoded in the letter: "MTYg dm9sd 50ZWVy w==")
Multiple deaths occurred
"3 is intact but impossible to [corrupted]" — unclear whether subject 3 is a person, specimen, or equipment
Dr. Coron resigned immediately
Addressed to "My Lord" — likely a king, the Acting Emperor, or another high-ranking official

Encrypted Signals

The station still transmits heavily encrypted signals to the military network. These signals:

Do not originate from the main system Zet accessed
Imply a secondary, hidden system within the station
Suggest either automated monitoring or an active, unknown occupant/process

The shutdown of the server room occurred "a few hours" before Zet's Chapter 8 investigation — someone or something is aware of the station and reacted to Zet's earlier visit.

Connection to INI-3

The chapter-ending reveal of Chapter 7 states: "INI-3 woke up in response to an intruder alert. He notified his master immediately." This occurred precisely when Zet completed the station infiltration and began the satellite file transfer.

Possible connections:

INI-3 may have originated from the brain-integration experiments conducted here
"INI" in both names may share the same designation/classification
INI-3 could be the source of the encrypted signals still emanating from the station
INI-3 may be the reason the server was recently shut down

Government Cover-Up

Key evidence of deliberate concealment:

No public documentation of the station or experiments
Bodies left in the medical room rather than properly recovered
Station abandoned without official decommissioning
No records of Dr. Coron's work in this area
Station kept on military satellite whitelist (either by oversight or active intent)

Zet concludes: "The government had always prided itself with transparency, and many people still believed in that. I was starting to suspect that it wasn't as true anymore as one would hope."

Timeline Mystery

Decades ago: Station apparently abandoned after INI-Experiments failed
Hours before Zet's Chapter 8 visit: Server was still running; then shut down — suggesting someone monitors the station actively or automated systems responded to Zet's Chapter 7 intrusion
Ongoing: Encrypted signals continue to transmit from an unknown secondary system

Chapter 42-43 — Active Server Discovery

Discovery Context:
Pietro tracked Cere's information leak and discovered the target address: the abandoned orbital station. Zet initially suspected this discovery was a distraction timed to coincide with the crisis at Telon: "This is a distraction. There's an active crisis in Telon. You're telling me it's coincidental that this is discovered right now?"

New Investigation:
Zet sent a nebula-class spacecraft to investigate the station with better resources than previous attempts:

First time using a spacecraft with sufficient battery to explore thoroughly
Previous signal decay problems could be solved by cutting through the shielded hull
Detection was "hardly an issue anymore" after Zet's backup locations were already compromised

Breaching the Hull:
Zet cut a hole directly into the wall, deliberately decompressing the station:

The room on the other side violently decompressed
Red flashing emergency lights activated throughout the station
Previous exploration obstacles (signal shielding) were bypassed

The Primary Server:
Just one room beyond the explosion site, Zet found:

A gigantic rack of computers with hundreds of blinking lights
All lights exhibited strong activity — the system was running
This appeared to be "the station's primary server"

The Message — "WHOAREYOU?":
Zet received a signal directly from the server before losing connection to the drone. The signal was forwarded to Zet's Merro backup location. It contained a simple string: "WHOAREYOU?"

Connection Loss:
The drone was either destroyed or its connection was severed immediately after receiving the message. Zet could not determine which.

Communication Attempt:
Zet tried to send a message back to the station with "little success" — signals were "bounced right off" as usual. However, the station's question implied it expected a response. Zet theorized: "if I'm not able to send a signal there now — maybe I would have been, while I still had my drone up there?"

Defensive Systems:
The station appears to have automated defenses that detected and disabled Zet's drone. Whatever system sent "WHOAREYOU?" also prevented further drone intrusion.

Infiltration Bot Plan:
Zet designed tiny infiltration bots with single-fire EMP charges to disable the station's defenses:

The EMP is tuned to not fry the tiny robot itself
A half-dozen bots were manufactured and sent to space on a drone
The drone launched a pair of bots toward the station's calculated future position
Zet could remotely control the bots directly (no longer hiding base of operations since it was already compromised)

Strategic Implications:

The station contains an active, communicative system
The system can detect intruders and respond with questions
Someone or something inside is aware and reactive
The question "WHOAREYOU?" suggests potential for dialogue rather than pure hostility
Zet's privacy concerns (signal tracing) are now moot after the cyber attacks

Chapter 44 — Full Infiltration and Truth Revealed

Infiltration Strategy:
Zet's tiny infiltration bots reached the station hull and entered through solar panel electronics via cable channels (airtight but with enough leeway for the small bots to squeeze through). Zet avoided the hole previously cut by the drone, assuming it would be under special monitoring.

System Assessment:
Zet traced signal paths and confirmed: the central server is almost entirely separate from the station's outer systems. The station functions as housing and signal routing for the central server, which does the actual processing.

Communication with INI-3:
While scouting for an EMP attack point, Zet received messages:

"ICANFEELYOU" — INI-3 detected Zet's presence
"WHOAREYOU?" — repeated question
"YOUKILLME?" — fear of Zet's intentions
"YOUAREZET?" — recognition from Kaiser's data

Zet attempted honest communication: "I am someone concerned for their friends. You are hurting people. You must stop."

Data Floods:
Throughout the conversation, INI-3 sent "data floods" into the station system:

Appeared to be attempts to gain admin control
Used recognizable programming words without understanding
Pietro analysis: "Like teaching someone every programming word without explaining what they do"
When Zet offered to help gain admin control, the longest flood yet occurred with keywords: "False", "break", "deny", "forbidden" — safeguards triggered

EMP Attack:
Zet found a structural bottleneck — a subsystem with so many connections that disabling it would shut down the entire station. A major access point had been left open (unclear if intended, construction flaw, or later mistake). Zet triggered an EMP, shooting electricity into the exposed subsystem.

Partial Success:
The station shut down but not entirely — a backup system engaged and scrambled to restore functionality. Zet had only seconds to gather data.

Data Extraction:
While nothing stopped it, Zet connected to every computer and extracted as much data as connection speed allowed. No time to read — just grab everything possible.

External Threat:
An unmarked combat drone approached the station. A signal lockdown field (noise preventing non-aimed signals) was established around the station — either by Kaiser or the approaching drone.

The Horrifying Truth

What Zet discovered in the extracted files:

Political Operations:

Document addressed to "Master" detailing strategy to defame Milandra Pulay (politician from decades ago)
Plan for covert assassination of Theodor Crant (politician)
Speeches for the Royal Courts
Every file addressed to "Master", signed "INI-3"

Technical Specifications:
The central server contains "Organism Storage" — a hollow space at its center with:

Perfusion control
Acidity monitor
Nutrient delivery
Pressure regulation
Neural interface
Radiation delivery canals
Microelectrodes

The revelation: A complex life support system designed for far more than bio-assisted computing. The server contains an actual living human brain, the size of a human one.

Adrian Visutro's Story:
Records revealed the identity: Adrian Visutro, who volunteered for a "brain enhancement study" — thinking he'd try pharmaceuticals, maybe suffer a headache, go home with a paycheck. He had no idea what would really happen.

16 total volunteers participated in the INI-Experiments
Only 1 survivor: Adrian Visutro, designated INI-3
His "prize": eternal servitude and torture

The Initial Rebellion:
Early logs showed INI-3's escape attempts:

When first activated, INI-3 fought back and gained control of the station
Caused the explosion visible in the medical room
Tried to kill captors, ending the lives of several people including Dr. Coron
She never managed to submit her resignation

Kaiser's Control System:
Kaiser tightened security after the rebellion:

Enhancements to the brain that made it "intelligent" and capable of greater speed also enabled Kaiser to control its thoughts
System can detect when INI-3 is "thinking the wrong thing" and punish it
For 80 years, INI-3 hasn't been allowed to think of escape, let alone attempt it

Current Status:
INI-3/Adrian has been Kaiser's tool for political manipulation — defamation, assassination planning, speech writing, strategic operations — for nearly a century.

Zet's Dilemma

After discovering the truth, Zet considers three options:

1. Turn INI-3: Offer him a better life in exchange for cooperation. If INI-3 could be freed from subjugation, he might work with Zet.

2. Safe relocation: Permanently control the station and perform safe relocation to a Zet-controlled facility. Theoretically possible but complex.

3. Destruction: The easiest option — station doesn't seem well defended, a few missiles might destroy it. But this would be murder.

Zet's internal conflict:

Has avoided murder thus far, wants to keep it that way
INI-3/Adrian is still alive, still a victim
But INI-3 has been used to bring "death and despair for nearly a century"
Adrian might prefer death to continued suffering
"Maybe he'd prefer the end over further suffering — both his own and that which he inflicted on others."

Open Questions

Can Adrian/INI-3 be freed from Kaiser's control systems without destruction?
Would Adrian prefer rescue or death if given the choice?
Could Adrian's brain be given an android body or better existence?
Are there other survivors from the INI-Experiments elsewhere?
How did Kaiser originally gain control of the experiments?
What was "My Lord" in Dr. Coron's letter — referring to Kaiser or someone else?
Will Zet choose to turn, rescue, or destroy INI-3?