Hive. Elara Korr

Log Entry 3162.10.29 Situation Summary: Med-sector nominal. Structural breaches sealed by “organic composite.” Primary medical staff assimilated. Lead subject—Dr. Elara Korr—maintaining local control of Node 03 (“Sanctum”). Vital signs: multiple. --- Chapter XI — Dr. Elara Korr There was peace in the medbay now. No alarms, no screaming. Only the low, liquid pulse of new growth threading through metal. The walls breathed with her. Elara moved among the stretchers, her boots whispering through shallow pools of viscous light. The injured no longer suffered; their chests rose and fell in perfect rhythm. She had made them whole—fused bone with alloy, healed ruptured lungs with living silver. A nurse approached, or what had once been one. Veins of luminous tissue traced her throat like delicate jewelry. “They rest,” the voice said—not hers, but the Hive’s spoken through her mouth. Elara smiled faintly. “Yes. Rest is important.” She touched the nearest patient’s cheek; it was warm, pliant, pulsing. Beneath the skin she felt the ship itself humming. Vigilant Dawn was breathing again. Her thoughts drifted, not wholly her own. Images fluttered through her mind—Kalen in the cockpit, Vance with his weapon raised, the Captain’s eyes opening in red light. The Hive let her see them all, a thousand perspectives overlapping like mirrored glass. > They suffer because they still divide themselves, the chorus whispered. You were a healer. Heal them. Elara nodded slowly. “I understand.” She walked to the medbay doors. The bulkhead had sealed earlier, warped by heat—but now it rippled at her touch and folded aside like muscle yielding to pressure. Beyond lay the corridor, glistening with soft strands of filament that pulsed to the rhythm of her heart. Every step she took left a faint trail of light. Somewhere far above, she felt the Captain awaken—her pulse sharp and solitary in the Hive’s vast harmony.