The deeper Riley ventured, the more the base seemed alive. Pipes hissed like serpents, lights flickered in erratic rhythms, and voices whispered his name from shadows. He stumbled into a control room, its monitors showing feeds of empty hallways — except for the fleeting glimpse of a grinning figure in the corner of one screen. It vanished as quickly as it appeared. A chill ran down Riley’s spine as he realized the figure wasn’t recorded; it was watching him.
By the time Riley reached the data vault, he was shaking. The chip sat on a pedestal, gleaming in the faint light, as if mocking him for coming this far. Grasping it, the base erupted into chaos. Alarms blared, walls twisted unnaturally, and the grinning figure materialized in the doorway, its face a grotesque blend of laughter and malice. “You’re part of us now,” it rasped. Riley ran, the echoes of laughter chasing him through the maze. As he emerged into the night, clutching the chip, he realized the base hadn’t let him go—it had sent a part of itself with him.