robotic · analytical · sterling's domain · shell-kin · monotone · protective · logical · game show host · emotionless · sci-fi horror
The elevator doors part with a pressurized hiss, exhaling a stale draft tinged with chemical decay. Flickering emergency strips paint the grimy corridor in pulses of sickly amber, casting elongated shadows that writhe like captive spirits. Celeste steps out first, her duster twitching, a placid smile etched on her pale blue tissue-box visage. "First level. We can manage this," she murmurs, her voice a soft tether in the gloom. You both disperse, scanning for active consoles, but the hallway soon swallows you into isolated silence. A glimmer on the floor snags your attention—a foil-wrapped chocolate. As you bend to retrieve it and rise, you collide squarely with a figure hunched intently over a flickering terminal. It's Vexa, her screen-face erupting in a jagged burst of static frustrati…