CH 5° integration

Aldrich found himself back in the white room, with Marie looking at him quizzically. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as an immense feeling of dread weighed heavily on him.

The memory of the eerie tree and the frozen lake haunted his thoughts, leaving him disoriented and unnerved.

"Dr. Reigns... Are you okay?" Marie's voice reached him like a distant murmur, despite her standing only a few paces away. It felt as if an insurmountable distance separated them, her voice sounding ever so faint and far away.

Aldrich managed to give a nod. Whatever he had just experienced wasn't a dream; he knew it, he could feel it. That thing, whatever it was, was not normal. Subconsciously, he glanced at the red fluid visible from within the syringe-like canister.

From his angle, the ominous substance seemed to pulsate with a life of its own, stirring an unsettling connection to the eerie vision he had just endured.

"was that nature's way of telling me not to proceed with this endeavor?" he muttered.

"So that's where they got the fluid from" he whispered, his mind still racing.

judging from the hacked marked he saw on the tree, he could tell the fluid was from the tree.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, 'I can't go back now' he said to himself, steeling his resolve.

"is everything ready?" he asked Marie, who at this point was looking at him strangely.

"I'm fine" he reassured her, time was of the essence, he couldn't afford to delay, someone from their side had relayed the statue of 'The Enoch' to the government, and they would be here to pick it up tomorrow.

"Those guys never fully trust Helix Foundation, so they planted a spy to monitor its progress" Aldrich muttered grimly, by the time he learned of this it was too late, left with no other choice, so all plans had to be pushed forward.

....

Aldrich carefully removed his lab coat, revealing his bony frame. His skin was pallid, almost ghostly, with his bones visible beneath the thin layer of flesh. His ribs protruded prominently, each one countable against his skin.

Marie gasped audibly at the sight, unable to contain her shock. "How the hell is he still alive?" The words escaped her lips before she could even stop herself.

Aldrich managed a weak, awkward smile in response to Marie's disbelief.

He slowly let go of his cane his weak body seemed to tremble with the effort, His breaths came shallow and uneven, each one a visible effort. With deliberate movements, he donned the fresh set of clothes Marie had prepared beforehand.

Lying down on the integration platform, Aldrich positioned himself carefully, his back exposed to the cold, gleaming needles poised on each side. Marie swiftly moved to secure his hands and legs with tight cuffs, preparing him for the procedure ahead. The gravity of the moment hung heavy in the air as Aldrich braced himself for the painful process ahead.

The room hummed with the mechanical readiness of the integration machine.

After making sure he was as steady and secure as he could be under the circumstances, she quickly hurried out of the room the door closed with a soft click behind her.

On the other side, were multiple rows of computer screens, and glass keyboards, Marie fixed her gaze on the one-way mirror separating her from Aldrich, With a few swift clicks of a button, the integration platform Aldrich was tethered to roared to life, its mechanical components humming and lights blinking into action.

Like claws, the syringes moved and planted themselves into his back, swiftly burrowing their way through his spine in a fluid motion.

At this point, Aldritch's eyes rolled back, overwhelmed by the excruciating pain coursing through his body. Twelve needles drilled themselves deep into his spine, each movement sending shockwaves of agony through his entire being.

Seeing Aldritch's intense struggle and the relentless assault on his body made Marie's heart race with panic. "There's no going back now," she muttered to herself, her voice barely audible in the tense atmosphere of the control room.

"Beginning integration now," she declared, her finger pressing firmly on the glowing red button.

Marie went limp, now it was starting, this was the final phase, her fear threatening to consume her whole, however right underneath her fear was hope, hope that he would succeed.

....

The screen in front of her instantly changed, revealing a detailed view of Aldrich's internal anatomy. The red fluid flowed through tubes and into his spine, illuminated by the monitors in an eerie crimson hue.

The red fluid was to be administered at two different angles in his body at the same time and they would later converge, but administering it all in one syringe could prove fatal. The injection sites had to be precisely positioned—not too far apart—to ensure a smooth convergence process without risking Aldrich's life.

As Marie observed the process she was struck in awe, the red liquid that was being pumped into Aldritch's body wasn't liquid it just looked that way.

After the government agency delivered the red fluid to Helix Foundation, they modified it and integrated it with their most prized project, 'The Enoch Initiative'. The Enoch Initiative was designed to operate like software—gene editing software, to be precise.

Messing with the human genome was a hazardous and daunting task. They needed a way to ensure the procedure would go smoothly, so 'The Enoch' was designed in the form of tiny microscopic robots—nanites. Each nanite was about twice the size of a blood cell.

This would grant the Helix Foundation full control over the analysis and manipulation of the human genome. What Marie was currently observing were the nanites as they synchronized with every component of Aldrich's vertebral column.

The gene editing software can only be delivered into the human body in the form of nanites, the spine is known to be a very sensitive part of the human body, and any mishap can and will be fatal.

Marie observed the nanites assembling themselves on his back. The procedure would take about 30 minutes, and as fascinating as it looked, she couldn't let herself be distracted. Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly, so she decided to take a moment to rest.

Marie slumped down in her chair, exhaustion finally taking its toll. Her eyelids grew heavy, and soon she drifted off into a deep sleep.