Cyber Fair: The Entropy Engine (Escape from Club Apophis, 34)

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STORYLINE:  The air had changed. Nurse Paine noticed the shift the way a surgeon feels a patient crashing. It was not a sound. It was a pressure. A wrongness in the molecules. MasterGin was somewhere in the building. The clinic grew tense around his presence. The air smelled too heavily of expensive perfume. The immaculate floors felt like ice. Every sterile corridor was listening.

She did not hurry. Hurrying was for people who could afford to be seen trying. Nurse Paine did nothing quickly. Not even betrayal.

Her halo-phone glowed in her palm. She tapped the screen with surgical precision.

Sorry to bother you, Master.

The Tailor is undecided about the ritual garment for Jihoon.

He fears displeasing you. Might you inspect it personally?

Send.

A lie stitched with perfect etiquette. MasterGin loved beauty. He loved craftsmanship. He loved being admired. He would come. And while the god of vanity obsessed over silk, Nurse Paine would commit treason.

She reached the sealed maintenance hatch deep below the clinic. She unhooked her gold serpent brooch and pressed the metal to the optical reader. The heavy door hissed. It unlocked the passage to the sewer.

On the other side, the team of filthy students practically collapsed into her.

Ghost had been mid-hack on the exterior keypad. He yelped and jumped backward. His tools clattered loudly across the wet stone.

Paine offered a sweet, dead-eyed smile. "Welcome to GIN AESTHETICA™."

"You bitch!" Minjo lunged blindly at the white-coated figure. "I would know your stench anywhere! You drugged me! You kidnapped Jihoon!"

Plague caught Minjo around the waist. He hauled her back before she could tear the nurse's throat out. The struggle was silent but volcanic.

Paine did not flinch. She lifted the edge of her pristine coat just enough to reveal the serrated chrome of a bone saw and a glowing syringe of paralytic neurotoxin.

"If I intended to harm you," she said softly, "you would not have made it this far." Her eyes flicked down the dark corridor behind them, calculating the shadows. "I do not have time for this. If you want Yoon Jihoon back, follow me. Make no sound. Touch nothing. Or we are all dead."

She turned and walked away.

The Team hesitated. Suspicion moved through them like a cold river current.

Lisa darted in front of Paine. She planted herself in the corridor like a barricade. "Why are you helping us?"

Paine tried to brush past her.

Lisa raised one finger. "Answer our questions or I start screaming. Trust me. I have influencer lungs. I can hit frequencies that shatter glass and summon security."

"Go ahead and scream," Paine replied. "The soundproofing here is excellent. I had it installed myself."

"Okay then. Here goes." Lisa inhaled deeply. She prepared to let out the full force of her voice.

Paine stopped walking.

Lisa smiled sweetly. "Much better. I'm Lisa Liemawr of the Hexa Herald. Reporter. Survivor. Professional chaos correspondent. Now why exactly should we trust the nurse with a bone saw and serial killer energy?"

Paine's eyes moved to Lisa. It was the flat assessment of someone deciding whether a specimen was worth the formaldehyde jar.

"Because he replaced me." The words landed heavy and bitter. Paine’s gaze shifted to the approaching elevator doors. "I helped build this place. Lead the Children of Apophis. My devotion to Master Ginerva was absolute. Then the Lost One arrived. Suddenly he is the masterpiece. The obsession. And I am reduced to grunt work. I want him gone." 

Kyle took in the tunnels with a security guard's eye. Posh. Immaculate. They were a jarring contrast to the decaying, foul-smelling sewers they had just escaped.

His deep voice cut the tension. "Where are you taking us?"

Paine moved forward. "These are the VIP corridors. They are safe. They connect to the Presidential Blue House and Yeouido’s financial towers. Only human clients are permitted to access this sector."

"No Monstrum?" Kyle raised a brow. His voice was edged with heavy suspicion.

"No," she replied. She picked up her pace and checked her silver halowatch. "The powerful invest in miracles. Not nightmares."

Minjo’s jaw tightened. "Humans only. Meaning you are still human. Able to go where the vampires can't." She began to follow Paine, firing her questions like daggers. "You planted those bugs and devices in Jihoon’s dorm. You were the one behind the Black Snakeskin Box."

Paine spun around and sneered. "You are wasting time you do not have."

She turned and walked faster than should have been possible in couture heels. She disappeared into an obsidian elevator.

The team rushed inside after her. When the elevator doors parted again, they were greeted by a pair of brushed gold cathedral doors. The metal slid open soundlessly. The air beyond was immediately cooler and heavier. It felt as if the room itself had lungs.

They stepped into The Museum of Catastrophes.

An oppressive, deep hum ruled the circular, domed chamber. It sounded similar to the barrier protecting the border of the Forbidden Zone, but the frequency was much stronger here. A low vibration pulsed through the glass floor beneath their boots. It rattled their teeth. Around the chamber’s perimeter, illuminated holograms endlessly repeated historic disasters, displayed like priceless, curated jewelry.

The team slowly entered. The air smelled faintly metallic, like a lightning strike trapped in glass. Plague turned in a slow circle, staring at the vivid, looping tragedies.

"Okay," he whispered. "So we have the burning of the Library of Alexandria." He pointed at one glowing display, then another. "The Titanic snapping like a glow stick. A mushroom cloud blooming over Hiroshima."

He swallowed hard. "Guys."

No one answered.

"Guys, this is exactly like the movie Aliens. Exactly. Like when Ripley realizes she just walked into the Queen’s egg chamber."

Silence.

"For the record, I voted we stay in the sewer." Plague gulped and looked around the terrifying room.

Suddenly, a sharp chime pierced the chamber. It was Paine’s halo-phone. She went completely rigid.

MasterGin’s voice slid through the speaker. It was sharp and highly irritated. "Where is the Damascus silk? It was to arrive two days ago."

Her ruse had backfired. She angled her body away from the team. Her voice dropped to a state of professional calm.

"My apologies, Master. I will investigate at once."

"Do so. The ceremony must not be delayed." The line went dead. Paine shot the students one hard, genuinely panicked look. "Do not move," she mouthed. She vanished through a dark side corridor, leaving them alone.

Ghost snapped his fingers for their attention. He pointed his dimmed halo-wrist light toward the perimeter of the room. Six vertical stasis pods lined the curved walls. They glowed softly. The seventh pod stood dark. Above each pod pulsed a name and a date, flashing in perfect time with the heartbeat of the chamber.

Sister Hana. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island. Sister Mireille. April 13, 2029. Jeju Island.

Ghost blinked. He rapidly tapped on his halo glove, projecting the glowing blue text into the air. "Same birthdate."

Echo's hand flew up to cover her mouth. She already knew which pod would be dark. She did not make a single sound as she read the glass.

Sister Sophia. Missing.

Further inside the room, Minjo stood transfixed by the displays. Because she had lost her glasses in the sewer, she had to lean in close. Her face was lit by the ghostly glow, mere inches from a repeating hologram of a sinking ocean liner. "This is not archival footage," she whispered, her breath shallow. "They are extractions. Time files." She reached out and touched the cold edge of the glass casing. “And these displays? Chronal Resonance Viewers."

The holograms pulsed with sickening rhythm. From each looping disaster, thin filaments of anti-light throbbed beneath the glass floor. The strange shadows actively consumed the surrounding glow. They left only the faint memory of light at their edges, behaving exactly like miniature black holes.

She squinted hard, trying to follow the eerie, bisected light tracing across the floor. "This power. It's not energy born from creation. It is born from destruction. They are extracting it," Minjo said. Her voice dropped into a clinical, terrified cadence.

"Oh!” Echo blurted out. “Like Jihoon’s theory about the Black Snakeskin Box?"

"Yes,” Minjo gestured to the vast chamber. "It is horrifyingly genius. Disasters throughout time, focused into one place like a solar array from hell. This entire room is the Entropy Engine."

The anti-light raced in a mathematical spiral. It converged in a tightening whirlwind toward the beating heart of the room.

"Hey, Dragonlets." Lisa pointed upward, her voice entirely losing its usual commercial gloss. "Is that Apophis?"

A vast projection dominated the domed ceiling. It showed a massive celestial body skimming the Earth's atmosphere. Satellites fell from orbit like burning embers. Northern lights circled the globe on fire.

Plague's eyes widened. "It was almost directly over Jeju Island during its closest approach."

"Wait," Plague whispered, taking a step forward. "Jihoon’s gamer tag was Meteor Strike." He rubbed his arms as goosebumps rose on his neck. "He never did tell us when his birthday was."

Drawn by the hypnotic pulse of the anti-light, the team approached the central dais.

At the focal point of the exhibit, someone reclined across a luxurious, serpent-shaped chaise lounge.

At first, they thought it was a marble statue.

The sleeping figure lay perfectly still. He was draped in flowing ceremonial white. His limbs were arranged with deliberate, artistic grace. Silver hair spilled across the velvet cushions like molten metal.

He was beautiful. Far too beautiful.

A brass placard glowed gently beneath the dais.

Echo leaned closer to read it. Her voice faltered immediately.

"Lathandro Ginerva. April 13, 2029. East China Sea, off Jeju Island."

Absolute silence fell across the chamber.

Kyle stopped breathing.

Minjo stumbled backward, her hands flying to her head. "No," she whispered. "No. No. No."

High above the dais, coiled in the slow silence of the ceiling projection, something vast moved in the dark. It was not a shadow. It was not smoke. It was the outline of something ancient. It was ringed in stolen anti-light. Its attention was fixed on the sleeping figure below, possessing the terrifying, absolute stillness of a predator that had already won.

Spooky! Thanks to everyone who has stayed with me. We are racing towards to the end of this gothic cyberpunk horror.... Ready for more Cyberpunk? Yes? Then hop on your hover bike, it's Cyber Fair time!  

For this post, we get to peek into setting from my ongoing series, the VIP Tunnels of GIN AESTHETICA™ with our tour guide, Nurse Paine. ... The wonderful "007" Sky Tower Building 1 is by Amebic. It has built in lighting, sliding glass doors, and is able to stack, connecting passageways between skyboxes. I used 4 connecting boxes for my image. Love that! ...Nurse Paine is wearing the dramatic and elegant Tamesis hair by Limerence. The side of the hair has a led glowing effect thats pretty cool. I love the long braids too. You can purchase texture packs for more colors, and tint in the hair hud. For my image, I used a white texture and added a slight gold tint match her hair color used in a past post. ...Paine has doubled up on face masks, because you can never be too safe. *snorts*. The lower layer is the most beautiful Face BOM cyber mask I have ever seen, Tactical Cyber Mask by Guapa. You almost don't even notice the lips are not behind a mask! It's a great illusion! I used the Blue version from the Fatpack. ...The upper mask is the Tusk Metal Mask by VERBOTEN. It has animated LED textures, and a texture hud. It's mod, so you can move it around. I turned off the text that said "Tusk" in the edit menu. ...Paine's eyes are the S H I M M set one turquoise eyes, they worked perfectly. They come in BOM or Lelutka eye applier. ...The sporty Xenu outfit by Error worked great as cyberpunk Nurse outfit! It has a hud to change its colors and the animated LED colors. ...The fun Cyber Haute Couture shoes are Ruchell 's Lux Heels. (see image below). The sole has a rotating Diamond hologram, fabric is Hexagon, and has a LED glow too. It's just too fun. Has a texture hud also. ...Other items I used, the Effervescence Miranda Gloves for that nurse latex glow look, the Hexclave Snake Tie Pin as Paine's VIP badge, its a gift on the marketplace. From BluPrintz is the DataPad doubling as a halo phone. I used the Voglia ELEKTRA Skin once more for Paine to keep her consistent. Pose by Yzk.

On her, Nurse Paine:

Hair: Limerence - Tamesis hair [mesh](Cyber Fair)(990L)

Outfit: Error - xena set - legacy  [mesh](Cyber Fair)(199L)

Mask object: VERBOTEN - Tusk Metal Mask [mesh](Cyber Fair)(300L)

Mask tattoo: Guapa - Tactical Cyber Mask For Lelutka Evox, fatpack [BOM](Cyber Fair)(499L)

Eyes: S H I M M - CYBER XIII BONUS [BOM](Cyber Fair)(288L)

Shoes: Ruchell - Lux Heels [mesh](Cyber Fair)(349L)

Gloves: Effervescence - EF Miranda Gloves - MEGAPACK - Legacy [mesh]

Brooch: HEXCLAVE - Snake Tie Pin [mesh](gift)

Syringe, bone saw: CABALPIER - Mad Doctor's Equipment - Bundle [mesh]

Halophone: BluPrintz - BP - Data Pad [mesh]

Skin: VOGLIA - ELEKTRA Skin, EvoX, Icy With Brows [BOM]

Head, eyes: LeLUTKA - RAVEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - Legacy (f) Special Edition (Basic) 1.2 [mesh]

Pose: yzk - mens pose2 - 5

Setting:

Skybox: ambice - "007" Sky Tower Building 1 [mesh](Cyber Fair)(899L)

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Engine Room, Androgyny Event, Camp Syndicate: Plague (Escape from Club Apophis, 22)

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STORYLINE:  “So they’re vampires,” Plague said flatly, breaking the silence before anyone could romanticize it. “Ancient, ridiculously dramatic vampires who decided to cosplay as mob bosses. Great story pitch. It’s like 'The Godfather' meets 'Interview with the Vampire.' Coppola would weep. Can we get back to the part where we save our friend?”

The hologram of the speakeasy collapsed in a shower of static, leaving behind the coppery whiff of spilled blood and the phantom scent of gunsmoke in the air. The workshop fell silent again, the gentle ticking of Minjo’s brass contraptions marking time while everyone ignored him.

Ghost’s hands were a blur, cross-referencing Prohibition-era mob hierarchies with everything he could scrape from the net about Monstrum. Minjo, her back to everyone, was already sketching a rescue plan on a nearby whiteboard. Echo sat cross-legged on the floor beside the Black Snakeskin Box, a tangle of wires and circuit boards spread around her as she coaxed its strange power core to life.

Plague stretched, cracked his neck, and muttered, "Okay, I'll just be over here in my corner. Quietly creating a miracle cure for a biological horror, like I’m Alexander Fleming. No biggie. Don't mind me."

No one did.

He snatched the vial of claws, and the tube containing strands of Jihoon’s old hair from the workbench. “I’m starting the analysis. Yell if the time machine spits out Al Capone’s ghost.”

His corner of the workshop looked like a cybernetic parasite grafted onto an antique heart: chrome instruments threaded through brass skeletons, his bioreactors blinking among Minjo’s clockwork arms. His parents paid her obscene rent for the privilege, -- hoping her discipline might rub off on their prodigal heir. They saw Minjo as a future leader, a sound investment. Plague just saw her as the only person unimpressed by how big his inheritance would be.

He laid out the samples. The first: a few black strands from the paper crane, Jihoon before Lathandro. The control. The second: an obsidian claw clipped from a bandaged hand in the hospital, the mutation. He whistled softly. “From origami to armageddon. Let’s see what you’re made of, buddy.”

A flicker of memory cut the grin short. Guilt churned in his stomach. He remembered leaning against the lockers, voice dripping with practiced disdain as the new, beautiful Jihoon walked by. "Stupid femboy," he’d said, too loud, too easy. "Bet he hacked his DNA."

The words tasted like poison now, because they were a lie meant to hide a truth. The real criminal biohacker of Jae Won University was him. He was the one obsessed with gene-hacking. For months he’d been running back-alley CRISPR protocols on himself, trying to code sharper cheekbones, a clearer complexion, anything for an edge in the cutthroat world of biotech grants. But his body had fought back, rejecting it all: rashes, migraines, a week shaking with fever. He had failed. He built a containment suit to keep the evidence and the shame sealed away.

So when Jihoon emerged from Club Apophis remade, and radiant, Plague’s envy had been swift and vicious. He’d projected his own failure onto Jihoon, painting him as a cheater. He’d pushed his friend away right when Jihoon needed him most, and that path ended at the stadium with Jihoon screaming, engulfed in fire.

This was penance. 

He would find a cure. A cure for Jihoon first, but maybe a cure for himself, too. He’d save his friend, fix his own flawed biohack, and be hailed as the man who finally conquered DNA-rewrite rejection. He allowed the daydream to flicker, his speech accepting the Nobel Prize as cameras flashed. He grinned at the thought.

“Science first. Glory later,” he told the sequencer. “You and me, let’s make history."

The sequencer hummed to life, running a full genomic sequence. The results for the control sample were clean. Unremarkable. Perfectly boringly human. He saved the file, fed a sliver of the obsidian claw into the machine, and waited. Then repeated the process.

Hours bled into a blur. The distant chatter about safe zones and infiltration routes faded into white noise. By the time the first hints of dawn stained the workshop’s high windows, he was staring at the screen, rubbing his eyes, his mind refusing to process what the data said.

Finally, he pushed back from his station, his chair groaning in the quiet. “Uh, guys?”

His voice was strained. Minjo turned from the whiteboard, her marker frozen mid-sentence.

“I’ve got the results,” Plague said, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no difference.”

“What do you mean, no difference?” Minjo demanded, marching over.

“I mean before and after. Identical. No viral markers, no synthetic code, no biohack signature. Either the universe is pranking me, or Jihoon’s DNA is the same old boring model.” He held up a finger. “And before you say contamination, I ran it six times.”

Minjo crossed her arms. “That’s illogical. We saw the claws. Your process is flawed. Do it again.”

“Six times, Minjo. Seven if you count the one where I forgot to breathe.” He sighed, dramatic. “My methodology is sound. The equipment is calibrated perfectly. The data is the data. Maybe you should accept that instead of assuming I’m an idiot!”

“I’m not calling you an idiot! I’m saying the result is impossible. There must be an error in the process.”

Before the argument could catch fire, a soft chime interrupted. Ghost lifted his gloved hands, holographic text drifting in a calm blue light above them. A simple question floated in the air: "Did you test the mitochondrial DNA?"

Plague froze.

Mitochondrial DNA, the power source of every living cell. He hadn’t even considered it.

He shot Ghost a grudging look. “Oh sure, Hologram Hands gets the win." He shook his head and muttered, "Sheeze, why is he always like that?"

He turned back to his console, frustration replaced by focus. An hour later, as the new analysis populated the screen, his jaw went slack. Half of Jihoon’s cells looked normal, powered by the same messy mitochondria as everyone else’s. The rest were something else entirely. His scanners couldn’t classify the energy source; the instruments simply read it as undefined.

The data made his blood run cold. “What the hell are you, Jihoon?”

The others gathered around as he stumbled back, his heart hammering against the metal ribs of his suit.

“What? What is it?” Minjo asked, her voice sharp with alarm.

“I found something alright. This isn't a bio-hack,” Plague breathed, his voice trembling with awe and terror. He pointed a shaking finger at the cellular map. “Jihoon isn’t being rewritten or infected. He’s a chimera. Half human… half something that doesn’t match any known terrestrial bio-signature. Two systems running in one body, and it looks like one of them wants the stage all to itself.”

A heavy silence settled over the workshop, the machines ticking like distant clocks.

Echo’s voice, quiet but certain, broke it. “Then we’d better hurry.”

Plague looked back at the screen, the dueling biological signals flickering like rival heartbeats. His voice came out soft, almost a joke. “Well,” he said, “guess we finally proved 'Meteor Strike' really is out of this world.”

No one laughed. 

The glow from the data deepened, and for a breath, it felt as though the thing inside Jihoon was staring back.

Halloween Season is upon us. But as you know, dear readers, Halloween is everyday on BishieStyleSL. lol.  I was so lucky to have items from three events perfectly suited for our handsome but flawed boy Plague.   ...From the brand new event Camp Syndicate, (which inspired by cabin-in-the-woods slasher horror movies), is the coolest icky scar wound material effect I have ever seen in SL, -- Decay by Cubic Cherry. It's a BOM tattoo layer with 3 layers of bom plus materials effect for EVO X mesh heads. You can adjust the layers to best suit your skintone for max effect. Using well positioned face lights can enhance the effect, I used red and cyan.   ...From the Engine Room is the gorgeous SOMNIUM Automaton MK2 mesh body, with a, outer frame and skeletal inner frame. The PBR materials are excellent and it poses well. It comes in 6 different texture styles. I used the black and red Enforcers for this image. Just wonderful.  ... From the Androgyny Event is the Maledictus Lacrimosa BOM makeup style that worked great on my male EvoX mesh head! I love the shadow below the eye, and upper lid with a metallic loud color.  Also at AE is the fun Prismo Aura attachment doubling as DNA molecules in my image. The hovering rocks move, some float, some spin in place. It comes with a texture hud for 8 colors and 7 glow colors.   ...In the background, I used the Ambice Cyber "Nova'' Station, but in my final image, you can barely tell it's still. Still, I wanted to include it and show you what it looks like below in the raw shots. The set is mod, so you can move pieces around or scale it up or down.=.

On him, Plague:

Scar: Cubic Cherry Decay [BOM, Materials](Camp Syndicate)(275L)

Body: SOMNIUM Automaton, Enforcer [mesh](Engine Room)(950L)

Makeup: {maledictus} Lacrimosa, red [BOM] (Androgyny Event)(199L)

Aura: TERIYAKI Prismo [mesh] (Androgyny Event)(499L)

Hair: Dura U122 -A: Men's [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Setting:

Set: Ambice Cyber "Nova'' Station [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shot, hi-res, midday sky. Scar shown at midnight with local lights for materials effect.