Paranoia, perhaps, is one of the most important traits that one could obtain.

  To be paranoid is to bring an umbrella on a sunny day, knowing the rain might come. It’s to see trouble before it happens and be ready for it.

  Kai was paranoid.

  He had seen too many things lately, too many close calls, too many unexplainable events. And if given the choice, he’d rather look stupid than be stupid.

  So the moment he heard movement in the vent, he knew he had to prepare for the worst.

  His body moved on instinct, his mind already working through the possibilities.

  He turned to Derniere.

  "Stay here."

  Then, without waiting for a response, he stepped out the door.

  Kai checked in on Eliana and found her still asleep. He smiled softly, making a quiet promise to himself that he would be back as soon as possible.

  But first, he needed to find Isaac. Only he might have what Kai was looking for in a situation like this.

  Kai walked quickly through the corridors, stopping at Isaac’s door. He knocked, and a second later, the door slid open.

  The moment he stepped inside, chill air hit his face.

  Isaac's room felt even more tech-heavy than the last time he had visited. Every inch of space seemed cluttered with screens, wires, and blinking lights. Even the window that usually looked out into space was now covered with a massive screen, making the room completely dark, except for the glow of monitors.

  Kai peeked around, his eyes adjusting to the dim lighting, and found Isaac hunched over his computer, his fingers flying across the keypad.

  Kai cleared his throat, stepping a little closer.

  Isaac finished typing something before finally looking up. His glasses caught the glow of the screen, making his eyes briefly disappear behind a blue reflection.

  Then, a grin formed at the corner of his mouth.

  "Ah, Kai. I was wondering who would be crazy enough to visit me this early in the morning." Isaac smirked. "Now, tell me, how’s the lapel pin working for you?"

  Kai glanced down at the swan-shaped pin Isaac had given him.

  "Oh yeah, it's great," he said, half-distracted.

  "I thought so! You know, I actually upgraded the—"

  Kai could already tell where this was going. If he let Isaac continue, he’d be stuck here for hours listening to an enthusiastic tech lecture.

  So he cut him off quickly.

  "Sorry, Isaac, but I’m actually here for something else." He exhaled, then got straight to the point. "I think there might be something stuck in the air vent, and I’m trying to find out what it is."

  Isaac blinked, his excitement momentarily replaced with mild annoyance at being interrupted.

  But he nodded, considering the information.

  "I don’t think that’s possible," he said, adjusting his glasses. "The air vents are designed to block anything bigger than dust from getting in. Nothing alive should be able to fit inside."

  "That's the thing!" Kai said, leaning forward. "The air vent was removed and then put back in place."

  Isaac's eyebrows lifted slightly.

  "Now you've got me interested," he muttered. Then, without any further speech, he spun his chair around and pulled open one of his drawers.

  Kai peered inside, only to see it was a mess of random components—tiny circuits, tangled wires, strange mechanical pieces he couldn’t even begin to understand.

  Isaac rummaged through the drawer, his fingers sifting through the chaos. He searched for a while, then finally, at the very bottom, he pulled out a small box.

  He flipped open the lid, revealing something metal nestled at the center of a soft padding of foam.

  Kai leaned in.

  Inside was a tiny mechanical spider, its metallic body gleaming dimly under the bluish glow of the computer screen.

  It was intricately designed—its thin, delicate legs were controlled by tiny gears and wires, giving it an eerily lifelike appearance.

  Kai’s curiosity piqued immediately.

  "What is this?" he asked.

  Isaac grinned, tapping the side of the box.

  "This is a spider bot I made just a few days ago," he said proudly. "An experimental design based on the spiders I found in the encyclopedia. I wanted to mimic their movements as closely as possible."

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  Kai picked it up, turning it over in his hands, studying the fine details of the miniature machine.

  "It’s impressive," he admitted.

  Isaac sighed, slumping back in his chair. "Yeah, well… I haven’t found a good way to control it yet. That’s the problem." His expression turned sour. "Until I do, it’s basically just a fancy paperweight."

  Kai thought for a moment, then smirked.

  "Maybe I can give it a try," he said.

  Isaac gave him a questioning look.

  "You remember how I was able to get into the consciousness of one of those machine creatures?" Kai explained. "Maybe I can do something similar with this. It’s worth a shot, right?"

  "I think it might work," Isaac mused, tapping his fingers against the desk. "Just because the machine creatures have artificial intelligence doesn’t mean they’re living beings. Their core functions should still be mechanical, meaning the process of linking with them might be the same." He smirked slightly. "Although, you might find the spider bot’s movements a little more limited compared to the tentacles you controlled last time."

  Then, as if a thought had just occurred to him, Isaac paused and glanced at the spider bot again. His expression turned more serious.

  "That being said, I’d advise you to proceed with caution," he added. "I still don’t fully understand how your abilities work, and I’d hate for your consciousness to get stuck in the robot." His smirk returned. "I bet Eliana wouldn’t be too happy if her boyfriend turned into a spider."

  Kai chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh, she wouldn’t." His smile widened slightly. "I showed her the encyclopedia, and I think she might have arachnophobia."

  Isaac let out a short laugh. "I like your choice of words there. It’s kind of insane to think about how many words we’ve lost over time just because we abandoned our history. Just like this ship—its name lost its original meaning due to—"

  Kai could see it coming—another hour-long Isaac rant.

  He cleared his throat loudly, shifting his attention toward the spider bot.

  Isaac raised his hands in surrender, signaling that he got the message. Then, with a small, amused grin, he gestured toward the bot.

  "Alright, go ahead. Give it a try."

  Kai nodded, then lowered himself onto the floor, crossing his legs as he prepared to focus.

  He took a deep breath, centering himself.

  The last time he made a connection with a machine, it had been forceful—his consciousness had been yanked into the machine creature without warning.

  This time, it had to be his own intention that make the connection.

  At first, he felt nothing, and he probably looked really stupid to Isaac right now, just sitting there, staring at a tiny metal spider in absolute silence.

  Then, slowly, the warm tingling sensation of the nanites in his body began to stir.

  His skin felt hot, his core temperature rising. He pulled the zipper of his uniform down slightly, letting out some of the trapped body heat.

  His face flushed, and a subtle throbbing pain formed behind his forehead.

  Kai kept his breathing slow and steady, pushing through the discomfort, focusing entirely on forming a connection with the spider bot.

  And then he felt something. Not visually, but deep in his consciousness.

  It was faint, like a thread waving in the wind, slipping through his fingers every time he tried to grasp it.

  He closed his eyes, shutting out every distraction.

  The connection was there, but it was unstable, difficult to reach. It reminded him of that moment just before falling asleep, when the mind drifts between reality and dreams.

  His thoughts faded in and out—like he was teetering on the edge of the limbo. Kai relaxed, allowing himself to sink deeper, surrendering control over his own body.

  ---

  Kai woke up, and his perspective had changed.

  His vision was half-blocked by the soft foam inside the box, but the other half gave him a clear view of Isaac’s cluttered workspace.

  He felt small—tiny, even—as he looked around. The world was massive compared to him, the objectives in Isaac's room becoming towering structures.

  Kai tested his new "body," pushing control into each of the robotic legs. Just like when he had controlled eight tentacles, but this time, he had eight legs.

  He pushed himself up, rising to his full height.

  The sheer size of everything around him was overwhelming. The first thing he noticed was his own body—his real human body.

  His human form sat motionless on the ground, head low, eyes closed, looking as if he were simply asleep.

  He tried to turn next, testing his new movement. His legs moved in a sequence, working together as he spun a full 180 degrees—only to come face-to-face with Isaac.

  Isaac’s face was way too close.

  The distortion from the spider bot’s camera lens gave him a bizarre fish-eye effect, stretching his features to unnatural proportions. His mouth curved into a grin that, from Kai’s current view, looked almost horrifyingly long.

  Kai scuttled backward instinctively, taking a few steps away so he didn’t feel like Isaac was about to devour him whole. He wouldn’t even put it past the mad scientist to try and see the inside of him first—something Kai was pretty sure Isaac would totally do if given the chance.

  "Can you hear me?" Isaac’s voice boomed.

  It came through loud and clear, yet had a strange, artificial quality—slightly electrified, like the sound was coming straight in the form of a digital signal.

  Kai couldn’t speak, so he raised his two front legs in response.

  "Good!" Isaac nodded. "Now, try climbing out of the box and see if you can move around freely."

  Kai did as he was told, moving his eight legs effortlessly. It was as if he had always had them.

  He climbed up and over the edge of the box, but what surprised him was the fact that he didn’t fall. Instead, he found himself sticking to the vertical surface and effortlessly crawling downward.

  Kai paused mid-motion, baffled. He turned toward Isaac, silently questioning how this was even possible.

  Isaac’s massive grin widened.

  "I bet you’re wondering why you’re able to do that." He tapped the desk. "I wanted to perfectly replicate the spider's vertical movement seen in the encyclopaedia so I did a lot of testing. Turns out, they can climb vertical surfaces using tiny hairs on their legs. Those hairs generate weak intermolecular forces that let them stick to walls." His voice was filled with genuine fascination. "It’s incredible stuff."

  Kai lifted one of his front legs, inspecting it.

  Sure enough, there were tiny hair-like fibers covering his metal limbs. They resembled animal fur, but much less dense.

  He moved around the desk next, testing his speed and agility.

  It was way faster than he expected. He could scurry across the entire table in seconds, shifting directions with effortless precision and speed.

  Kai had to admit—it was kind of fun.

  Once he was satisfied with his testing, he attempted to disconnect from the bot.

  As expected, it was hard.

  Making a mental connection to something when he didn’t have a brain was strange.

  It was like his thoughts weren’t thoughts anymore, but rather commands being processed.

  Still, after a bit of trial and error, Kai figured it out.

  He created a manual shutdown command, forcing the spider bot into sleep mode—and once it powered down, the link severed, and Kai’s mind snapped back into his real body.

  His eyes fluttered open and a wave of relief washed over him, followed quickly by excitement.

  He had just successfully controlled a machine with his mind. And unlike before, where his consciousness had been forcefully pulled, this time, he had done it voluntarily.

  This ability was going to open doors for him. If he could refine it, perfect it even, there was no telling what he could do.

  He looked up at Isaac, grinning.

  "Thank you, Isaac," he said, pushing himself off the floor. "Now, I’m going to find out whatever’s hiding inside the vents."