As the hypercube projection faded away in OMNICore-1's Cortex chamber, Axis Pheydra and $(player) stood somber and silent. Yes, the Cortex Controller's torn, smoking metal chassis still littered the chamber, and the Caretaker's avatar glowed worryingly bright now that his neural core was reassembled, but that's not why they were so quiet.

No, it was fatigue from the almost constant combat they marched through to get here, and shock from what the hypercube revealed - or more precisely didn't reveal.

Getting into OMNICore-1 was not an undue challenge. The access door had been sealed, but somehow the lock console recognized Pheydra and granted her "Omega-level" security access. Strangely, the console interface triggered a memory fragment in Pheydra's crystalline neural core, but she couldn't put a manipulator digit on it. Clearly these "Omega-level" privileges indicated she was created for a further, mysterious purpose.

Once they were inside, Avatus did everything he could to thwart their progress, from erecting formidable firewalls to unleashing brutal hard-light beasts. Working as a unit, they fought across abysmal chasms and climbed through forgotten access tunnels. Pheydra was impressed by the $p(player.race) mission performance. Pheydra could recall when $(player) was newly decanted from the cryo pod. Now $p(player) impressive deeds in service to the Dominion were widely celebrated. Pheydra conceded that $p(player) participation in this mission greatly increased its success parameters.

In the Cortex chamber, Avatus set an enormous, aggressive construct on them. Pheydra's $(player.class) comrade fended off the Cortex Controller's powerful assault. It was only $p(player) final, overwhelming attack that sent the monster offline. The path to repair the Caretaker was open.

After $(player) pulled the kill switch, the Caretaker's neural core reintegrated, and all of the mysterious Nexus Project's secrets were revealed. The Caretaker's stores of data were vast, but he did not possess the information they needed most: how to separate the Entity from Drusera.

Apparently, that important fact could be found someplace called the "Vault of the Archon."

With time running out before the Entity seized Drusera's god-like power to remake the universe in his own twisted image, this small omission would have activated anyone's depression subroutines.

But Pheydra wasn't discouraged. In fact, if she were able to, she might have smiled.

They'd overcome many obstacles, and undoubtedly many challenges lay ahead, but they'd prevail. They'd find a way to separate the Entity from Drusera, then obliterate him. With citizens like $(player) loyally assisting, Pheydra predicted success was the most likely outcome.