The clock was ticking: 71 hours, 43 minutes, and counting.
The Ark pulsed like a heartbeat, its inner systems waking. Above them, the city hummed unaware—while beneath it, history was being rewritten in real time.
Dev sat cross-legged before a central control panel, hacking through a labyrinth of quantum firewalls. "This isn't just code," they muttered. "It's alive. It adapts. It's anticipating us."
Rowan stood watch with Ash, weapons drawn. "Then we stay unpredictable."
Ash smirked. "You always say that right before we nearly die."
Eira moved alone, studying the pods. She was drawn to one—Pod #000. No name. No record. But when she touched it, the screen lit up.
Subject Zero: Active.
Her face stared back at her from inside the pod. But older. Scarred. Eyes blazing with the kind of clarity that came from pain—and memory.
"Rowan," she whispered. "It's me. Or... someone I become."
Rowan stepped beside her, stunned. "You were their prototype. That's why you could build the virus. You weren't just resisting Mnemosyne. You were Mnemosyne."
Eira swallowed. "Then I know how to end this."
With Eira guiding, they split:
Rowan and Ash headed to the Energy Core, where the Ark's power could be rerouted into a meltdown loop. Dev stayed to upload a corruption package into the backup drives. Eira made her way to the Neural Lattice—the control nexus where all stasis minds were networked.
But Mnemosyne fought back.
Drones descended from the ceiling. Systems rebooted security walls. Traps designed to lock minds in their own worst memories began to flicker on.
Ash was caught in one—a loop of their childhood, alone in a burned-out house. Screaming.
Rowan reached through the illusion, shaking them. "This isn't real. You're not alone anymore!"
Ash gasped, eyes clearing. "Thanks. Let's go blow something up."
At the Lattice, Eira faced her future self.
Or maybe... the ghost of who she could become.
"Why are you here?" Eira asked.
The older version smiled, faintly tragic. "Because you're not ready to destroy what I built. Not completely."
"I'm not you."
"No. But you could be."
They stared at each other.
Then Eira stepped forward, hand on the override.
"I'll take that chance."
She entered the final sequence.
Above them, lights dimmed. Below, the Ark began to tremble.
They had started the collapse.