The Ark shuddered.
Alarms howled through the underground as containment fields failed one by one. Stasis pods flickered—some began to open. The air grew thick with electricity, memory echoes bleeding into real time. For the first time in decades, the forgotten were waking.
Dev's voice came through the comm, strained. "We've triggered a full cascade. They'll all be conscious within the hour."
"Can they survive it?" Rowan asked.
"If their minds hold. If not—"
Static.
Ash sprinted down a collapsing walkway, barely dodging a pipe that crashed from above. Behind them, the Energy Core's containment reactor sparked wildly.
"We can't hold it back much longer!" they yelled.
Rowan, already bruised and bleeding, slammed her hand onto the fusion gate. "We don't need to hold it—we need to release it."
A pulse of white heat burst from the chamber. Ash grabbed Rowan and dove behind the console as a shockwave tore through the level. The Ark groaned—metal screamed. Lights died.
Above them, pods opened like cracked eggs. The first survivors staggered out, dazed, terrified... remembering lives they hadn't lived in decades.
In the Neural Lattice, Eira fought to stay conscious. Her body felt splintered—memories old and new surged through her veins. Hers. Subject Zero's. Thousands of others. She clung to the override key as the lattice writhed.
Suddenly, the voice returned. Her voice.
"You think you're saving them. But you're just breaking what kept them whole."
Eira looked up. Her older self was back—solid, this time. No longer a ghost.
"A system isn't evil because it controls," the echo whispered. "Sometimes control is mercy."
Eira shook her head. "No. It's silence. I won't be that."
She twisted the override key.
And everything went white.
Minutes—or hours—later, Rowan and Ash dragged themselves into the Lattice Chamber. They found Eira kneeling, trembling, surrounded by flickering projections of memories that no longer had owners.
"You did it?" Rowan asked.
Eira nodded, eyes wet. "I ended the Ark. It's freefall now. No backups. No recovery."
Ash knelt beside her. "Then we better get everyone out before the whole thing comes down."
Dev's voice crackled in: "Evac path's ready. But we've got another problem."
"What now?" Rowan muttered.
"The city just locked down. Mnemosyne's shell company activated Protocol Eden. They're sealing every exit from the surface. If we don't get out in thirty minutes… we don't get out at all."
Eira stood slowly. Her voice was hoarse, but clear.
"Then we run."