Perfect. Here's Chapter 74: The Hidden Variable, 1700 words, inclu
The wind was a living thing in the Arctic.
It howled like it remembered everything humanity had forgotten. The plane touched down roughly on an icy landing strip, abandoned since the fall of the old Lyra sectors. Snow fell sideways. The cold bit like it was trying to erase them.
"Welcome to nowhere," Eden muttered, checking her pistol as they disembarked.
Lucy pulled her coat tighter around Orion, who didn't even shiver. Cole and Layla took point, mapping the crumbling path toward the node compound buried beneath meters of snow and steel.
Their destination: Node Zero. The heart of the Lyra system. The place where it all began—and possibly, where it would all end.
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Scene Cut: The Descent
The facility entrance was nearly frozen shut. Cole used an old hydraulic saw to carve through.
Inside, dustless air. Dead silence.
It was too quiet.
