That's not what I asked," Lucy murmured, but didn't push further.
The silence crept back in, wrapping around them like fog. Orion tried to focus on the rhythm of her steps, but her thoughts kept spiraling back to the same place—the message, the flicker of text on the monitor hours ago.
Welcome back, Architect.
It wasn't just the words. It was the way they had appeared—deliberate, intimate, as though the machine had been waiting for her specifically. And deep down, she knew it had.
They stopped when they reached a clearing. The moonlight poured over the open space, catching on the surface of an old satellite dish, its metal warped and half-swallowed by creeping vines. Lucy set her pack down and began scanning the perimeter with a handheld device.
"We'll camp here," she said without looking up. "It's far enough from the river to keep us hidden, and…" She hesitated, her eyes flicking toward Orion. "And you need rest."
