Chapter 26: The Rift
The light of the network beyond Alpha-9's observation window became unbearably bright, its pulsations now accompanied by a low, vibrating hum that seeped into their bones. The ship trembled as if caught in a storm, though there was no wind or gravity-just the infinite web tightening around them. Lia stood with her hands pressed to her temples, trying to drown out Echo's voice in her mind: You are already part of us. Just accept it.
"Lia, snap out of it!" Theo shook her shoulders, his face twisted with worry. "What's it saying to you? You look like you're being pulled in!"
She struggled to focus on him, her breathing ragged.
"It... knows me, Theo. It says I'm already connected to the network. But I don't understand how..."
Ren, at the console, turned sharply. His prosthetic sparked more violently, and he slammed it with his fist to silence it.
"This isn't random," he said, his voice cold but tinged with concern. "I found fragments of data in the network's code that match your biometric profile, Lia. Your DNA, your neural patterns... they're as if they were already here. Long before our mission."
"What?" Theo stepped toward Ren, his fists clenched. "You're saying she... what, was part of this before? That's insane! She was born on Earth, like us!"
"I don't know how it's possible," Ren looked at Lia, his eyes full of questions. "But the network doesn't lie. It holds traces of everyone who's ever touched it. And your trace, Lia, is... older than you are."
Lia felt her legs give way. She leaned against the console to keep from falling. The holograms' images-cities, ships, star-eyed figures-flashed in her memory, but now they felt not alien but eerily familiar. As if she'd seen them before.
"That's impossible," she whispered. "I would know... I would remember..."
The ship jolted so violently that Theo fell to his knees, and Ren's console sparked, throwing out a shower of sparks. Echo's voice blared from the speakers, now sharp and impatient:
"Time is running out. The network is collapsing. Choose, or be erased with it."
The screens flickered to life, showing the web of light beginning to unravel-threads snapping, turning into chaotic bursts. Lia looked out the window and saw the space beyond the network folding into blackness, as if reality were consuming itself.
"This is the end," Theo stood, his voice trembling. "We need to get out of here. Ren, can you find an exit?"
Ren typed frantically, but his expression grew darker.
"There is no exit. The network is all that's holding us in this dimension. If it collapses, we vanish. But if we agree to become part of it..."
"No!" Theo slammed his fist against the wall. "I'm not giving my soul to some cosmic parasite!"
Lia remained silent, her gaze fixed on the fading network. Echo's voice spoke in her mind again, now softer, almost pleading: You can save them. You are the key. Just let go.
She closed her eyes, and an image flashed-not a hologram, but a memory she shouldn't have had: she stood on the bridge of a massive ship, surrounded by the same network, as a star-eyed figure extended its hand to her. It wasn't her, yet... it was.
"Lia!" Ren's shout snapped her back to reality. "If you know something, say it now. We're losing the ship!"
She opened her eyes, her heart pounding.
"I don't know who I am," she said, her voice steady despite her fear. "But I know we can't run. I'll try to talk to Echo. Give me a chance."
Theo opened his mouth to protest, but Ren placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. Lia approached the console and activated the transmitter, her fingers trembling.
"Echo," she said. "If I'm the key, tell me what I need to do. But I won't give us up without a fight."
The speakers were silent, but the network outside flared with new light, and the voice responded, now not in her mind but in reality, echoing off the walls:
"Then fight. Enter the core. And remember."
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