The chamber stank of scorched metal and blood. Smoke curled from ruptured conduits, casting the wreckage in a haze that shimmered with fading glyphs. The drones hovered uncertainly above, their lenses dim as though waiting for an order that never came.
Maya leaned against the fractured wall, the rifle heavy in her hands, her veins still pulsing faint blue. The Shadow Carrier's words rang in her skull like a wound that wouldn't close: "You weren't meant to inherit this."
Vector paced in tight, angry circles, his boots crunching on shattered plating. "We should've put him down the second he showed his face. Whoever that was—whatever he was—he played us. Left us wide open."
Rei crouched by the boarding frame's husk, his fingers tracing the cracked cables with fevered curiosity. His expression was too bright for someone so close to death. "No. He stabilized the systems long enough to keep us alive. Without him, the Archive would've collapsed in on her."
"Don't twist this," Vector snapped, spinning on him. "You saw what I did. The Archive listened to him. Not her." His voice broke sharp on the last word, as if he hated himself for saying it.
Maya shifted, the rifle humming faintly in agreement—or maybe defiance. She couldn't tell anymore. "Enough," she muttered, but neither man stopped.
Rei rose slowly, blood still damp on his side, but his eyes were steady. "Vector, you're so obsessed with saving her that you can't see what she is. Maya isn't just bonded to the Archive—she is the Archive now. That's why it listens to her. That's why it responds."
Vector's hand tightened on his sidearm. "That's not her talking. That's you, drunk on all the myths you've read."
Rei stepped closer. "And what if it's the truth? What if she's the only reason we're standing here breathing?"
The air between them bristled, sharp as wire. Maya's chest tightened, the Archive feeding on their tension, humming in tune with her racing pulse. She wanted to scream, to make them stop—but the sound that came out was something else, low and electric.
"One of them will betray you."
The whisper wasn't hers. It seeped from the Archive, curling through her blood like poison. She flinched, clutching her head, but the voice wouldn't leave.
Vector saw her falter and rushed to her side, steadying her by the shoulders. "Maya. Hey. Look at me."
Rei's voice cut in, urgent, almost pleading. "Don't listen to it. That's how it wins. It's not prophecy—it's manipulation."
Her breath hitched, caught between them. The rifle hummed hotter, as though eager to test their words, eager to prove which of them was right.
Vector glared at Rei over her head. "Keep talking like that, and I'll start wondering if you're the traitor."
Rei's hand hovered near his own weapon, though he didn't draw it. His voice was quiet, measured. "If it comes to choosing between her and you, Vector… you already know where I stand."
The silence stretched taut, a wire pulled to snapping.
Maya closed her eyes, fighting the urge to scream. The Archive's voice whispered again, softer, more insistent.
"Choose. Before they do."
She opened her eyes—and for the first time, both men stepped back, because they weren't her eyes anymore. The glow in them was too steady, too cold.
The chamber trembled as the ship groaned, systems shuddering back online. Somewhere in the distance, alarms wailed again—Architect reinforcements.
But the greater threat was closer.
Right here, in this broken chamber, her family was already tearing itself apart.
Hook for Chapter 29: The Architects return to exploit Maya's instability—while the team fractures, and the Archive whispers louder.