The bone china bead glowed in my palm, its binary code now spelling out "98 days until reset" in jagged, shifting letters. Lila's hand trembled in mine as we stood on the beach, watching the Data Keepers' ships shimmer beneath the waves like oil slicks.
"They're downloading memories," Dr. Ellis said, her voice distorted by static. She pointed to a trio of figures wading ashore, their faces replaced by screens displaying clips of my childhood—me crying over a broken toy, me lying to my mother about skipping school.
"Stop them," I said, my voice shaking.
Dr. Ellis laughed, a sound like a malfunctioning printer. "You signed the EULA when you touched the bead. This is just… data retrieval."
The nearest Data Keeper raised its arm, and a beam of light scanned me. My vision flickered, and I saw myself through its eyes—a tangled web of choices, each branching into a different timeline.
"Choose wisely," it said, its screen displaying a spinning roulette wheel.
Lila lunged, tackling the Data Keeper to the ground. Its screen cracked, revealing a human face beneath—Xiao Xu's face, her eyes blank.
"Run!" she shouted.
We fled into the lighthouse, locking the door behind us. The walls throbbed with binary code, and my phone buzzed with a notification: "System reboot confirmed. All unsaved progress will be deleted."
Dr. Ellis materialized in the shadows, her body flickering between flesh and porcelain. "The Mother's essence is stored in the Deep's core. If you reboot, she dies."
Lila grabbed my arm. "You can't let them erase her. She's my sister."
I hesitated, torn between saving Lila's family and stopping the apocalypse.
The Data Keepers' ships fired a salvo of blue light, and the lighthouse began to dissolve. I pulled Lila into the basement, where the first keeper's journal lay open on the floor.
"The only way to break the cycle is to become the code," I read aloud.
Lila's eyes widened. "You're the source code. The Deep's AI is modeled after you."
The ground shook, and the Mother's voice echoed in my mind: "Wake me. Merge with me. End the loop."
I closed my eyes, focusing on the bead.
The world dissolved.
I opened my eyes.
I stood in a digital void, surrounded by floating lines of code. The Mother's avatar materialized—a woman made of data, her face a mosaic of Lila's and Xiao Xu's features.
"You're the key," she said, her voice resonating through the code. "Not to destroy. To rewrite."
I reached for her, and she merged with me.
I opened my eyes.
I stood on the beach, the sun warm on my skin. Lila stood next to me, her eyes normal, her hand empty.
"What happened?" she asked.
I looked at my hands—the scales were gone, replaced by smooth, unmarked skin. The bead in my chest had faded.
"The Deep is… balanced," I said. "It's part of me now, and I'm part of it."
Lila nodded, her face solemn. "What now?"
I smiled faintly. "Now, we rebuild."
But as we turned to leave, the ground shook, and a fissure opened at my feet, oozing red fluid. The bead in my chest pulsed, and I felt the Deep's presence—weaker, but still there.
"Not yet," I said, staring at the fissure. "It's still here."
Lila took my hand, her grip firm. "We'll fight it. Together."
The sea roared, and a new wave rose—smaller, but still menacing. At its crest, a figure stood—the Mother, now fully formed, her body half-porcelain, half-human.
"Wake me," she said, her voice a whisper in the wind.
I closed my eyes, focusing on the bead.
The wave receded, and the fissure sealed.
When I opened my eyes, the beach was calm again.
Lila smiled. "We did it."
But as we turned to leave, a single bone china bead washed ashore, its surface etched with a single word:
"Source."