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Three hours later, Kai leaned back from his workstation, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The strain of his work was evident in the faint lines around his eyes. Rin had spent the time pacing the workshop like a caged wolf, her newly healed ribs still tender despite the regeneration patch. The core sat in its analysis cradle, now surrounded by holographic displays that streamed lines of decoded data. The air in the room felt heavy, charged with the weight of their discovery.
“Okay,” Kai said, his voice tight with a mixture of awe and fear. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Rin moved to stand behind him, her eyes scanning the complex information on the displays. Most of the data was a chaotic mess, fragmented memories and broken code that formed no coherent sense. But there, highlighted in a stark, warning red by Kai’s analysis algorithms, was a string of programming that made her blood run cold. She knew that code. She had written half of it herself.
“That’s Project ECHO,” she whispered, the name feeling like ash in her mouth.
“Not just ECHO.” Kai zoomed in on a specific section, his fingers trembling slightly as he manipulated the holographic display. “This is your personal encryption signature. It’s woven into the very fabric of the code. And this part…” He highlighted another fragment, this one shimmering with a faint golden light. “This is Ward’s. Your code and his, intertwined, just like they were in the original project.”
Rin stared at the two signatures, a digital monument to a partnership that had once defined her. Project ECHO had been destroyed a decade ago in the disaster that shattered the old world. Every backup, every fragment, every trace of the code had been systematically purged from existence. At least, that was what everyone had been led to believe.
“How is this possible?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. “We destroyed everything. The City Core personally verified the deletion of every last byte.”
“I don’t know.” Kai pulled up another display, this one showing the core’s metadata. He pointed to a timestamp that made no sense. “But look at this. The creation date on these fragments is recent. Within the last six months recent.”
The implication was staggering. “Someone has been rebuilding ECHO.”
“Not just rebuilding it. They’ve been weaponizing it.” Kai highlighted several data structures that showed clear signs of intentional, malicious corruption. “These fragments have been specifically modified to interface with parasite biology. Someone took your and Ward’s original code, your work that was meant to heal, and they turned it into an infection vector.”
Rin’s hands clenched into fists at her sides. Ten years ago, she and Elias had created Project ECHO to save lives, to end a planetary war by healing the wounded faster than battles could create casualties. Instead, their ambition had unleashed something monstrous that nearly destroyed humanity. The guilt of that failure had driven her into the ruins, hunting the very monsters their hubris had created. And now, someone was trying to do it all over again.
“Can you trace the source?” she asked, her voice low and dangerous.
Kai was already working on it, his fingers a blur across multiple keyboards. “The trail is heavily obscured, but there are always traces. Just give me a minute…”
The world exploded in sound and light. Alarms blared, a deafening shriek that echoed off the concrete walls of the subway station. Every display in the workshop flashed a violent red. Kai cursed, his fingers flying even faster as he tried to isolate the source of the intrusion. “We’ve been pinged! City Core security just lit up our location like a festival lantern.”
“How?” Rin demanded, her hand instinctively reaching for the blades she no longer wore.
“The core!” Kai yanked the sphere from its cradle, but it was too late. A single, powerful pulse of energy flared from the core before it went dark. “The ECHO fragments must have activated. It sent out a beacon signal that cut through every encryption and security measure I had in place. It was booby-trapped. The moment I dug deep enough to find the source code, it triggered a location marker.”
Rin’s cybernetic overlay flashed with proximity warnings. Multiple signals were approaching fast, both airborne and ground-based. They were City Core police, moving with the kind of coordinated precision that meant they had been ready for this, just waiting for a signal.
“They were waiting for someone to analyze the core,” she realized, the pieces clicking into place. “This was a trap.”
“A trap we walked right into,” Kai confirmed, already moving with practiced urgency. He pulled backup drives from hidden compartments and initiated his emergency data purge protocols. “We’ve got maybe three minutes before they breach the entrance.”
Rin grabbed her plasma blades from a nearby workbench, their familiar weight a small comfort. “Can you erase the analysis?”
“Already done. But they’ll know we had the core, and they’ll know we decoded at least part of it.” He tossed her a small, encrypted data chip. “Everything I found is on there, encrypted with your personal key. Don’t lose it.”
The building shook as something heavy landed on the street above them. Through the security cameras, Rin could see police assault vehicles surrounding the subway entrance, their harsh searchlights cutting through the rain. Officers in full tactical gear were setting up a perimeter, their movements efficient and professional.
And standing in the center of it all, illuminated by the unforgiving white light, was a figure she recognized even after ten years of trying to forget.
Detective Elias Ward looked older, his dark hair shorter and streaked with premature silver at the temples. He wore the black and silver uniform of City Core’s detective division, a symbol of the order he now served. His expression was as cold and remote as a distant star. He was giving orders to his team, his movements precise and controlled. He looked nothing like the passionate, brilliant scientist she had once loved.
“Is that…” Kai stared at the security feed, his voice trailing off in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Rin said, her own voice flat and emotionless. “That’s him.”
“What do we do?”
She considered their limited options. The workshop had three emergency exits, but City Core would have them all covered by now. They could try to fight their way out, but that would mean hurting officers who were just doing their jobs, and it would confirm every suspicion City Core had about her.
“We surrender the core,” she decided, her voice firm. “And nothing else.”
“Rin, they’ll arrest you.”
“Probably.” She pulled the memory core from where Kai had dropped it and wrapped it back in its signal-dampening cloth. “But they can’t prove we did anything illegal. Analyzing found data is not a crime in this city.”
“Possession of active ECHO fragments is,” Kai reminded her.
“Then I’ll deal with that.” She moved toward the main entrance, her blades deactivated but still strapped to her back. “Stay here. If they want you, make them work for it. But do not fight. This is not worth dying over.”
Kai grabbed her arm, his expression serious. “Are you sure about this?”
Rin looked at the security feed again, at Elias standing in the rain, giving orders as if he commanded the world itself. Something bitter and familiar twisted in her chest, an old wound she had thought had long since scarred over.
“No,” she admitted. “But I need to know what he knows. And he will not talk to me unless I give him a reason.”
She opened the workshop door and walked into the trapped corridor, her hands held out where they could be seen. The security measures recognized her and remained dormant. Within thirty seconds, she reached the subway entrance.
City Core officers swarmed her immediately, their weapons raised as they shouted commands. She raised her hands slowly, allowing them to disarm her, to scan her for threats. Through it all, she kept her eyes locked on Elias.
He watched the entire process with an expression of cold, detached assessment, as if she were a puzzle he was solving rather than a person he had once known intimately. When the officers confirmed she was secure, he finally approached, his steps measured and deliberate.
Ten years fell away and rebuilt themselves in the space between heartbeats.