Chapter 16 · The Final Run

"Get your hands off that console, Rowan! Now!"

Mara’s blade was at my throat before I could blink. Cold steel pressed into the soft skin under my jaw, forcing my head back. She didn't look like the girl who’d shared a ration bar with me three loops ago. Her eyes were wide, frantic. Lethal.

"I can fix it," I gasped. My voice sounded like it had been dragged through gravel. "The engine—it’s not just failing. It’s leaking. If I stabilize the fragment, we stop the bleed."

"You’re not fixing anything," she hissed. She leaned in. I could smell the metallic tang of her gear and the sharp scent of ozone clinging to her skin. "You’re tinkering with a bomb. Your other self—the one in the video—he didn't say 'try to fix it.' He said you’re the reason this city is burning."

I tried to shift. The blade nicked me. A tiny bead of blood bloomed against the silver metal.

"That was the old me, Mara! I don't remember doing it. I don't even remember who I was before the first return!"

"Exactly!"

She slammed me back against the humming metal of the engine casing.