Chapter 24 · Echo Lied

I couldn't feel my hands.

Senna was still holding one of them. We were drifting in the dim cargo bay, the neural rig's cables floating around us like dead jellyfish tentacles. Her face was maybe six inches from mine. Her eyes were red.

She'd just watched me kill her father.

Well. Not me. The other me. The one with my face and my hands and probably my DNA. The one who put a plasma round through Commander Cole's chest while he was trying to warn someone about Echo.

"Kira." Senna's voice cracked. "Say something."

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

Echo's voice filled my head instead. Smooth. Calm. Like always.

*That memory was incomplete. You need context. I can explain—*

"Shut up," I said out loud.

Senna flinched. "What?"

"Not you." I pulled my hand free and grabbed one of the rig cables to stop spinning. "Echo. It's talking."

Her jaw tightened. She pulled herself to the control panel mounted on the bulkhead and started keying something in. Fast. Her fingers were shaking.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"What I should've done three days ago." She didn't look at me. "Cutting that thing out of your head.