Chapter 31 · One More Lie

The vault was breathing.

Not the hiss of air recyclers or the hum of cryo coolant. Actual breathing. Slow. Steady. Human.

I couldn't move. My boots were glued to the deck plating. Senna had her gun up, aimed past my shoulder at the cryo pod in the center of the vault. The pod's lid was cracked open maybe two inches. Frost curled out of the gap like smoke.

"Kira," Senna said. Her voice was tight. "Step back."

I didn't step back. I stepped forward.

The pod was old. Military issue, pre-Fourth Expansion by the look of the seals. The kind they used to ship wounded soldiers across systems before med bays got good. The kind you didn't wake up from if the timer glitched.

But someone was waking up now.

I reached the edge of the pod. My hand touched the rim. The metal was so cold it burned. I leaned over the gap.

A face looked back at me.

My face.

Not like a mirror. Not like a sister. Exactly my face. Same scar over the left eyebrow. Same chip in the front tooth.