Chapter 29 · The Other Lyra

"Drop the core."

The voice came from behind me. My voice.

I turned slow. The woman standing in the blast corridor looked exactly like me. Same gear. Same scars. Same way of holding a sidearm like she was born with it. The only difference was the core cradled in her left hand, glowing faint blue through the cracks in the containment shell.

"Lyra—" Jude started.

"Shut up." I didn't take my eyes off her. "Who sent you?"

She smiled. My smile. "Nobody sends me anymore. I've been running this loop longer than you've been breathing."

Jude shifted his weight. I felt the heat of him at my back, too close, like he was ready to step between us. "Don't," I said.

"She's not you," he said.

"I can see that."

The other Lyra tilted her head. "Can you? Because from where I'm standing, you're the copy. You're the one who woke up twelve minutes ago thinking this was your first time. I've been dying in this station for three years."

My gun hand didn't shake. "Then you know how this ends."

"I do." She took a step forward. The core pulsed in her grip, casting shadows up the ruined walls.