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"Open it."
Jude didn't move. His hand stayed flat against the lower-deck hatch, fingers spread like he was holding something back.
"I said open it." I shoved the muzzle into his shoulder blade. "My sister's in there."
"No," he said. "She's not."
The scream came again from behind the door. High. Ragged. Mara's voice calling my name, except it wasn't just my name. It was the one Mom used when I was small, before the accident, before everything went to hell.
"Lyrie, please—"
My stomach dropped. Nobody alive knew that name.
"Move," I said, but my hand was shaking now.
Jude turned his head just enough that I could see his jaw working. "Listen to me. That thing in there knows you. It pulled that name out of your head the second you got close."
"You're lying."
"I'm not." He pushed off the hatch and turned to face me, real slow, palms up. "The blast didn't just kill people. It cracked something open. Something that's been down here a long time."
I didn't lower the gun. "What are you talking about?"
"You want the science or the short version?"
"Short."
"The station's built on old quarantine cells. Sublevel detention from the first outbreak, back when they were still trying to contain it. Whatever they locked down there didn't die. It just waited."
Another scream. Closer this time, like she was pressed right up against the door.
"Lyrie, it hurts—"
I took a step forward. Jude moved with me, not blocking, just keeping himself between me and the hatch.
"Don't," he said.
"Get out of my way."
"If you open that door, it gets out. And once it's out, it doesn't stop with your sister. It takes everyone."
"She's already in there!" My voice cracked. "I'm not leaving her."
"She's not—" He stopped. Took a breath. "Where's your comm?"
I stared at him.
"Your comm," he said again. "Call her."
I didn't want to. Didn't want to prove him right. But my hand went to my belt anyway, pulled the handheld, thumbed the squad channel.
"Mara. Mara, do you copy?"
Static.
Then her voice, clear as glass: "Lyra? Oh thank god, I'm on the upper dock, the blast took out the main stairwell and I can't get down. Where are you?"
I froze.
Behind the hatch, the thing that sounded like Mara screamed again. The exact same scream. Same pitch, same break in the middle, like a recording played back.
"Lyrie, please, it hurts—"
My gun hand dropped an inch. Just an inch. Jude saw it.
"It's a mimic," he said, quieter now. "It takes the shape of what you want. What you're afraid of losing. The more you believe it, the stronger it gets."
I swallowed. My throat felt like I'd been breathing smoke. "How do you know?"
"Because I've seen it before." He didn't look away. "And because the first time I opened that door, it wore my brother's face."
Something in his voice made me believe him. Not the words. The weight behind them. The kind of weight you only get from losing someone twice.
I clicked the comm again. "Mara, say something only you would know."
A pause. Then: "You made me promise not to tell Dad about the thing with the patrol bike. The one you crashed into the harbor fountain."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Copy. Stay where you are. I'm coming."
"Okay. Hurry."
I killed the channel. Looked at Jude. "So what's in there?"
"Something that's been eating memories since the first reset. Every time the loop cycles, it gets a little more. A little stronger." He glanced at the hatch. "You felt it, didn't you? The pull. Like it was reaching into your head."
I had. The second I heard that name, something in my chest went tight, like a hook dragging me forward.
"Why didn't it take you?" I asked.
"It did. I just didn't open the door."
Behind us, footsteps. Fast. I spun, gun up.
Violetta Drake stepped into the corridor, flanked by two armed techs in black tactical gear. She didn't have her sidearm out, but her hand was on it.
"Captain Vane," she said. "Step away from the prisoner."
I didn't move. "We've got a contamination breach. Lower deck's compromised."
"I'm aware." She looked past me to Jude. "Which is why I need him in a secure cell. Now."
Jude's shoulders tightened. "You knew," he said. "You knew what was down here."
Drake's expression didn't shift. "I know that you're a foreign operative with access to classified intel, and that makes you a priority asset. Captain, I won't ask again."
I looked between them. Jude's jaw was set, but his eyes were sharp, tracking her guards, the angle of the corridor, the distance to the stairwell behind her.
"He saved my life," I said.
Drake smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "Then you'll understand why I need him intact. Tech One, restrain him."
The guard on the left moved forward, cuffs in hand. Jude didn't resist. He just looked at me.
"When it gets out," he said, "don't try to fight it. You can't kill something that's already dead. You just run."
"Quiet," Drake snapped.
The guard locked the cuffs, pulled Jude back toward the stairwell. Jude kept his eyes on me the whole time.
"Twelve minutes," he said. "You've got twelve minutes before the cycle resets. If you want to break it, you need to find the core. It's in the old detention sublevel. Section Nine."
Drake stepped between us. "Captain, you're dismissed. Get your squad to the upper dock and prepare for evac."
I didn't move. "What's in Section Nine?"
"That's classified."
"Classified." I let the word hang there. "You're running an active containment site under a civilian station and you didn't tell anyone."
"I told the people who needed to know." She tilted her head. "And you're not one of them. Now move."
I should have walked away. Should have gone back to my squad, got Mara, got everyone out. But something in the way she said it made my skin crawl.
"You wanted the blast," I said.
Her smile went cold. "Excuse me?"
"You knew this thing was down here. You knew what it could do. And you let the blast happen anyway."
For a second, just a second, I saw something flicker in her eyes. Not anger. Calculation.
"Tech Two," she said. "Escort the captain to upper dock. Make sure she gets there."
The second guard moved toward me. I raised my gun.
"Don't."
Drake didn't flinch. "You going to shoot me, Captain?"
I didn't answer. Didn't lower the gun either.
Behind me, the hatch groaned. A long, low scrape of metal on metal, like something heavy was dragging itself across the floor.
Then the voice came again. Not Mara's this time.
Mine.
"Lyra," it said, soft and tired, like I was talking to myself in the mirror after a bad shift. "Put the gun down. You're so tired. Just put it down."
Drake's eyes went wide. "Seal the corridor. Now."
The guard at my side grabbed my arm. I twisted, drove my elbow into his ribs, and he stumbled back. The hatch shuddered again, and this time I heard the lock disengage. Just a soft click, like someone had opened it from the inside.
Jude's voice cut through the comms, sharp and urgent: "Lyra, run."
The hatch swung open.
And I saw myself step out.