Chapter 13 · Ghost Signal - Chapter 13: The One Who Sealed the Door

The memory's collapsing.

Lin feels it before she sees it—the edge of Qin's neural space going brittle, fracturing like old glass. The command center around them flickers. Shadows eat the walls. She's still standing in front of herself, watching her own face in the dim light of that night three years ago, and the her in the memory is saying something into her comm. The doors. She's talking about the doors.

"What the hell did I just say?" Lin's voice cracks. She can't hear it. The audio's corrupted, static laced through every word her past self speaks.

Qin's behind her. She feels his presence like a weight pressing into her spine. "I told you," he says. His voice is flat. Empty. "You sealed it."

"I can't hear it."

"Because you don't want to."

Lin whips around. Qin's face is pale, jaw tight, and his eyes—God, his eyes look like he's already dead inside. "I want the truth," she snaps. "I came in here for the truth. If I said it, I need to hear it."

"You won't get the chance." Qin's gaze flicks past her, toward the edges of the memory.