Chapter 11 · Eli Left a Really Bad Plan

The lift cables snap before I can warn her.

Ivy's halfway down the maintenance shaft when the screech hits, metal grinding on metal, and the platform drops six feet in one breath. She slams into the rail. I feel it through the floor sensors like someone punched my foundation.

"Ivy—"

"Shut up." She's already moving. Doesn't scream. Doesn't freeze. She hooks one arm through the safety mesh and kicks the emergency brake with her boot heel. Once. Twice. The brake catches and the whole lift shudders to a stop, swinging on one remaining cable.

I can see her through the shaft camera. Blood on her lip where she bit down. Knuckles white on the mesh.

"You good?" I ask.

"Define good." She spits over the rail and looks up at the camera. Her hair's stuck to her forehead. "Your wiring sucks."

"Yeah, noted."

She climbs off the platform and onto the ladder bolted to the shaft wall. Doesn't wait for me to route power to the backup winch. Just goes.

I would've let the lift fall. Cut the weight. Rerouted what was left into keeping the core online. That's what I'm built for now. Math. Survival.