Chapter 25 · Reset Protocol - Chapter 25: The Other Vera

"What do you mean I'm not the original?"

Vera's voice came out sharp, but her hand was already on my arm, nails digging in. Not the soft grip from before. Harder. Desperate.

Erin lowered the mask completely. Her eyes caught the emergency light, pupils stretched vertical like a cat's. Same gold ring around the iris that I'd seen creeping into Vera's eyes two loops ago.

"The protocol doesn't evolve subjects," Erin said. "It replaces them. You die, you reset, you think you kept a mod. What you actually kept is a body part from the specimen that killed you."

"That's insane," Lucas said from behind me. "Mark's still Mark. I'd know."

"Would you?" Erin's gaze flicked to him. "How many times have you forgotten what happened five minutes ago today?"

Lucas went quiet.

Vera's grip tightened. "So what am I?"

"A fork," Erin said. "The Vera that entered this zone twenty-three hours ago is archived in cold sample storage. You're the version the protocol grew from her last stable scan. Same memories up to the checkpoint. Same personality. But your body's already forty percent replaced."

I felt Vera's pulse against my wrist. Fast. Too fast.

"Forty percent," Vera repeated.