Chapter 18 · Backups of the Dead

"Don't touch anything."

Ada's hand was already on my shoulder, pulling me back from the door. Through the reinforced glass I could see them. Rows of glass cylinders, each one holding a body suspended in pale blue fluid. Some of them were us.

"That one's you," I said, pointing. "Third row, second from the left."

"I know." Her grip tightened. "I've seen this room before. Loop forty-seven. I walked in thinking I could destroy my own backup and break the system."

"What happened?"

"The copy woke up. Knew everything I knew up to the moment it was made. Killed me in six seconds." She let go, stepped back. "We need another way through."

"There is no other way." I tried the door. Locked. A status panel blinked to life beside it: VERIFICATION REQUIRED - NEURAL PATTERN MATCH. "It wants one of us to go in."

"Then it's a trap."

"Everything here's a trap." I pressed my palm to the panel. It flashed red. "But you bought us time with that reset shot. We use it or we wasted it."

She moved beside me, close enough I could feel the heat coming off her.