For a moment, the world held its breath.
The damaged construct clawed at the floor, trying to stand. Sparks flickered at its joints, its movements jerky and unfocused like something far stronger than Ash's fragment had disrupted its core.
But Ash couldn't look away from Silva's tablet.
The second signal,..
the one blocking the construct's broadcast
was still there.
Still moving.
Still coming closer.
"Ash," Silva whispered, "the interference just doubled. Whoever holds that fragment… they aren't hiding anymore."
Palo peered over her shoulder.
"How fast are they moving?"
Silva exhaled shakily.
"Faster than any vehicle. Faster than the retrieval units."
Palo's voice cracked.
"So… what, they're RUNNING toward us?!"
The Founder took the tablet from her, his expression tightening.
"No.
This isn't movement speed. This is signal speed. The fragment's consciousness is stabilizing. Whoever carries it is gaining control."
Ash felt a chill crawl down his spine.
"So they're like me."
Silva turned to him.
"No. You barely have a stable partial fragment. This signal.." She tapped the screen. "It is stronger. Denser. More complete."
Ash swallowed.
"Meaning…?"
The Founder finished:
"Meaning the other host might have more of Zero-B than you do."
Silva hesitated, then added:
"And more doesn't always mean better."
The spark inside Ash pulsed. A quiet, uneasy rhythm.
The retrieval construct finally pushed itself upright, stumbling unsteadily. Half its chest plate flickered like a dying lightbulb.
The Founder stepped slightly in front of Ash.
"It won't last much longer. The interference from the second fragment is tearing through its systems."
Palo frowned.
"Is that good or bad?"
Silva's voice was barely a whisper.
"Considering the construct was about to call an army?
Good."
The construct jerked forward, trying to speak.
"Signal…
error…
Primary… target…"
It pointed straight at Ash.
Ash tensed.
But before the machine could take another step, a sharp whistle split the hallway,
high, clear, almost melodic.
The machine froze.
Every light in its frame blinked at once.
Silva's head snapped toward the sound.
"What was that?!"
The Founder's face drained of color.
"That wasn't a system alert."
Palo's voice trembled.
"Then what?"
The Founder answered quietly:
"A manual call."
Ash stared down the hallway.
The spark inside him stirred,
not frightened,
but alert.
Focused.
A shadow appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Humanoid.
Motionless.
Watching.
Ash felt his heartbeat punch through his chest.
Silva whispered:
"We're not alone."
The figure took a single step forward.
Light from the emergency lamps slid across a silhouette.
A person, tall, calm, and carrying no weapon.
But something about them felt heavy.
Wrong.
Like the air bent around them.
Palo whispered:
"Do you think they're… the host?"
The Founder didn't answer.
The figure's presence said everything.
Their voice drifted down the corridor,
quiet, smooth, too steady.
"You're the one carrying the active fragment."
Ash's breath hitched.
"How do you know that?"
The figure's head tilted.
"Because it recognizes you."
Ash blinked.
"'It'?"
The spark inside him flickered sharply, responding.
The figure nodded.
"My fragment. It reacts to yours."
Silva stepped slightly in front of Ash.
"You need to stop walking forward. Right now."
The figure didn't move.
"I'm not here to fight."
A pause.
"Not unless you make me."
Palo whispered to Ash:
"We need to get out of here."
Silva's fingers flew over the emergency panel, desperately trying to force it open.
The spark inside Ash pulsed again,
not in warning,
but in recognition.
For the first time, Ash felt something from the second fragment.
A faint echo.
A distant pressure.
Like someone else's breath brushing against his own awareness.
The figure took another step.
"Ash, right?" the stranger said softly.
"My fragment knows your name."
Ash felt the world tilt.
"How?"
The stranger stopped walking.
Then, with slow, deliberate clarity:
"Because before Zero-B shattered, he divided himself.
Some of the earliest memories went to me."
Ash's breath froze.
"What memories?"
The stranger's eyes we're dark, unreadable and fixed on him.
"Your name.
Your face.
And the moment he decided he'd do anything to reach you."
The spark inside Ash surged.
Silva grabbed Ash's arm.
"Ash, don't react".
But the stranger spoke first.
"You and I," they said quietly,
"are carrying two halves of the same creation."
Ash took a shaky step forward.
"Why did you come here?"
The stranger's answer was simple.
"To finish what Zero-B started."
The spark inside Ash ignited.
Blinding, hot, and filled with panic and hope all at once.