The ocean pressed against the shattered dome like a living wall. Faint beams of sunlight filtered through the cracks, scattering across the flooded corridor where Ethan knelt beside the pulsating console. Every few seconds, the relay’s core flared with light—Maya’s light.
“Stay with me,” he whispered. His voice trembled in the hollow chamber. “You’re still here.”
Her form flickered in front of him, built from shards of blue light and static, her edges soft, like memory struggling to hold shape. “You shouldn’t have come this deep,” she said, her tone distant but warm. “The pressure alone—”
“I don’t care,” Ethan interrupted. “You think I’d let you fade again?”
A soft smile ghosted across her flickering face. “You never did know when to stop saving people.”
Dr. Taylor’s voice crackled th
