CHAPTER 8 — Ghost Variable
Burn Vault — Node Zero / Underway
The corridor to Node Zero felt like walking into a throat.
Red floor-lights pulsed low, not to guide them but to count them. Each step was measured against something older than Vesper’s current nervous system—something built for containment, not comfort.
Rio walked first.
Not because he wanted to, but because the corridor had already decided he belonged in front. The air pressed warmer around his shoulders, as if the system recognized his heat signature and was smoothing a path for it.
Elizabeth stayed one pace behind him. Elara behind her, scanning every five meters like a person trying to keep science alive in a room designed to murder it.
They passed three sealed side doors. Their plates were still legible under grime.
