Ava sprinted through the cracked basin of the Dead Zone, Echo hovering close behind and Jiro staggering at her side, clutching his partially fried shoulder plate. The air trembled, faint vibrations rolling through the dust like the ground itself was humming.“Don’t look back,” Echo warned.Jiro looked back.“OH HELL....” he choked. “It’s getting bigger!”Ava didn’t need to turn. She felt it. A gravitational pull, soft but absolute, like they were running away from a newborn star.Echo fed them telemetry in clipped bursts. “The entity is expanding its processing volume, ten meters, twenty, thirty.”“It’s hunting,” Ava said.“No,” Echo corrected. “It’s studying.”The word sent needles through her spine. They skidded to a halt at a jagged ridge, an abrupt drop into a chasm that stretched wide across the Dead Zone. The canyon was so deep the bottom dissolved into static haze.Jiro peered over the edge. “Great. Perfect. Classic impossible drop. Any other exit routes, Echo?”“Two,” Echo rep