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Chapter 43 – Fractures and Foundations
Author: Sami Yang
last update2025-08-21 13:46:00

The first rays of orbital sun slipped through Helix Station’s shattered windows, painting the command deck in long lines of gold and gunmetal. Silence reigned in the aftermath—no alarms, no hum of the AI core, only the distant hiss of decompression repairs and the soft static of backup consoles rebooting on manual power.

Harper Drayton knelt beside Elias Vance’s inert form, the neural interface spike still embedded at his nape. His eyes were closed, face calm as if in sleep instead of sacrifice. Riven Cross sat a few feet away, head bowed, blood seeping through the seams of his partially armored suit.

Selene Duval and Ava Serin moved methodically around the room, securing data drives and powering down corrupted terminals. In the corner, Dr. Kaito Adebayo examined Vance’s vitals on a medical console, every scan flatline but one: a faint, irregular pulse—like a ghost heartbeat.

Harper touched Vance’s hand. “We succeeded,&r

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