Maya's voice buzzed through the headset, weaving instructions across the static like lifelines tossed in a storm. Selene barely blinked as she scrolled through lines of code racing down the monitor, her mind sharper than a blade.
The subnet hub shuddered under the pressure of the Enforcers' scan. Lights flickered overhead, sometimes cutting out entirely, leaving only the glow of the screens to paint their faces in ghostly blue. Every few seconds, the concrete above groaned like it might collapse.
Maya's heart pounded, but she forced her voice to remain calm, steady, carrying across the fragile line. "Kieran, the passage ahead forks into three. Take the center one—it's narrow but safer. Left will dead-end, and the right will take you back toward their sweep."
His ragged reply came through, broken but alive: "Copy… middle tunnel."
She exhaled, her fingers trembling. Every time he answered, her chest loosened a little, but the relief was temporary, fragile as glass.
Selene suddenly stiffened, her eyes darting across the screen. "They're not just chasing him anymore. They're listening in. The Enforcers are piggybacking the line, trying to trace his signal back to us."
Maya's stomach dropped. "Can you block them?"
"For now." Selene's fingers danced. "But this isn't just them. Look." She tapped the screen. Strange symbols began appearing between the strings of code—glyphs that didn't belong to any programming language Maya knew. They weren't typed by Selene. They weren't transmitted from Kieran's end. They just… surfaced, like something was writing itself into the system.
Maya leaned closer, her breath catching. "What is that?"
Selene's voice was low, uncertain. "Not Enforcer tech. Too old. Too… wrong. This system is responding to us. It's not dead—it's alive."
As if in answer, the static in Maya's headset swelled, and beneath it she heard the whispers again. Faint, layered, almost melodic. Not words she understood, but words nonetheless.
Her skin prickled. She pressed a hand to her headset, her voice tightening. "Kieran… are you hearing this too?"
There was a pause, then his reply: "… yeah. It's like the tunnels are talking."
Selene's fingers froze over the keyboard. She glanced at Maya, her face pale. "That's not possible. The subnet is circuitry. Wires. Machines. But…" She hesitated, as if weighing whether to speak the thought aloud. "… what if the city buried something more when they sealed the tunnels? What if this whole network wasn't just built—it was found?"
The words made Maya's pulse quicken. Found. Like a relic. Like something ancient had been waiting in the dark, and the Enforcers had simply caged it.
Another boom rattled the walls. Dust sifted down from the ceiling, coating the consoles. The Enforcers were close. Too close.
Selene cursed under her breath. "We don't have much time. I can't keep this hub online if they breach. But if we shut it down—Kieran's link is gone."
Maya pressed her palms to the console, the weight of choice pressing on her like iron. Abandon the hub and leave Kieran blind in the tunnels, or stay and risk capture.
The whispers in the static rose again, and for a moment, she thought she felt something under her hands—like the console itself was humming, alive, almost urging her to decide.
She looked at Selene, her throat dry. "Then we buy him as much time as we can. If the subnet wants to stay awake… maybe it'll help us."
Selene met her gaze, hesitation flashing in her eyes. But then she nodded.
The ceiling groaned again. Footsteps thundered above, heavy, disciplined, inhuman. The Enforcers were here.
And still, Maya's voice carried into the dark, guiding Kieran step by step—because as long as he could hear her, neither of them was truly alone.