The corridor lights flickered as Jamaal sprinted past an access hatch, Tomoko right on his heels. Her breath came ragged, but her voice cut through the clamour.

  "Two drones tailing. Cut left - service spine."

  He vaulted a conduit and slammed down on the grated walkway, boots hammering. His lungs burned, but his mind kept replaying the terminal feed from earlier -the spiral, the broken words, Ty's ghost reaching.

  They ducked into the spine, Jamaal slamming the hatch behind them. The clang rang too loud, like a flare in the dark. Both of them froze, listening. Distant drone rotors whirred somewhere above.

  Jamaal pressed his back against the bulkhead, sweat stinging his eyes. "Tomoko... you saw the spiral. The sync percentage."

  She nodded, still bent over her knees, gasping. "Yeah. The fragment synchronization. It's rising - " She glanced up, face hard. "For now."

  Jamaal's chest tightened. "Dauss was right. Every time - doors opening, drones glitching, that monitor message—it's always around me. Like he's reaching for me. Like I'm the center of gravity."

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The spine lights dimmed, buzzed, then flared. Power reroute. A surge, not theirs.

  Tomoko straightened, eyes sharp. "You are all he has. You're the tether, Jamaal. The beacon."

  The word hit him like a fist. He almost laughed, short and bitter. "Beacon? I don't even have a neural port. I'm not wired."

  She grabbed his arm, voice low and certain. "Not yet. But think about it - he's already using whatever he can: doors, drones, consoles. If we can plug you in properly - feed you into the system - his fragments won't scatter. They'll converge. On you. On what they already know and seek."

  A shiver cut down his spine. Illegal mods. Black surgery. Fast.

  The rotors grew louder. The drones were sweeping closer.

  Tomoko leaned in, urgent. "Jamaal - EMI's moving to pull him apart. If they finish first, he's gone. Not erased - Or worse! Repurposed. Weaponized."

  His hands curled into fists. The thought slammed into him - he'd been Ty's anchor all along. The broken locks, the glitchy messages, even the code whispering his name - it wasn't random. It was blood. It was brotherhood.

  He forced himself upright, voice low but steady. "Then we don't have a choice."

  Her eyes searched his, wide and waiting.

  "Make me the beacon."

  They stood in the flickering light, breath sharp and shared, the hum of drones closing in. Then Tomoko's jaw tightened, her voice as cold as steel.

  "There's a cutter aboard The Amira. We need to get there before EMI does."