Chapter 10 Echoes in the Static

We made it down the mountain by morning.

Every step away from the Vault felt like a rebirth. The sky was no longer just sky-it was ours again. Untouched. Unprogrammed. For the first time in what felt like years, I breathed air that hadn't been filtered by walls or watched by machines.

But peace is a fragile thing.

And it never lasts long.

We reached the city perimeter just after sunrise, and that's when we saw it-dozens of emergency skydrones circling overhead. No logos. No government ID. Just silent, hovering shadows painted in chrome.

Kael stiffened beside me. "Those aren't rescue units."

"No," I murmured. "They're watching."

Lira pulled up her wrist-comm, trying to intercept the drone signal. Her screen blinked once and froze.

She frowned. "Encrypted. Quantum sync signature I haven't seen before."

Kael checked his sidearm. "Someone filled the void already."

I swallowed hard. "We destroyed the Vault. The Seed. It shouldn't be possible."

Kael looked at me, eyes sharp. "Unless someone made a copy."

My stomach dropped.

Theta.

She'd been inside the system before it collapsed. Even stunned, even weakened-she might've uploaded something before I pulled the plug.

Something... enough.

We kept moving.

The city wasn't in flames-but it felt different. People on the streets walked faster, eyes on the sky. Billboards that once broadcast news were black. A low hum filled the air, like the city itself was holding its breath.

We ducked into an old safehouse beneath the northern sector-one Kael and I used back when we were just rebels, not relics of a dead experiment.

The moment the doors sealed, Lira dropped her pack and activated a cloaked network node. Static blinked across her tablet, then cleared-revealing a message.

Or more precisely... a broadcast.

I moved closer, heart hammering.

Onscreen was a symbol.

Not the Vault.

Not Damon's.

Not even Theta's.

It was something new: a silver triangle surrounded by concentric rings-pulsing with a rhythm that felt... off.

Then the voice came.

"The age of singularity was never meant to be hidden. You tried to bury evolution. You failed."

Kael's jaw clenched. "Who is this?"

The voice didn't answer.

Instead, the screen shifted to show a map-global nodes blinking red across continents. Major cities. Communication hubs. Defense networks.

All are being accessed.

Or overridden.

The message continued.

"You destroyed the Seed. But we were always more than code. We are the idea you couldn't kill. And now... we rise."

The transmission ended.

Silence followed.

I looked blankly into the screen, fists clenched. "This wasn't Theta."

"No," Kael said. "It's worse."

Lira swore softly. "Someone's using the chaos to build something bigger."

I nodded slowly. "A new network. Post-human. Leaderless. Untraceable."

Kael looked at me, his voice low. "And they think you're the threat now."

A flicker of heat rose in my chest.

Not fear.

Anger.

"They're wrong."

I turned to the terminal and activated what remained of my mother's original failsafe-the Echo Circuit. A hidden line of neural code embedded in my DNA, untouched by Damon, unknown to Theta.

"If they want a war," I said, "they just declared it."

Lira raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Sending a message of my own."

Kael stepped closer. "You sure?"

"No," I said. "But if someone rebuilt the Seed... they'll come for me either way."

I uploaded the Echo Circuit to the old resistance network, pulse by pulse. The lights in the room dimmed, then flared with blue energy.

My message was simple:

"I am Calla Voss. You wanted the Seed? You made the mistake of leaving its shadow alive. Come find me."

And I knew they would.

But this time, I wouldn't be running.