And in that silence, I already know.
“Say it,” I whisper.
The line hisses. “Pyramus is unaccounted for.”
For a second, the room tilts.
Not metaphorically. Physically. The entire deck shudders as power reroutes somewhere deep below—metal groaning, air systems wheezing. Emergency sirens spin up, low and dissonant.
Isolde grabs my arm, fingers digging into my skin. “What do you mean unaccounted for? Where is he?”
“I’m scanning,” Reflector snaps. “I had his signal ten minutes ago near the residential block. Then—nothing. Either he’s been moved into a blackout zone or someone disabled his tag.”
Her hand flies to her chest. “No—no, I just tucked him in—he wasthere!”
I catch her before she can bolt for the door. “Isolde. Stop.”
She struggles against me, panicked. “Don’t—Garokk, let go?—”
“Listen to me,” I say, gripping her shoulders. “If you run blind, you’ll get yourself killed before you find him. Ineedyou to focus.”
Her breathing stutters. She tries to pull air through her teeth. Fails. Tries again. It comes out shaky but there.
“Good,” I murmur. “Now look at me. You know this station better than anyone. Where could he hide if the system went dark?”
She blinks, dazed. “He wouldn’t hide. He’d go where he thinksIwould be.”
I nod. “And where’s that?”
She hesitates, brain spinning. Then: “The central promenade. That’s where I told him to go if anything ever happened—‘find the stage, find the lights.’ But if it’s sealed?—”
“It will be,” Reflector cuts in. “They’ve locked everything from ring seven inward. I’m working bypasses, but my nodes are fragmented.”
“Then route me manual access,” I say. “And send me a layout.”
“You’re not armed.”
“I don’t need to be.”
“Garokk—”
“Do it!”
A pause. Then Reflector’s voice shifts. Harder. “Done. But you’ve got ten minutes before they reroute security to your deck.”
I turn back to Isolde. “You stay here.”
Her eyes flash. “Like hell I will.”
“This isn’t up for?—”
She shoves me, hard. “That’s myson.”
I open my mouth to argue, but she’s already pulling on her clothes. Her hands tremble as she fastens the jacket. The robe’s still damp from the spa. She doesn’t care. She looks like a storm given form.
I grab her wrist gently. “If we do this, you listen to me.”
“Not if it slows me down.”
