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I watched him enter commands. Fast. Much faster than anything he had shown me before. The system rejected the first query. Then the second. His silver-white ŭre brightened faintly beneath his forearms, pale light reflecting from the terminal surface.

“Veyr.”

Nothing.

“What are you checking?”

“My status.”

I stood. “Your what?”

He entered another sequence. The screen changed. For half a second, I saw a record.

Military. Male. Sealed.

Then it vanished.

But not before I saw the status line.

DECEASED.

I looked at him.

He stared at the blank screen.

The room seemed to tilt slightly. “You’re dead.”

His face gave me nothing. “That is the official record.”

“That is you.”

“Yes.”

I laughed because I didn’t know what else to do. The sound seemed too loud inside the mountain.

“You told me your name five minutes ago and forgot to mention you were dead?”

“I did not forget.”

“That is somehow worse.”

He moved away from the terminal.

I followed him with my eyes. “So Sera’n was comparing altered reproductive records to a dead man who is standing in front of me.”

“Yes.”

“You see why I’m having trouble with this?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

I pointed toward the screen. “What does your record have to do with human compatibility?”

“I do not know.”

“Were you ever tested for compatibility?”