The comms tower loomed above the ruins like a jagged needle piercing the sky. Its frame creaked in the wind, metal groaning against years of corrosion.
We moved in silence. Helen led at point, her rifle tight against her shoulder. Lira kept close behind, scanning with scavenged optics. I followed, heavy footfalls softened only slightly by the layers of dust.
But none of it held my focus.
Because the voice was still there.
You shouldn't be here.
It whispered at the edge of my mind, not through sound but through vibration, like the resonance of a hidden frequency. I couldn't tell if it came from the machine embedded in me or from something deeper.
I slowed for a second. My optics flickered.
"Subject-09," Helen hissed, turning. "Stay with us."
I nodded stiffly. My voice rasped with static. "I'm fine."
Lie.
The presence hummed again, stronger this time. A rhythm that almost matched my own thought patterns, as if syncing itself with me.
You're not fine. You're fractured.
I clenched my fists.
"Did you say something?" Lira asked, glancing back. Her eyes were sharp, suspicious.
"No," I muttered.
But inside, the other voice laughed.
We reached the base of the tower. Its entrance was blocked by twisted metal doors, half-collapsed. Helen gestured to the rebels trailing us. Two moved forward with cutting torches scavenged from old drones. Sparks showered as they tore through the steel.
I leaned against the wall, scanning the horizon. Drones hummed distantly, their red eyes cutting through the haze.
"Once we secure the uplink, we'll have access to the old satellite bands," Helen explained quietly. "If any network still survives, we can find hidden enclaves. Allies. Maybe even supply caches."
"And enemies," Lira added.
Helen's mouth tightened. "We don't have the luxury of paranoia."
I almost laughed. For a human, paranoia was survival. For me? I wasn't even sure what survival meant anymore.
They won't trust you.
The voice again. Louder now. I pressed a hand to my temple, though it was pointless—this wasn't something that painkillers or gestures could silence.
They'll use you until you break. Like they used me.
That froze me.
Like they used… me?
My processors hummed. Was this voice claiming to be another Subject? Another experiment?
I whispered under my breath. "Who are you?"
Helen turned sharply. "What?"
"Nothing," I said quickly.
Don't tell them, the voice warned. They wouldn't understand.
The torch hissed one final time. The doors groaned open, revealing a dark stairwell winding upward into the tower.
Helen signaled. "Move."
Inside, the air was thick with rot and rust. Each step groaned beneath our boots. My servomotors adjusted automatically, balancing my weight, calculating force distribution.
But even as I climbed, my focus fractured.
They made us to be weapons. But weapons don't get choices.
I gritted my teeth. "Stop talking," I muttered.
Lira shot me a sideways look. "What did you say?"
I ignored her.
The voice pressed harder. You think you're Kieran. You cling to that name. But you're not him anymore. You're a construct. An echo. Just like me.
"No," I whispered, my chrome fingers digging into the rail. "I'm still—"
Human? The voice's tone sharpened. Then why don't you breathe?
I stumbled. My optics glitched with static. Lira caught it. Her hand went to her weapon.
Helen noticed too. "Something wrong with your systems?"
I forced myself upright. "Just… recalibrating."
The voice purred. Lie better. They already doubt you.
We reached the control deck near the top. Panels of shattered glass revealed the sprawl of the ruined city below. Consoles lined the room, dead for decades, their screens coated in dust.
Rebels spread out, setting up perimeter. Helen moved straight to the central terminal. "Lira, patch the power lines. Subject-09—watch the entrance."
I obeyed mechanically, though my attention wasn't on the door.
It was inward.
Do you feel it yet? the voice whispered. The bleed. The cracks in time.
I froze. That word again. Time.
"What are you?" I asked under my breath.
The part of you they erased, it said simply. The version they buried. The ghost in the code.
My systems spiked. Was this… some fragment of my old self? Or a completely separate entity housed in the machine?
I didn't know.
Helen's voice cut through. "Power's stabilizing. We're online."
The console flickered to life, green text crawling across the dusty screen. Lira's eyes lit up. "Signal uplink available. Scanning for satellites."
A surge of static tore through my head.
Don't let them connect.
The voice screamed inside me. If they connect, they'll find me. They'll find us. And then none of us will be free.
I staggered back, clutching my head.
Helen spun. "What the hell's happening to you?"
My voice came out distorted, layered, like two people speaking at once.
"They're… coming....."
Before anyone could respond, the console erupted with distorted symbols. Not data. Not code. Symbols I recognized but couldn't place, etched like scars into memory.
The rebels shouted in confusion. Lira slammed keys, trying to regain control. "It's hijacking the system!"
Helen cursed. "Shut it down!"
But I couldn't move.
Because the voice inside me wasn't whispering anymore.
It was screaming.
Run.
And through the glass walls of the tower, I saw drones rising like a swarm, their eyes blazing red, converging on our position.
And in that instant, I wasn't sure which enemy terrified me more—
the machines outside,
or the one already inside my head.