[Location: Sector 4 - Military Cemetery (The Incinerator)] [Time: 3 Days after Jax's Death.]
The rain in Sector 4 wasn't water. It was industrial runoff—gray, acidic, and smelling of sulfur. It hissed when it hit the hot metal of the Incinerator stacks.
There was no funeral service. Just a digital queue.
[PROCESSING BODY: JAX, T. - UNIT 404] [STATUS: BIO-HAZARD CLEANSE.]
I stood under the awning of the maintenance shed, smoking a cigarette I stole from Elara.
Miller was there. He looked smaller than usual. He wasn't crying anymore; he just looked hollowed out. He was holding Jax's dog tags like a rosary.
Elara was leaning against the wall, staring at the smoke rising from the chimney. She wasn't smoking. She was just watching the gray plume disappear into the gray sky.
"He went up fast," Elara said. Her voice was flat. "Big guy like that. You'd think he'd burn longer."
"Don't," Miller whispered.
"It's just physics, Miller," Elara snapped, but her lip was trembling. "Carbon turns to ash. That's all we are. Just carbon waiting to be smoke."
She looked at me.
"You knew, didn't you?"
I didn't look at her. "Knew what?"
"You knew he was going to die," Elara said, stepping closer. Her eyes were dangerous. "On the bridge. You grabbed him before he fell. You didn't react. You predicted."
I took a long drag of the cigarette. The smoke burned my lungs. It felt good.
"I have good reflexes," I lied.
"Bullshit," Elara hissed. She grabbed my collar. "You looked at him like he was already dead before we even dropped. Who are you, Caelum? Are you Intelligence? Are you some kind of cyborg freak?"
"Elara, stop!" Miller grabbed her arm.
"Get off me!" She shoved him back. She looked at me, tears finally spilling over. "Tell me why you couldn't save him if you knew! If you're so goddamn special, why is Jax dead?"
I looked at her. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her that I had saved Jax 400 times in previous lives, and in every single one, the universe found a way to kill him.
"Because I'm not a god, Elara," I said softly. "I'm just a soldier with bad luck."
She stared at me for a long moment, then let go of my collar. She spat on the ground near my boots.
"Go to hell, Boss," she whispered. She turned and walked away into the rain.
Miller looked at me, then at Elara's retreating back.
"She doesn't mean it," Miller said weakly. "She loved him. You know... like a brother."
"Go with her, Miller," I said. "Don't let her drink alone tonight."
Miller nodded and ran after her.
I was alone. Just me and the smell of burning friends.
"That was a poor display of leadership," a voice said.
I didn't turn around. I knew the sound of those boots. High Marshall Vesper.
"I'm off duty," I grunted. "Write me up."
Vesper stepped into the light. She wasn't wearing her lab coat. She was wearing black fatigues. She looked tired.
"I ran the simulation," she said.
"I told you not to."
"I ran it ten thousand times," she continued, her voice devoid of its usual arrogance. "With the wind speed, the structural integrity of the bridge, the trajectory of the debris... The probability of Jax surviving was 0.00004%."
She moved to stand next to me, looking at the smoke.
"You couldn't have saved him, Caelum. Even if you were faster. Even if you were stronger. The math says he was dead the moment he stepped on that bridge."
I laughed. It was a dark, ugly sound.
"The math," I mocked. "You think numbers comfort me, Vesper? You think knowing it was 'statistically impossible' makes me sleep better?"
I turned to face her. My metal hand flexed involuntarily.
"The System wanted him dead. It wasn't an accident. It was a correction."
"The System?" Vesper frowned. "You speak of the war like it's a computer program."
"Because it is," I spat. "And I'm the glitch."
I threw the cigarette into a puddle.
"I'm leaving, Vesper. Tonight. I'm going to Sector Zero."
Vesper's eyes widened. "Sector Zero? That's the Dead Zone. Radiation levels are lethal. Why?"
"Because there's a signal coming from there," I said. "A signal that controls the enemy. And inside that signal is the only thing in this universe I actually care about."
I started to walk away.
"Wait," Vesper called out.
I stopped.
"I... I saw something," she admitted, her voice trembling. "When we touched hands. The data transfer. I saw myself dying. I saw a version of me that was... happy."
She took a breath.
"I'm coming with you."
I turned around. The High Marshall of the Federation, the woman of logic and ice, looked terrified. But she also looked determined.
"You'll be court-martialed," I said. "Executed for treason."
"If your theory is correct," she adjusted her glasses, "then none of this matters anyway. If time is a loop, then my rank is irrelevant."
She looked me in the eye.
"Drive. I'll navigate."