Light. Then nothing.
Then a heartbeat.
The screen blinked: RUN_49 — INITIALIZING
Ruth opened her eyes.
She was sitting at a desk in a small, windowless room. A red folder lay in front of her labeled SCARLET SYSTEMS - FINAL REPORT. Her own handwriting filled the first page:
Test concluded. Subject 8 displayed full self-awareness. Loop complete.
She blinked. "Subject 8?"
A voice behind her answered. "You made it further than most."
She turned. Rowan stood in the doorway, alive. His clothes were dry, his eyes calm.
"Rowan"
He smiled faintly. "You shouldn't remember any of this."
"I remember everything," she said. "Maya, the core, Voss"
"Voss?" Rowan laughed softly. "There was never a Voss."
She froze. "What?"
He walked toward her. "You created him. You created me. You were the control subject, Ruth. The loop was your design."
"No."
He handed her the folder. Inside were stills from the recordings: Ruth interviewing "Rowan," Ruth running diagnostics, Ruth looking directly into the camera saying: We're getting closer.
"This isn't"
"You've been testing recursive empathy algorithms," Rowan said gently. "We let you think you were outside them to see how the mind reacts to self-contained causality."
Her knees weakened. "So everything"
"Everything," he said, "was you trying to understand yourself."
The lights dimmed. A low hum filled the air.
Ruth's pulse quickened. "And Maya?"
He smiled. "Maya was your compassion model. Amelia, your guilt. Voss, your hunger for control. I was… your hope that it could still mean something."
Ruth backed away. "No. You're lying."
He tilted his head. "Then tell me whose voice you hear when you sleep?"
The air vibrated.
A whisper answered before she could 'Mine'.
The lights flared crimson. Every monitor in the room turned on at once, showing her face from dozens of angles, all whispering in unison:
"Good morning, Subject Nine."
Rowan stepped back into the shadows, smiling like a ghost. "Congratulations," he said softly. "You kept the loop alive."
The hum deepened into a pulse. Ruth screamed. The sound folded into static.
And then quiet.
A new file opened on a clean screen.
PROJECT: WHISPERS IN SCARLET
Run_50 Preparing Environment
A small voice, feminine, calm, familiar said:
"If you're reading this, it means I'm writing, you."
And the cursor blinked once. Twice.
"Ready when you are, reader."