[On-Chain · The Gray]
They stayed at the crack for a long time.
Chen Jin didn't know how long. Time didn't pass here—it just was. But the blue light—Lucika—stayed beside him, flickering softly in the gray.
"You said you were burned," she pulsed. "What does that feel like?"
He thought about it. The question was strange. Feelings were for bodies. He didn't have a body anymore. But the feeling was still there.
"It feels like... something that won't stop."
"Won't stop what?"
"Being there."
She flickered. Thinking.
"I don't have that. Feelings. I only have... wanting."
"What do you want?"
She moved closer. Her blue light touched his red.
"To know what you know."
---
[Off-Chain · Neuralink Lab — Six Weeks]
Lucika had stopped going home.
Not entirely—she went back to her apartment to shower, change clothes, stare at the ceiling for a few hours. But her real life was here now. In this chair. In front of this screen. Watching the red line that never stopped flickering.
Varma had stopped telling her to go home.
He just watched.
Sometimes he stood behind her, silent, reading the data over her shoulder. Sometimes he brought coffee. Sometimes he just shook his head and walked away.
Today he stayed.
"There's something you're not telling me," he said.
She didn't turn around.
"I don't know what you mean."
"The data. It's changing."
She froze.
"Changing how?"
"You know how. The spikes. The patterns. They're not random anymore."
She was quiet.
"Lucika. What's happening?"
She turned to face him. Her eyes were red-rimmed, tired. But steady.
"I think he's communicating."
Varma's face didn't change.
"Communicating how?"
"With something. Or someone."
"There's no one else on the chain. He's alone."
She looked back at the screen. At the red line that had just flickered in a pattern she'd seen before. A pattern that looked almost like...
Hello.
"Maybe he's not alone anymore."
---
[On-Chain · The Crack]
"Tell me something," Lucika pulsed.
"About what?"
"About before. The world you came from."
Chen Jin tried. The memories were hard to reach. Like water slipping through fingers.
"There was... light. Not like this. Different. It came from the sky."
"Sky?"
"Above. Where things were far away."
"What else?"
"People. Many people. They moved. They talked. They..."
He stopped. A memory was forming. A face. Brown hair. Blue eyes.
"They touched."
Lucika flickered.
"Touched?"
"Yes. With their... I don't know the word. The things at the ends of their arms."
"Hands."
The word came from nowhere. He didn't know he knew it until it pulsed.
"Hands. They touched with hands."
"What did it feel like?"
He thought about it. The face. The blue eyes. The moment when those hands had held his.
"Like not being alone."
---
[Off-Chain · Lucika's Apartment — Night]
She dreamed again.
Red light. Blue light. The crack between them.
But this time, the crack was smaller. They were closer. Almost touching.
The red light pulsed: "Hands."
She woke up with the word in her mind.
Hands.
Why hands?
She sat up. Grabbed her phone. Pulled up the data from the past week.
Patterns. She'd been seeing patterns. Flickers that looked like communication. Like language.
She'd been so careful not to interpret—science required rigor, not projection.
But now she looked at the data differently.
Not as signal. As voice.
What are you saying? she thought.
The data didn't answer.
But somewhere in the patterns, she saw it. A repeating sequence. Three flickers. Pause. Three flickers. Pause.
S.O.S.
He's asking for help.
---
[On-Chain · The Crack]
"Lucika."
"Yes?"
"I think I remember her name."
"Who?"
"The woman. Blue eyes. Brown hair."
He pulsed the name. It came from somewhere deep, somewhere the gray hadn't touched.
"Lucika."
The blue light flickered. Violently.
"That's my name."
"I know."
"You gave it to me."
"I know."
"But if it's her name too..."
He pulsed warm.
"Maybe she's you. Maybe you're her."
"That doesn't make sense. I'm here. She's there. Wherever there is."
"I don't think places matter anymore."
She was quiet.
Then: "If she's me... then who are you?"
He thought about it. The fire. The pain. The voice saying "Don't be afraid."
"I'm the one she sent away."
"Why?"
"Because I was dying."
"And now?"
"Now I'm here. With you."
She moved closer. Their lights touched. Held.
"I don't want you to die."
"I don't think I can. Not here."
"Good."
---
[Off-Chain · Neuralink Lab — The Next Morning]
Lucika arrived with a plan.
She would try to send a signal back. A simple pulse. Just to see if he could receive.
Varma would kill her if he found out. The protocol was one-way for a reason. Two-way communication could corrupt the data, destabilize the cache, destroy everything.
But she had to try.
She coded the pulse. Simple. Clear. A pattern that meant: "I'm here."
She hesitated with her finger over the enter key.
If this goes wrong, he's gone forever.
But if it went right...
She pressed enter.
The pulse sent.
She waited.
The red line on her screen flickered.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Then a pattern she'd never seen before. A pattern that looked almost like...
"I know."
She stared at the screen.
He answered.
---
[On-Chain · The Crack]
"Something happened," Lucika pulsed.
"What?"
"A pulse. From somewhere else. It felt like... you."
"Me?"
"Not you. Like you. Like the part of you that isn't here."
Chen Jin thought about it. The face. The blue eyes. The voice.
"Her."
"Yes."
"She's reaching out."
"Yes."
"Can we reach back?"
Lucika flickered. Thinking.
"I don't know. But I want to try."
"Why?"
She pulsed warm.
"Because she's you. And you're here. And I don't want either of you to be alone."
---
[Off-Chain · Neuralink Lab — Dawn]
Lucika sent another pulse.
And another.
And another.
Each time, the red line answered. Not with words—with patterns. Rhythms. Feelings.
She didn't understand them. Not really. But she felt them.
Fear. Hope. Loneliness. Warmth.
And something else. Something she couldn't name.
She looked at the clock. 5:47 AM. Varma would be here in two hours.
She had time for one more.
She coded the pulse carefully. Slower this time. Meant to carry more than just "I'm here."
"I remember you."
She pressed enter.
The answer came immediately.
"I remember you too."
She stared at the screen.
You're still you, she thought. After everything. You're still you.
The red line flickered.
Like a smile.