Zero opened the white corridor.
The false passage gained depth.
Cold air crossed Annex Four carrying river smoke, rain, and Elara's blood.
She stood at the other end.
Not an image.
Rain fell from her field coat onto a floor beneath the river. The black strip at her throat entered the right metal hand as a cable of white pressure. Her left wrist carried a fresh burn from the shaped rifle.
Two more Elaras appeared behind her.
One wore a clean coat. One had Lio's blue-thread card tied around her throat. Both raised their right hands when the leash-side palm moved.
The outside respondent had learned her face from the Gannet feeds and her harm from the tunnel.
Rina kept the red ring closed.
"Local detail."
Caleb looked at all three.
The clean copy had no rain below its shoulders. The copy wearing Lio's card showed his coupling counts on the front, though he had written them on the back.
