Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 101 - Chapitre 110

"The cold isn’t external, Aris," Nikos whispered, his voice sounding like two grinding stones. He didn't turn to look at his companion. He couldn't. His body was a locked gate, and the keys were currently being melted down into the lock itself. "It’s the vacuum of the system. It’s trying to equalize. If I let go now, the pressure differential will shatter every bone in your body before you even hit the floor."Aris stayed frozen, his knuckles white around the handle of the wrench. The heavy tool felt useless, a child’s toy against the electromagnetic storm radiating from the console. "You’re lying. You’re trying to keep me back so you can finish the upload. You think I don’t see the way your skin is peeling? You’re burning from the inside out, Nikos!""I am the ballast," Nikos hissed, a sharp, metallic tang filling his mouth as he tasted copper and ozone. "If the ballast goes, the ship sinks. Do you want to die in the dark, or do you want to see Andreas wake up?""I want to see you su

A crackling, violet arc of electricity jumped from Nikos’s shoulder, striking Aris squarely in the chest. Aris was thrown backward, his boots skidding across the slick, metallic floor until he slammed violently into a bulkhead. The heavy wrench clattered away, spinning into the dark depths of the sewer runoff."Aris!" Nikos gasped, his voice breaking. He doubled over, the surge of energy leaving his body in a sickening, hollow wave.Aris slumped against the wall, gasping for air, his clothes smoking. He clawed at his chest, his eyes wide and unfocused. "Stay... stay back, you freak," he wheezed, his fingers trembling as he clutched the bruised skin over his sternum. "That hurt like hell.""I told you," Nikos groaned, his hands shaking as he gripped the edge of the console. The Ledger flickered, the projections of code dimming as his focus fractured. "The system... it doesn't want to be touched. It’s parasitic. It needs a host, and right now, I’m the only thing holding the stasis pod’s

"You’re a man, not a bridge!" Aris lurched forward, his movements uncoordinated, his chest heaving with the effort of every breath in the thin, recycled air. He reached out, grabbing a handful of Nikos’s frayed tunic and yanking him back from the console.Nikos slumped, his body colliding with the cold, damp bulkhead. The blue light trailing from his fingertips sparked, then died, leaving the vault plunged into a nauseating, rhythmic amber glow."Don't do that," Nikos hissed, his voice thin, whistling through teeth stained with copper. "You’ve severed the synchronization. The pressure... it’s going to spike.""Let it spike," Aris spat, his face a mask of grease and desperation. He pinned Nikos against the wall, his hands white-knuckled on Nikos’s shoulders. "Do you hear yourself? You’re vibrating, Nikos. Literally. Your bones are humming with that machine-god rot. Look at me. If you don't stop, there won't be a host left for anyone to save."Nikos stared past him, his eyes unfocused,

Nikos choked back a sob that felt more like a serrated blade in his throat. He looked at the flickering stasis pod, then at the pulsing, violet web that had claimed his own flesh. "A ghost? Maybe. But he’s the only one who knows how to restart the air scrubbers. If he dies, everyone in the lower levels suffocates in forty-eight hours. Including the child, Aris. Do you think I haven't calculated the cost?"Aris pulled back as if struck, his hands trembling. "The child? You’re using the baby as a justification for this slow suicide? That’s sick, Nikos. That’s the Ledger talking, not you.""The Ledger is part of me now," Nikos whispered, his voice gaining a terrifying, mechanical stability. He shoved Aris away, his movements fluid and unnervingly precise. "You want to talk about reality? Look at the depth gauge."Aris turned, his gaze snapping to the central monitor. The red line had passed the safety threshold; it was plummeting toward the black zone. "Pressure failure imminent," the co

"If you touch those valves, Aris, I will break your fingers before the lever even moves."The threat hung in the stagnant air of the vault, heavy and cold. Nikos didn't look up from the terminal, his fingers dancing across the interface with an unnatural, blurring speed. The violet light beneath his skin pulsed in sync with the readout, a rhythmic, nauseating glow that seemed to feed on the very shadows of the room.Aris froze, his hand inches from the rusted, weeping iron of the pressure relief valve. He turned, his chest heaving, sweat matting his hair to his forehead. "Are you listening to yourself? You sound like the machine, Nikos! You sound like a damn sub-routine!""I am the only thing keeping the atmosphere in this vault breathable," Nikos replied, his voice devoid of tremor or empathy. "If you dump that coolant, the pressure fluctuation will destabilize the stasis pod. Andreas’s neural map is currently being integrated with the grid. Any vibration, any change in viscosity, an