Sera's pen didn't stop moving.
"Forty-eight hours," she said. "No sleep. We build in iterations. First version doesn't need to be stable, it needs to function."
Aran nodded.
Behind him—
The door opened.
Not loudly.
Not suddenly.
Just enough.
Sora didn't step fully inside.
She didn't need to.
"Problem," she said.
Aran turned.
Sera didn't.
"What kind," Aran said.
"The kind that doesn't wait forty-eight hours."
That made Sera look up.
Sora's eyes flicked once to her.
Assessment.
Quick.
Then back to Aran.
"They're not holding positions anymore," she said.
"The Conclave team," Aran said.
"Yes."
"How many."
"Four confirmed yesterday." A pause. "Six now."
That landed.
"Reinforcements," Aran said.
"Or coordination," Sora said. "Two new arrivals within the last hour. Not local. Movement patterns are wrong for standard patrol."
"Where."
"One at the south corridor entrance. One already inside the upper market."
Sera's pen stopped.
Slowly.
"What do they want," she said.
Aran answered before Sora could.
"Me."
Sera looked at him.
Then at Sora.
Then back at the door.
"Then leave," she said.
"No," Aran said.
That was immediate.
Clean.
Final.
"They're not here for negotiation," Sora added. "They're here for confirmation. Once they confirm, they escalate."
"How long," Aran said.
Sora didn't answer immediately.
She was listening.
Not to them.
To the corridor.
"The one inside the market is moving systematically," she said. "Door to door. Not searching randomly. Patterned."
"Triangulation," Aran said.
"Yes."
"Based on what."
"Entry reports. Physical description. Behavior anomalies." She paused. "And something else."
"What."
Sora's eyes shifted.
To Aran's right hand.
Then back to his face.
"They're using a resonance trace," she said.
Sera went still.
"That's not possible," she said.
"It is if they know what they're looking for," Sora said.
Aran looked down at his hand.
Flexed it once.
The mark wasn't visible.
But—
Heat.
Faint.
Rising.
"They can track that," Sera said quietly.
"Not precisely," Aran said. "But enough."
"Enough is all they need," Sora said.
Silence.
Short.
Tight.
Sera moved.
Not away.
Forward.
She grabbed a component from the bench. Then another.
Started clearing space.
Faster now.
Less precision.
More urgency.
"Then we don't have forty-eight hours," she said.
"No," Aran said.
"How long."
Sora didn't look at him this time.
She was still listening to the corridor.
Counting something.
Internally.
"Ten minutes before they narrow this section," she said.
"Twenty before they knock on this door."
"Less," she added. "If the trace tightens."
Sera swore under her breath.
First time.
Small.
But real.
"That's not enough time to build anything usable," she said.
"Then we don't build," Aran said.
Both of them looked at him.
"We adapt," he said.
Sera's expression sharpened.
"That's a different problem."
"Yes."
"Improvisation on a system this unstable—"
"Is better than being taken before it exists," Aran said.
Sora shifted slightly in the doorway.
Not blocking.
Positioning.
"They've stopped," she said.
That cut everything else.
"Where," Aran said.
"Two buildings down."
Silence.
This one immediate.
Alive.
"They're not moving," she said.
"They're listening."
No one spoke.
Even the half-built arrays seemed to quiet.
Sera's hand hovered over the components.
Didn't move.
"Do they know," she said.
"Not yet," Sora said.
"But they're close."
Aran stepped toward the workbench.
Picked up the schematic Sera had started.
Looked at it once.
Not reading.
Mapping.
"What's the fastest partial implementation," he said.
Sera didn't answer immediately.
She was still listening too.
Now.
Adapting.
"External regulator," she said. "Crude. Manual override only. No feedback loop."
"Will it hold."
"For minutes," she said. "Maybe."
"That's enough."
"It isn't," she said. "But it's what we have."
Sora's voice, quieter now:
"They're moving again."
Aran handed the schematic back.
"Build that," he said.
Sera didn't argue.
Didn't agree.
She just moved.
Fast now.
Stripping components.
Reassembling.
No wasted motion.
Sora stepped fully into the room.
Closed the door behind her.
Didn't lock it.
Locks made noise.
"They've split," she said.
"How many."
"Two outside. Two continuing the sweep." A pause. "Two unaccounted for."
Aran felt it then.
Not from the corridor.
From inside.
The mark in his palm—
Burned.
Not heat.
Pressure.
Like something pressing outward.
Responding.
"They're getting closer," he said.
Sora looked at him.
"How do you know."
He didn't answer.
Didn't need to.
His right eye flickered.
Just once.
Sera saw it.
"Whatever they're using," she said, "it's interacting with you."
"Yes."
"Then we're out of time," Sora said.
A sound.
Soft.
From the corridor.
Footsteps.
Stopping.
Directly outside.
No knock.
No voice.
Just—
Presence.
Aran looked at the door.
Sera didn't stop working.
But her movements changed.
Tighter.
More controlled.
Sora shifted her stance.
Weight forward.
Ready.
"Decision," she said.
Now.
Aran looked at the schematic.
At Sera.
At the door.
At his hand.
The mark pulsed once.
He made the call.
"Build while they're here," he said.
Sora's eyes locked onto his.
"That commits us," she said.
"Yes."
"No fallback."
"No."
She held that for half a second.
Then nodded.
"Understood."
The handle on the door moved.
Slowly.
Testing.
Sera didn't look up.
"Keep them out," she said.
Aran stepped toward the door.
The mark in his palm burned brighter.
And for a fraction of a second—
The space between his hand and the door—
didn't exist.