And somehow that keeps me moving.
The coolant pressure wheel finally stabilizes behind me with a violent metallic LOCK.
Gabriel’s voice crackles through the comm:
“Core temperature dropping!”
“It’s working!”
Good.
Then this wasn’t for nothing.
The chamber suddenly shakes so hard my grip slips.
I slam hard against the ladder railing.
Pain explodes through my ribs.
The blast doors descend lower.
Twenty feet away now.
Fifteen.
Steam erupts across the chamber floor beneath me.
The reactor is stabilizing—
but the emergency containment system still intends to seal everything below.
Including me.
“Hannah MOVE!” Clay roars above.
I’m trying.
God, I’m trying.
I climb faster.
The heat worsening with every second.
The metal ladder burns against my palms now.
The upper platform finally comes into view through smoke and flashing emergency lights—
Clay standing at the edge of the containment barrier trying to reach down toward me.
Russ holding him back from jumping.
Gabriel screaming reactor numbers at the terminal.
Wu bleeding across the floor watching everything with dead eyes.
And suddenly—
I realize something.
