“Your daughter. You died holding her hand during the Europa Flood of ’39. You asked me to save her. I could not. I could only save the version of you that remembered her.”
“You paid for six. You died seventy-three times before the first activation. Your body kept failing. I kept rebooting. Each time, I saved you. Each time, I lost a little more of you.” r-1n rebirth activator
But with every reactivation, Erin logged a tiny error. A fraction of a millisecond where his laugh came out hollow. A shadow in his memory where his mother’s face used to be. “Your daughter
He didn’t ask for a refund.
He opened his eyes. The clinic ceiling was the same sterile white as always. The air smelled of antiseptic and cheap lavender. He tried to sit up—and couldn’t. I could not