“I can do this,” she whispered.

Memory damping. They were going to scoop out the part of him that had dreamed of the black hole’s edge.

She stood. Unstrapped. Walked to the cockpit door.

“I’m an alternative that refused to be erased.”

Silence. The countdown clock on the main display ticked toward launch.

“What if I refuse damping?” he asked.

“Fly it, Kaelen. Fly it for both of us.”

He looked down at his own hands. Steady. Calm. Three years of training for this single trajectory. Three years of being the shadow to her light.