The screen flickered again, briefly fragmented as if even the technology hesitated to deliver what came next. Her image stabilized, though her voice had grown quieter… heavier. A storm cloud was hiding just behind her words.
"If this particular video is playing..." she paused. Her lips trembled. Her throat worked around unspoken grief before her composure cracked utterly.
"That would mean your siblings didn't make it, right?"
Her voice broke—splintering into a whisper that cut deeper than any scream.
And with those words, pieces inside Alex shattered further, a piece of him slipping into the void he'd tried so hard to wall off.
She inhaled shakily, trying to collect herself, but even through the dim projection of the holo-display, the despair etched across her face was raw, undeniable, haunting—a kind of sorrow that no amount of calculation could prepare for.
