Episode 20: Ghosts in the Signal
(The morning after…)
Martins woke up to the soft buzz of the morning lights and the faint scent of Zahara's hair on the pillow beside him. Her back was to him, breathing steady, calm. For once, there was peace — no alarms, no running, no shadowy figures threatening to rewrite humanity.
Just her.
He gently ran his fingers down her spine, tracing invisible lines like a map only he knew. Zahara stirred, eyes fluttering open.
"Morning," she murmured, voice thick with sleep.
"Hey," he said, smiling. "You glitch in your sleep, by the way."
She turned slowly to face him, raising a brow. "Do I attack people in my dreams?"
"Nope. You mumbled something about 'lasagna encryption' and 'Tunde owes me five credits.' It was intense."
Zahara groaned. "Remind me to disable dream-speech. That's embarrassing."
He leaned in, kissing her forehead. "It's cute. You're cute."
Zahara smiled — and for a moment, her walls dropped. There was vulnerability in her eyes, but also something solidifying between them: trust. Real, messy, undeniable connection.
"I wasn't sure I'd wake up feeling like myself," she whispered.
"Well… you are. And even if you weren't, I'd still be here. Probably teasing you."
"I'll take that," she said, pulling him into a slow kiss. "But next time, I pick the dream."
They lay together in silence, letting the comfort of each other push back the chaos that waited outside their bedroom door.
Then the comm crackled.
Tunde's voice, unusually serious: "You both better get to the command room. Something's up. And… it's big."
---
Command Room — 15 minutes later
Sophia had pulled up a projection over the central table. It showed a map — flickering digital terrain, with glowing red pulses moving like blood through veins.
"Satellite feeds picked up synthetic signal spikes," she explained. "The Pulse… it's already leaking into the grid. Someone's running simulations in the real world."
Zahara frowned. "Where?"
Sophia tapped a section of the map. "One location so far. Remote, mountainous, but… there's a town underneath the signal zone. Population: 4,600."
Tunde added, "You're gonna love this — it's Lairen. Zahara's birth town."
Zahara blinked. "That can't be right. That place was wiped out in a fire when I was ten…"
"No," Sophia said. "That's what the files said. But look at this—"
She pulled up a classified video.
Children. In white suits.
Labs.
Cages.
A young Zahara — scared, wired to a machine, looking straight at the camera.
Zahara's knees buckled. Martins caught her just in time.
"They made me there," she whispered.
Sophia nodded. "And now they're using the town as a trigger zone. If they activate the Pulse prototype… you'll be drawn to it, like a beacon."
Tunde crossed his arms. "It's a trap. A really personal one."
Martins' jaw tightened. "Then we spring it. But on our terms."