The transition to the Echo wasn't like the previous jumps. There was no nausea, no tearing of reality. One moment, Arden was in the exploding hospital room, holding the hands of her team as the white light consumed them. The next, she was standing on… nothing.
Or rather, she was standing on everything.
The ground beneath her boots was a transparent pane of glass, stretching infinitely in all directions. Beneath the glass, galaxies swirled in slow motion. Nebulae bloomed like underwater flowers. It was the universe, stripped of its clock, existing in a single, breathless moment.
"We're dead," Jian said, his voice echoing strangely in the void. It sounded layered, like three versions of himself were speaking at once.
"No," Arden said. She looked at her hands. They were solid, but they shimmered slightly at the edges, like a heat haze. "We're paused."
