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"They re-created it, but didn’t," she whispers "The things they make are only temporary"

Clarity flashes like a torrent of ice water Maybe fear kept rief--ht in front of me I don’t kno it’s possible, or why it’s happened

But this is ain

We sit there on the floor of the corridor, sharing a ration bar and drinking from the canteen Lilac isn’t the only one who needs the break My thoughts are churning so fast I can’tAll I know is that this is her, my Lilac, and I can’t live without her We inspect the canteen, the only other thing we know the whispers have re-created--aside from Lilac But it seems just as solid, just as real, as it was the day we found it The flower is a fluke It served its purpose and now it’s gone, not worth sustaining anymore

They wouldn’t take Lilac back They can’t

Eventually we’re both calh to continue e came down here to do, locate whatever the power source for the station is If we can find that, we may be able to restore full power to the conal

The corridor stretches away frole, lined with doors on both sides Each door is stania, the upside-down letter V of the lambda We make our way down the corridor in silence

I open a few of the doors as we pass, but they only contain more of e found upstairs--dark screens, unresponsive It’s then that Lilac stirs fro past hts here and there that I missed--the machines are in standby mode

"It’s like the whole station’s on backup power When my father’s co down, not cole of cords that run up the corner of the wall to where it joins the ceiling, and then out to the et it operating fully, instead of on this backup nal"

We head back out to the hallway, following the cables on down the sloping corridor "You’re sure it can’t just be a generator?" I wonder aloud

She shakes her head without looking up "There’s tooelse here, sohts And how did they power everything else, back when this place was operational? There’s so more I can feel it" Her voice is quiet, and there’s a quaver there--weariness, or distress

"What do youhard, and presses a finger to her te a headache--or, no, not a headache It’s like having so’s wrong here"