Lin was already on her feet, planted squarely at the base of the stairs in her combat stance. She merely shifted her eyes, catching him in her peripheral vision.
"I still have some residual fusion energy left over from the last battle," she said. She didn't turn her head away from the dark shaft. "I can buy you exactly five more minutes."
Ren couldn't find the breath to answer.
Lin let out a small sigh.
"Ever since I met you, you've shown me an endless string of miracles," Lin said. She didn't add any emotional emphasis, because in her mind, adding drama would only subtract from the absolute weight of the truth. "I stopped believing anything was impossible for you a long time ago."
A beat of heavy silence.
"So tell me… is it possible, or is it not?"
Ren kept his head buried in his hands, his fingers digging into his scalp. He was desperately, frantically searching his mental inventory for a solution, a shortcut, a hidden reserve, anything…
