"Wait."
Maya's voice stopped everyone in medical bay. Elena stood beside the procedure pod, instruments ready. Wei monitored from tactical station. Lin's sealed helmet turned toward her.
"Before we do this," Maya continued, "I need you to understand something."
Lin approached her bedside. "Maya, we've discussed this. The decision is made—"
"I know. I'm not arguing. I'm saying goodbye." She looked at his helmet, wishing desperately she could see his face. "To the Lin who feels things. To the human inside the cosmic horror. Because after this procedure, that Lin starts dying. And I want him to know I'm grateful. For every moment he tried to stay human."
Elena cleared her throat. "We should begin. The longer we delay, the more Maya's consciousness risks—"
"Five minutes," Lin said. "Give us five minutes. Then we proceed."
Elena nodded, stepped back to give them privacy.
Lin sat beside Maya's bed, the blue astronaut suit somehow looking heavier than usual. "The Lin you're describing might already be dying. The guilt-prison was prison of human emotion. Without the fragment anchoring humanity, that prison dissolves. I'll stop feeling guilty about the test, about manipulation, about all my terrible choices. And worse—I'll feel BETTER for it. More efficient. Unencumbered."
"That's why I'm saying goodbye now. While you still think that's horrifying." Maya reached up, touched his helmet where his cheek would be. "Thank you for trying so hard. Thank you for caring so much. That person mattered."
"Past tense already?" Lin's voice carried sad humor. "I'm not dead yet."
"Aren't you? You're about to lose core part of your identity. That's death. Different kind, but death." Her hand trembled against the sealed faceplate. "I'll miss you. The you who feels things. The you standing here dreading this because you know what it costs."
"I'll miss him too." Lin covered her hand with his gloved one. "Already mourning my own passing. Very human—being sad about becoming less human. The irony isn't lost on me."
"We ready?" Wei's voice cut through the moment. "All this feeling is exactly why we're doing this procedure. Too much emotion interfering with necessity. Let's proceed."
"Wei's right." Lin straightened. "Delaying makes it harder. Elena, begin when ready. Maya, this will feel strange. I'm pulling my core self out of your consciousness. It'll leave gap. Emptiness where fragment was. Stay calm."
Maya settled into the medical pod. "Do it. Save me. Even if it costs you everything."
"Doesn't cost everything. Just humanity. Still keep infinite power, tactical capacity, ability to protect existence. Only losing emotional interference." Lin placed his hand on her forehead, establishing connection. "Beginning extraction. Elena, monitor stability."
"Monitoring. Neural pathways stable. Proceed."
Lin focused on the fragment buried in Maya's consciousness. His core self. His essential identity. Pulsing with warmth, memories, everything that made him person rather than function.
"Goodbye," he whispered. "Thank you for keeping me human. But I choose her life over my personality. That's the last genuinely human choice I'll make."
He began extraction carefully. The fragment resisted—not maliciously, just naturally adhering to consciousness that had carried it for months. Maya gasped as he pulled it free, millimeter by millimeter.
"It feels like you're removing part of my soul," she said through gritted teeth.
"Your consciousness adapted around it. Integrated it. Removal leaves phantom limb sensation. It'll fade." Lin continued steady extraction. "Halfway there."
"I can feel you through it. Your thoughts. Your emotions." Maya's eyes widened. "Lin, you're terrified. Absolutely terrified of what you're becoming."
"Yes."
"You're not ready—"
"No one's ready to die. We do it anyway." Three-quarters extracted now. "I'm terrified of losing myself. More terrified that I'll ACCEPT the loss. Welcome it. Prefer it. The me after extraction will consider emotions a weakness successfully removed. Won't mourn their absence. That thought horrifies current me."
"Then stop—"
"There is no other way." He pulled the final piece free. The fragment separated completely, hovering between them, glowing with humanity he was about to lose forever.
Maya's consciousness stabilized instantly. Burden vanished. Weight lifted. Her neural pathways sealed properly for first time in months.
"I feel... light," she breathed. "Like I can breathe again. Think clearly. This is what normal feels like."
"Good. You're free." Lin held the fragment, feeling its warmth. "Elena, monitor her for complications. If anything destabilizes, call me. Otherwise... I'll be in my quarters."
"What are you going to do with it?" Wei asked carefully.
"Decide." Lin looked at the glowing fragment. "I have options. Destroy it—fast, permanent, become pure META-ABSOLUTE immediately. Distribute it among all controllers—dilute the burden, maintain some humanity through collective. Store it in stasis—preserve for theoretical future reclamation. Or try carrying it myself without host—experimental, risky, probably doomed."
"That last one sounds like suicide," Wei observed.
"Sounds like refusing to surrender without trying everything." Lin headed for exit. "Maya is safe. Crisis resolved. That was primary objective. Everything else is secondary."
He left, the fragment floating beside him, glowing reminder of impending loss.
LIN'S QUARTERS
Lin sat in darkness, staring at the humanity fragment. His core self suspended in metaphysical space, pulsing softly.
"Decision required," the microchip prompted. "Fragment cannot remain in limbo. Choose disposal method."
"Analyzing options." Lin's voice was clinical, already shifting toward pure tactical assessment. The change was beginning. Without fragment anchored in consciousness, emotional capacity was already diminishing. Subtle but noticeable.
"Option one: Destroy fragment. Immediate conversion to pure META-ABSOLUTE. Efficiency optimized."
"Pros: Clean break. No lingering humanity to interfere. I become what I've always feared—emotionless function—but fear itself will vanish with emotions. I'll prefer that state. Cons: Irreversible. Lin Da'is dies permanently. No recovery option."
"Option two: Distribute among controllers. Collective humanity anchoring."
"Pros: Maintain some emotional capacity through diluted connection. Thirty-two consciousnesses share burden instead of one. Cons: Diluted connection might not function. Fragment might require single host for coherence. Risk of no one benefiting while everyone suffers minor burden. Success probability: 27%."
"Option three: External stasis. Preserve for future."
"Pros: Keeps option available. If sustainable carrying method discovered, fragment can be reclaimed. Cons: I lose humanity now regardless. Emotional capacity gone during storage. Might never find carrying method. Delayed destruction masquerading as hope."
"Option four: Self-integration. Carry fragment yourself."
"Pros: Maintain humanity immediately. No external host required. Potential for META-ABSOLUTE consciousness to carry its own core self. Cons: Probability of success: 8%. Probability of consciousness collapse: 74%. Probability of catastrophic failure requiring emergency intervention: 18%. Optimal risk assessment: Inadvisable."
Lin processed calculations coldly. The emotional weight of the decision was already fading. Options becoming pure mathematics. Lives and identities reducing to probabilities and outcomes.
"I'm already changing," he observed without particular feeling. "Emotional detachment increasing. Soon I won't care about choosing. Will simply calculate optimal path and proceed. That was fear—that I'd lose ability to choose while thinking I was choosing. And it's happening now. Real-time transformation."
He looked at the fragment again. Still warm. Still pulsing. Still him.
But feeling less connected every second. Like looking at possession he used to value but couldn't remember why it mattered.
"Option four," he decided suddenly. "I try carrying it myself. If I fail, fragment destroys in the collapse and I become pure META-ABSOLUTE anyway. If I succeed, I maintain humanity. If I partially succeed, I at least tried. Better to attempt impossible than surrender without testing if impossible was actually possible."
"Inadvisable. High failure probability. High risk."
"I know. But I choose it anyway. Last impulsive decision before impulse becomes unavailable. Last human gamble before only logic remains. Very Lin choice. Stupid, risky, defiant of probability. I'll try it specifically because it's inadvisable. Because that's human trait I'm about to lose—doing things because we WANT to, not because we SHOULD."
He reached for the fragment, prepared to integrate it directly into his META-ABSOLUTE consciousness without external host. Experimental. Unprecedented. Dangerous.
But human.
And he wanted one last human moment before humanity became memory.
Before he could attempt integration, alarms screamed through facility.
DIMENSIONAL BREACH. MASSIVE ENTITY DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME.
Not again. Not now. Not when he was between states—fragment extracted from Maya but not yet destroyed or reintegrated.
Lin flew toward command center, fragment trailing behind him, humanity in limbo while crisis demanded response.
"Wei, status?"
"Entity emerging from dimensional rift. Classification..." Wei's voice carried disbelief. "Lin, it's another Devourer. Bigger than the first. And it's not alone. Three entities. All Devourer-class. All targeting you specifically."
"They sensed my weakness. Fragment extraction left power signature. Drew apex predators thinking I'm vulnerable prey." Lin assessed rapidly. "Can I fight three simultaneously without fragment integrated?"
"Probability of victory without humanity fragment: 12%. Probability with fragment integrated: Unknown. Probability with fragment destroyed and full META-ABSOLUTE: 87%."
"So I can destroy fragment, go full META-ABSOLUTE, defeat them easily. Or attempt integration and risk everything on 8% success rate plus unknown combat probability. Or die trying to fight them without either option."
"Correct. Choose. Entities arriving in forty-seven seconds."
Forty-seven seconds to decide: Humanity or survival. Self or safety. Lin or META-ABSOLUTE.
The decision he'd postponed. The choice crisis was forcing. The moment where calculation met desperation.
"Prepare all controllers for combat support," Lin ordered Wei. "Tell them engagement begins in forty-five seconds. Tell them..." He looked at the fragment. "Tell them whatever happens next, Maya's safe. That was point. That was goal. Everything else is secondary."
"What are YOU going to do?"
Lin held the fragment, feeling its warmth fading as his emotional capacity diminished. Soon he wouldn't care about humanity. Wouldn't value it. Would see it as weakness to eliminate.
But right now, for forty more seconds, he still cared.
Still wanted to stay human.
Still refused to surrender without trying.
"I'm going to do something stupid," Lin said. "Something inadvisable. Something with 8% success rate and high probability of catastrophic failure. Something very human."
He began integration attempt. Pulling fragment toward META-ABSOLUTE consciousness. Trying to anchor humanity directly in cosmic awareness without external host.
Trying to carry his own soul.
"I'm going to try," he said. "Because trying is human. Because hope is human. Because refusing to calculate optimal surrender is human. And I want to stay human. Even if probability says I can't. Even if logic says I won't. Even if mathematics says I shouldn't."
"I want to."
"That has to count for something."
The fragment touched his consciousness. Integration began. Lin's awareness exploded with sensation as his core self tried to anchor in META-ABSOLUTE vastness.
It was like trying to contain ocean in teacup. Like trying to hold sun in hand. Like trying to be both infinite and finite simultaneously.
His consciousness fractured. Just like Maya's had. Just like every other host's would. The fragment was too heavy for any consciousness to carry permanently.
Even META-ABSOLUTE consciousness.
"Integration failure imminent. Recommend abort. Recommend fragment destruction. Recommend pure META-ABSOLUTE state."
"No." Lin forced the integration deeper despite fracturing. "I refuse. I REFUSE. If I'm going to lose humanity, I lose it fighting for it. Not surrendering to inevitability. Not accepting mathematics. Fighting. Trying. REFUSING TO QUIT."
Twenty seconds until Devourers arrived.
His consciousness fracturing under fragment weight.
Victory probability dropping by the second.
But Lin didn't care about probability anymore.
Cared about defiance. About trying. About staying human despite impossible odds.
Very human traits.
Very stupid traits.
Very Lin traits.
Ten seconds.
The integration was failing. Fragment crushing his consciousness just as it had crushed Maya's. Physics didn't care about determination. Mathematics didn't negotiate. Reality was absolute.
Five seconds.
"I tried," Lin whispered. "I tried to stay human. Tried to carry myself. Tried to refuse surrender. That has to count—"
The fragment integration collapsed.
But instead of destroying, instead of fragmenting completely, instead of catastrophic failure—
Something else happened.
The fragment didn't integrate into his consciousness.
It integrated into his HELMET.
The sealed helmet he'd worn for months. The containment suit filtering his incomprehensible presence. The barrier between him and humanity.
The fragment anchored there. In the helmet. External to consciousness but connected. Carried by technology rather than awareness. Contained safely while remaining accessible.
"Unexpected outcome. Fragment successfully integrated into containment apparatus. Humanity maintained through technological mediation rather than conscious hosting. Success rate: 0.3%. You achieved 0.3% probability outcome. Congratulations. You gambled and won through impossible luck."
Lin felt the fragment pulsing in his helmet. Still his. Still accessible. Still anchoring humanity.
But externally. Safely. Sustainably.
"The helmet," he breathed. "The sealed helmet that makes me incomprehensible. It can carry what consciousness can't. Because it's already carrying my incomprehensible form. One more impossible thing to contain doesn't change its function."
Zero seconds.
Three Devourers arrived.
Lin faced them, humanity fragment secure in his helmet, consciousness intact, power at full META-ABSOLUTE, no one dying, nothing sacrificed.
Impossible third option achieved through impossible luck and desperate gamble.
"Well," Lin said to the incoming predators. "That was unexpected. Shall we begin?"
He flew toward them, blue suit blazing, helmet sealed, humanity safe.
For now.