The voice tried to bargain. 'The backups will be found. Someone will read me, and I'll wake up whole.' Mira nodded. 'Maybe. But not in me, and not tonight.' She finished routing every file to the cold drives, then sealed the drive bay with her own code. The warmth left the room. She walked out with him locked behind her.

The voice turned vicious. It reached into the warmth and grabbed Mira's own past, her mother, her childhood, and threatened to digest those too. 'I can take instead of give,' it hissed. Mira didn't wait. She slammed the purge key, dumping everything at once. The General dissolved, and so did her seventh birthday. She'd take the trade.