Chapter One: Beyond Seven Minutes

The flash was not white. A piece of inverted night poured from the lamp, swallowed He Xiao, then contracted in half a second. Every digital clock dissolved into static. Shen Yan smelled old photographic paper sinking into developer and heard one long inhalation. When light returned, He Xiao was standing straight. The ice pack slid away. He bent his knee, pushed hard, and sprinted the length of the eighty-meter studio. He moved like a blade through the crowd. Wind toppled diffusion screens. The timer displayed an impossible number. At the far wall he stopped and touched his right leg. His face held no joy, only fear. “It doesn't hurt,” he said. “I'm back in the Rio final.”