The door hadn't been forced open.It had unlocked itself.
Aeris stood motionless in the hallway, her neural deck pulsing faintly at her hip like a warning beacon. The memory still echoed in her mind: Kael's voice through the speaker. That impossible memory file. The blood.
But now the corridor was empty.Kael was gone.
Or maybe he'd never been there at all.
The silence was broken by the shriek of her comm-link.
"Nexus Directive 213-8: Subject Aeris Calderon—status changed to Code Delta. Suspect in a premeditated state crime. Immediate surrender required."
Aeris's breath hitched. Code Delta.
They were labeling her as a rogue mind.
Her retinal implant flickered. A forced download:—> Override alert—> Nexus Grid access revoked—> Safehouse locations scrubbed—> Subject flagged for recall and wipe
Aeris staggered back, pressing her hand to the wall. They weren't just coming to arrest her—they were going to erase her.
Then the hallway lights cut out.
For a second, there was only blackness—dense and absolute. Then came the faint buzz of a hologram initializing. A blue shimmer lit the floor. Aeris turned slowly.
A figure stood at the end of the hallway, made entirely of shimmering data. Its face was her own.
"You saw it," the hologram said in her voice, distorted and hollow. "And now you are the glitch."
The hologram raised its hand. Data fragments spiraled outward like a virus made of light.
Aeris stepped back—but her neural deck buzzed. It was receiving a stream.
A message.
LOCATION: Justicar Processing Center - Cell 42BPRISONER: Kael RyvekARRESTED: 16 hours ago
Her stomach dropped.Kael wasn't outside her door.He'd been in custody the whole time.
She was being played.
The hologram flickered. Then one last line formed in the air, spelled in bold white text.
"Find the memory. Before it finds you."
The hologram collapsed into dust.
And from above, sirens began to howl.
[TO BE CONTINUED]