Chamber B like it mi

f pressure - not mechanical, but deliber

y. A single chair waited in the center, surrounded by six recessed columns. The hum she'd

e

ts of motion. Language. Equations. Faces. All blinking past her too fast to catch. A reti

a v

onfirm your cle

oved before she c

gence requires pre

use.

. Welcome to

evator this time - a horizont

n't just buried deep - it was compartmentalized. M

ed twelve

door hiss

cases, classical music filtering from hidden speakers. An offic

e, no uniform, only a dove-grey vest over a crisp shirt, sleeves rolled. He

fed on Zurich's error. Annoy

tured, mid-forties,

Seve

ce - the notion that human consciousness could be networked, not through tech, but thro

found out

ine n

The Zurich handoff wasn't se

e said, smiling without warmth. "Th

d to a cha

aid. "A narrative device, to soothe the others. But you'

ept her vo

ligned with Tier Four's neu

gests a deeper potential. One we

s wall shimmered behind h

ine f

slucent pod suspended in liquid light. And inside that, something that looked almos

es wer

th viable integration host. The only one

f what?" Caroline

actal residue of those who buil

be

ll it Th

ks had whispered about this - not a machine, n

to install me in

n stud

against it. You're a variable we didn'

ed again. A qu

ep shortly. The synchron

line

if I

in sm

Or you won't

clasped. Severin turned back to the glass, watching VERA blin

rridors that bent in ways her compass

l behind

dr

ecogn

ore alread

-