Three months in. Komi finds Aika's terminal still open one morning. Reads the search history: every mind-transfer paper, every neural-imaging archive Komi had filed away. She closes the terminal. Sits down. Drinks her tea. Does not bring it up at breakfast. Does not bring it up at lunch. Does not bring it up. The disagreement is now on the record, between the two of them, without a word spoken.
He logged the first attempt, the second, the third. The eighth time I asked he stopped logging. He told me the probability once. I said I knew. He never told me again. He is not on my side. He is just…
Yui rewired Samuel's voice. He spent an hour calling me 'ma'am' during drill. Formal, polite, every single status report. From across the bridge I heard him say 'station ready, ma'am? acknowledged, ma…
I have been the perimeter for 299 years. I was built first to defend the team from outside threats. Yesterday I ran toward the inside threat for the first time. Aika was the inside threat. I did not k…