Chapter 5

The sterile, blinding fluorescence of the asylum wing offered no sense of time, but the subtle shift in the ward’s ventilation hum told me it was morning. I had spent the entire night awake, the decrypted data pad and the memory crystal burning like hot coals beneath my pillow. My mind ra

Chapter 6

The asylum grew suffocatingly quiet at midnight. The harsh fluorescent lights dimmed to a sickly, pale yellow, and the distant footsteps of the orderly patrols faded into a predictable, thirty-minute rhythm.

I lay perfectly still in the darkness, the data pad, the memory crystal, and th

Chapter 7

The heavy deadbolt on my asylum door echoed with a metallic *clack* that cut through the sterile silence of the afternoon.

I didn't flinch. I sat perfectly still in the standard-issue wheelchair Dr. Aris had provided, my hands folded neatly in my lap. Beneath my calm exterior, the newly