"Elias?" Thorne asked on the recording. She turned the camera toward him.
On the screen, the file name at the top of his vision changed. 39017.mp4 began to delete itself, character by character. In its place, a new file was being written directly into his neural memory drive. It was titled: 39018.mp4. 39017mp4
"This is Dr. Aris Thorne," a voice said, sounding thin and tinny through the compression. A woman appeared on screen, her face pale, framed by a hood lined with synthetic fur. Her eyes were bloodshot. "The date is August 14th. We are the last three left at Borealis. The automated systems shut down the main reactor at 0400 hours. They think there's a biohazard. They’ve sealed us in." "Elias
Silas tried to pull the plug from his wrist, but his hand wouldn't move. A heavy, rhythmic pulsing sensation began to throb behind his eyes. "This is Dr
He realized his mistake. The heavy bass of the tavern's background music had vibrating his audio implant, making him hear what wasn't there. She hadn't said Silas. She had said "silent."