PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7

“I do not understand what happened to 314. She was not approved for that final action.” “Is it possible that her NeuroPac was tampered with before Dream Launch?”

“Unlikely, we have protocols in place to prevent such an action.”

“Leywat, I know you have heard the same rumors as me.”

“No, Wintmos, we must not speak of this here.”

“But she…killed, without prior approval! If word of this were to spread, can you imagine the social disruption?”

“Keep your voice down or they will here you! You do not want to be assigned a number do you?”

While the pair of genios continued to argue in hushed tones, she quietly listened to the voices. A burning sensation in her throat, she feels herself floating in low gravity. Her hands and feet feel bound but she can see no restraints, Gale wonders how she came to be in this position. There is a tingling sensation coming from the small of her back like a colony of fire ants biting into her.  Did they say a killer was nearby?!? Her mind screamed. Why am I here? What is happening?

Why is my throat burning?

A sudden flash of a memory assaults her brain and Gale feels herself back in a dark room, a body lay before her in a heap, the smell of blood and gun powder creep into her nostrils and as Gale shakes her head as though she can shake the image from her mind, she hears a gurgling noise come from the direction of the smoldering heap. Gale suddenly registers a cold, hard metal object in her left hand. Looking down the realization that the gun in her hand has just fired and there is a woman on the floor in front of her dying… “Oh God, what have I done!” She drops the gun and it falls onto a plush carpet. The same carpet that is slurping up the blood of the fallen woman 6 feet away.