Location: Mobile Research Vessel Nomad Orbit above the Polar Ruins
Time: Three cycles after Adrian's reawakening
The hum of the ship was constant a low, pulsing rhythm that almost matched his heartbeat.
Adrian Vale sat on the edge of the med-bay platform, muscles tense, eyes fixed on the data stream dancing across the holo-screen. Neural patterns. Ava's signature. His own. And something else a third frequency.
The Remnant.
Dr. Lira Solen adjusted the stabilizer band around his wrist. "Your vitals are erratic again. The neural link is still partially fused with the Core imprint. We need to run another echo calibration before."
"Before I forget her," Adrian interrupted, his voice steady but cold.
Lira hesitated. "This isn't memory loss, Adrian. It's corruption. The Remnant's rewriting fragments of your past."
He looked up, eyes silver-bright. "Then we find what it changed."
