The crimson alarm pulsed like a dying heart, bathing the silver lab in a nauseating, dark red glow.
"Intruder detected in Sector 7," the mechanical voice of the city's AI, The Eye, echoed through the vents. "Logic Surgeon Shen Xiu, report status."
Shen Xiu didn't answer. His hand, usually as steady as a high-precision laser cutter, was trembling ever so slightly. He looked down at the girl on his table. Her cherry-red hair was a chaotic, forbidden mess against the sterile metal. But it wasn't the color that froze his soul—it was her eyes.
As she looked up at him, a sudden, violent surge of familiarity struck him. It was like phantom limb pain—a memory his brain shouldn't possess, yet one that shivered in his very marrow. I know her, a voice whispered in the depths of his mind, a voice that had no place in a brain purged of illogical noise.
For a fleeting second, the cold laboratory vanished. In its place was a blurry, sun-drenched field. The image was fractured, but the girl was there, laughing with a reckless, uncalculated joy.
Who is she? Why does my chest ache?
"Surgeon Shen, status?" The Eye's voice turned sharp and piercing. "The Sanitization Squad will arrive in 45 seconds."
The girl suddenly gripped his sleeve, her fingers leaving streaks of bright, illogical blood on his white coat. "Don't let them... reset me again," she gasped.
The word 'again' struck Shen like a physical blow. The logic chip in his head screamed, urging him to press the 'Emergency Purge' button. But his hand moved of its own volition. He grabbed a cloaking shroud, threw it over her, and dragged her into the hidden emergency pod beneath his desk.
"Silence," he hissed, his heart hammering against his ribs—a physiological impossibility for a Level 1 Surgeon. "If you want to live, stop existing."
The heavy alloy doors hissed open. Three armored 'Purifiers' stepped in, their electronic visors scanning for every stray atom.
"Surgeon Shen," the lead Purifier growled, his voice distorted by his helmet. "Where is the Deviation?"