The laser stops. The Legion drone tilts its sensor array. It processes the sounds: human speech, but no encrypted burst, no tactical data, no heat signature above ambient. Just art . Worthless. A ghost.
Rafe looks from the frozen image of the 2019 actor to the dark tunnel entrance. He hears the click of mechanical legs. A green laser sweeps the far wall.
He doesn’t delete the file. He doesn’t run.
