Morgan Fille - E242 -

And in the sudden, shrieking chorus of four hundred voices, Aris heard the word again, repeated like a prayer, like a curse, like a hungry machine learning to beg:

The pod’s seals began to hiss.

E242 was the only one still active. The others had been shut down. Their occupants… well, their pods were empty. Not dead. Empty. Morgan Fille - E242

Lin hesitated. “Sir, protocol says—” And in the sudden, shrieking chorus of four

“Open the visual feed,” Aris ordered. And in the sudden