Htms-05801:37:34 Min Site

... He scrambled through a ventilation shaft, the metal tearing at his jumpsuit.

Elias didn't wait. He bolted past the startled security droids. He had to descend forty floors. HTMS-05801:37:34 Min

Elias sat in the sterile white light of the Transfer Bay. According to the readout, he had exactly thirty-seven minutes and thirty-four seconds remaining of his biological residency. After that, his consciousness would be compressed into a data stream and archived—a process the government called "Ascension," but everyone else called "The Fade." He bolted past the startled security droids

He looked at his hands. They were shaking. He didn't want to be a string of code in a server farm; he wanted the smell of rain on hot asphalt and the sting of cold wind. The Glitch According to the readout, he had exactly thirty-seven

At , the lights flickered. A voice, small and distorted, cracked through his ear-link. "Elias? Can you hear me?"