They left Meridian with nothing but copies—less than permitted and more than advisable—and a plan too small to be counted as such. They commandeered an aging service van from a campus contractor, loaded it with water, a medkit, and two sleeping bags, and drove until the skyline dissolved into industrial flats and then into a coastline where the rain had cooled into mist.

"Aria?" The voice belonged to someone she hadn't expected: Mara, who had once been her colleague, now a senior technician with an easy smile and a history of betraying nobody. Mara's presence made Aria breathe easier and yet more anxious. Familiar faces had a way of turning memories into daggers.

Meridian did not sleep. There were messages that arrived in code: subtle adjustments to security, a notice in the network for a "misplaced archive," a late night when her apartment's lights flickered and a van idled below. They watched and recalculated, as companies do when children or errors arise who refuse to be catalogued.

Users are encouraged to verify system requirements and manage save files appropriately when installing new software updates.