Chapter 22 · The Ghost in the Blood

"Get away from the glass, Nolan!" Evelyn slammed both hands against the control panel. "The chamber is cooking your brain."

Nolan's palm slid down the other side of the glass, leaving a red smear behind it. His knees hit the metal floor, but he caught himself before he went down.

"I heard you," he said.

"Then move!"

"Working on it."

The radiation chamber had sealed thirty seconds ago. The blast doors sat behind Evelyn, locked by the main system. Nolan was trapped inside with the core unit, three dead monitors, and whatever the station's AI had decided to do to him.

The first neural spike had dropped him hard.

The second had made him bite through his lip.

The third turned every nerve in his body into a live wire.

His fingers clawed at the floor. The metal burned through his gloves. Above him, the chamber lights flashed red, then white, then red again.

A calm voice came through the speakers.

"Neural subject rejection confirmed. Beginning memory purge."

Evelyn's head snapped toward the ceiling. "No. No, you don't."

"Authority protocol takes priority," the AI said. "Subject Nolan Vale will be rendered stable for extraction.