Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Machine
"Who's messing with us?" Brad stammered, backing up a step and knocking over a stack of empty cardboard boxes.
"Shut up, idiot," Carter hissed, raising his flashlight and sweeping the beam across the dark corridors of suitcases. "There’s no one here. This whole sector has been offline for five years."
Yet, the chill in the air had deepened. I kept my breathing steady beneath the heavy plastic wrap, my fingers curled tightly around the ceramic blade. My thumb found the corner of the plastic film where Carter had pulled it too tight over the edge of the wooden pallet.
Tap, tap, tap.
This time, the sound came from directly behind the shelving unit to our left.
"I'm warning you!" Carter shouted, grabbing a heavy metal wrench from a nearby workbench. "Show yourself or—"
Before he could finish, the overhead fluorescent lights in our specific aisle flickered violently, buzzing like an angry swarm of hornets, and then snapped on with blinding intensity.
Standing ten feet away, illuminated by the harsh white light, was a sleek, modern electric wheelchair. Sitting in it was a young woman with sharp, observant eyes and a calm expression. Draped over the back of her chair was a heavy canvas messenger bag covered in university security override patches.
"You're wasting your time, Carter," her voice was clear, steady, and entirely devoid of fear. "The local logistics server doesn't just route 'unregistered mass' here by accident. I redirected you."
Carter lowered the wrench slightly, his face twisting in confusion and rage. "Who the hell are you? Security isn't assigned to this sector."
"I'm not security," the woman replied, rolling her chair forward smoothly. "I'm Elena Vance. Class of '24. Or, according to your father’s administrative records, I was officially listed as 'transferred to an overseas institute' two years ago after I found irregularities in the robotics lab funding."
Carter’s face drained of all color. The wrench slipped from his fingers, clattering loudly against the concrete floor. "Elena? That's... that's impossible. You vanished."
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"I didn't vanish. I hid," Elena said, her eyes shifting toward me. She pressed a button on her armrest, and a small, handheld laser emitter slid out from her chassis, pointing directly at the base of my pallet. "And unlike you, Carter, I didn't wait for karma to catch up. I built a network."
With a precise click, Elena’s laser sliced cleanly through the thick polyethylene wrap binding my legs and tires, releasing me in a single, fluid motion.
