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I begin to jog, impatient to get there already. A notification pings in my head, startling me. The notice overrode my programmed alerts and I slow to a walk. After setting up a barrier, I open the message.
Citizen, your transgression is unacceptable and violates your terms of agreement.
Bik. It’s not from Noni but the empire. I don’t want to know more but can’t help myself.
Due to your expertise and high risk of future mischief, your access will terminate at the end of this message. Your internal tech will supply basic needs medically and physiologically. Your access ends now.
I stop.
There’s no pop, no chime, tone, bell, anything. Just an eerie deadness. The mental noise I’d acquired as a child evaporates. The world inside me is silent. I can hear my heartbeat without having to run or exert my body. The more I listen, the faster the tempo. I lean against a tree and close my eyes. I reach out for S’Tou but of course can’t find him. I can’t find anyone else in the universe.
Only now do I realize how much mercy the emperor and his people showed me all those years ago.
