Number Seven

They had decided on this test minutes ago, yet someone had anticipated it. That night, Lin cross-referenced Cheng's history. Cheng Wang had vanished six years earlier. That same year, Clearstar's predecessor filed a patent for “cross-linguistic group cognition synchronization.” The lead inventor's name had later been redacted. “What did your father study?” “Neurolinguistics.” Cheng stared at the module. “The last thing he told me was never to trust an answer that arrived early.” The next morning, Clearstar offered the Tides free broadcast, health-monitoring, and tactical systems. Zhou represented them. He behaved as if he had never seen Cheng.