Chapter Two: No Such Person

The Security Office interview room measured three square meters. Walls, table, and chair were molded from the same gray polymer, with rounded corners so a prisoner could not find even a seam in which to hide something. Lin sat within the yellow line on the floor, the brass nut tucked under her tongue. After two hours, its edge had cut the inside of her mouth. Blood and tarnish tasted the same. Eli Voss sat opposite, replaying the footage from Maintenance Bay Three. In the recording, Lin examined the wheel alone, spoke to herself, and held one wrist suspended as though an invisible hand had seized it. When the welding pen ignited, static consumed seven-tenths of a second. Then Lin turned toward empty air and cried, “Master.”