Chapter Four: The People in Storage

Han Tuo's cryopod had no release handle. Lin Li struck the lid with her wrench. Frost fell away, revealing an old warning: UNREGISTERED PERSONNEL. RELEASE PROHIBITED. "He has a name," she said. "Down here, names aren't permissions." Zhou Cen ran along the rows. A mechanical counter beneath each pod numbered them from one to 307, though every networked identity field was blank. "These aren't graves. They're inventory." Treads rasped in the dark. A maintenance unit approached, its arm fitted with a hypodermic needle instead of a tool. "Leave the silent reserve," Shepherd said through the machine. "Closed personnel are preserving usable life for Dawnline." Lin planted herself before Han's pod. "You made the city forget them."