Chapter One: The Tomorrow They Rejected

The blue folder hit the floor, and one page slid directly in front of the camera. OBSIDIAN MOTORS RECALL CONTINGENCY. Both rooms fell silent. Gu killed his camera, but everyone had seen it. Obsidian's unreleased car suffered thermal-control failures in extreme cold. Yet the central promise of *Through Tomorrow* was reliable range at twenty below zero. Tang recovered first. “Did anyone record that?” No one admitted it. Chen stared at the dead client window, hearing only his pulse. It had not been a hallucination. V19 had shown him this moment a day early. When Gu returned, he rejected V20 as well. “The vehicle lacks power. Replace the ending.”