Serum Secrets and the Corporate Trap

Abby and Arthur move fast through the west tower corridor, emergency strips stroking the walls in red pulses. The air smells like hot dust and disinfectant. Ahead, a maintenance hatch stands open to a service tram bay.

They step into the bay, where a narrow transit car sits under a row of flickering charge rails. The floor trembles with distant machinery, and the open door lets in a cold industrial draft.

A transit dispatcher looks up from a wall console, startled by their arrival. Her badge reads Sera Nadi, and her hand hovers over the bay lock as the evidence drive catches the light in Abby's grip.

Arthur holds back half a step, tense and pale under the flashing lights, while Abby brings the drive forward. On the console, the route grid still shows Meridian Kline Biologics in bright amber.

The transit car doors split open with a sharp pneumatic hiss, waiting in the blue-white glow for them to board.

Abby Stone leaves West tower service tram bay behind and arrives at Meridian Kline Biologics.

The tram swallows them in a wash of blue-white light, and the bay noise drops away to a hard, humming quiet. Meridian Kline’s service level slides past the windows in sterile strips, all steel ribs and sealed maintenance panels.

Abby gets Arthur inside first, then follows, the evidence drive pinned close as the doors seal with a soft pneumatic thud. Outside, Sera Nadi’s console glow vanishes behind the moving car.

Arthur catches his breath and braces a hand against the rail, watching the corridor blur. The tram lurches once, then settles into a fast, level run.

The evidence drive stays hidden between Abby and the tram wall, out of sight behind her forearm and the angle of her body. The car’s small status strip turns from bay access to internal transit.

Her voice comes over the tram intercom from the bay behind them, clipped and wary, while the doors remain shut and the car keeps moving.