The raw neural lattice hangs above the terminal, blue-white strands linking Revenant’s young face to Vesper’s preserved memory. Toritoma’s seal burns crimson beside them.
A buried timestamp resolves beneath the projection. Coordinates unfold for an abandoned Black Arancini transfer site, followed by a warning: NIGHT SHEATH TWO, HANDOFF INTERRUPTED.
Razor
That site was scrubbed from every street map after Rucker died. If the timestamp is genuine, someone preserved the handoff record.
The Meridian House dampers click and register an external handshake probing the room. The terminal’s projection stutters, and a second signal begins mapping their implants.
Razor
We have company. The probe is encrypted, corporate-grade, and coming through the hotel network. Lazarus, Toritoma, or someone who wants us to think so.
Razor reaches toward the terminal, then stops short of the raw imprint. The lattice continues displaying Revenant’s image, while the coordinates pulse brighter with every intrusion attempt.
Razor
I can isolate the handshake, but touching the system may alert whoever is watching. The site is waiting in your memory, and someone is already looking for it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the raw neural imprint secure
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the abandoned Black Arancini transfer site
“First of all.. I can hack the drone. Second of all, That’s is where you come in. Give me my memories back.. and we can destroy the data. I know you can go this.”
SUCCESS (Great Hacking, rolled -1)
“First of all.. I can hack the drone. Second of all, That’s is where you come in. Give me my memories back.. and we can destroy the data. I know you can go this.”
FAILURE (Great Hacking, rolled -2)
Vesper
First, I can hack the probe. Then you give me my memories back, and we destroy the data. I know you can do this.
Vesper jacks into the hotel network. Her intrusion slips past the first encryption layer, but the probe folds around her access and seals the raw neural lattice behind a recursive lock.
Razor
You got inside, but it mirrored your handshake. Pull back now, or it will map the imprint and every implant touching it.
Razor opens the restoration interface and feeds the backup into a sandbox. Revenant’s face sharpens, Toritoma’s seal resolves, and a fragment of the interrupted handoff returns before the system freezes.
Razor
I restored a fragment, not the whole memory. The probe tied deletion authority to the handoff record, so destroying the data now would erase your safest recovery path.
The failed intrusion exposes a hidden maintenance channel beneath the hotel network. Its authorization tag matches the abandoned Black Arancini site, offering a route around the corporate lock.
Razor
We cannot repeat that hack from here. But we can follow this channel to the site, isolate the handoff key, then restore and destroy everything on our terms.