-hcls- Your Name Instant

-HcLs- Your Name

-HcLs- Acknowledged. -HcLs- Welcome to the Helios Closed Loop System. -HcLs- Your first directive follows. -HcLs- Your Name

The cursor waited.

The first time the message appeared, Mira thought it was a spam notification. -HcLs- Your Name -HcLs- Acknowledged

-HcLs- DAUGHTER DETECTED -HcLs- INITIATE HANDOVER. her father sat in his wheelchair

Inside, her father sat in his wheelchair, facing a blank wall. Not asleep. Waiting. An old military terminal sat on the table beside him—a relic from his decades in signals intelligence. Its screen glowed green.