“This isn’t a fractal,” he said.

  “What is it?” she asked, her voice dreamlike in her current state.

  “I don’t know for sure. It’s external.”

  “You mean it didn’t come from inside my head?”

  “Exactly.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never even heard of it before. I’m not sure what to do about it.”

  “Dorne said not to make a big deal about it,” Cassidy said. And she didn’t want anyone else to make a big deal about it either. Problems like this didn’t tend to bode well for the Shade involved. “Mark it for deletion, just to be safe.”

  “Right. Marked.”

  The memory continued on to the point where Cassidy returned to Josias in the hallway. Singh made a point to delete the entire second interaction.

  “You’re going to leave me with an open loop?” Cassidy asked.

  “No, I’ll scrub back to your contact with Captain Dorne. Your mind will assume Josias was already dead and complete the loop.”

  “Maybe you should leave that part intact.”

  “Dorne specifically told me to remove it.”

  Cassidy didn’t argue. She couldn’t win, and the effort could create complications for the extraction. “Understood.”

  Singh went through the rest of the memory, all the way up to the moment she sat in the chair. He would delete everything that happened after too, but not until extraction had completed.

  The light above Cassidy’s head went out. All of the lights in the room faded, including Singh’s display, leaving them in pitch black. The only sound was the soft hum of the machine behind Cassidy’s head. She closed her eyes, already knowing what came next. She sensed the cold before it touched the base of her head just above her neck. A wet sensation followed.

  “Calibrating,” Singh said, his voice like a ghost in the darkness.

  Cassidy did her best to relax and not think of anything specific. Even after forty-seven missions, thirty years and all of her training, it was difficult to do.

  The minutes passed. How many, she couldn’t guess. Calibration could take ten minutes or it could take an hour, it just depended on how readily she calmed her mind, how well her imprint matched up to her archive and how much data needed to be transferred between the two.

  The coldness on Cassidy’s neck faded into warmth.

  “Calibration complete,” Singh said. “Extraction in ten. Nine. Eight...”

  “See you when I see you, Singh,” Cassidy said as Singh continued counting down.

  “Seven. See you when I see you, Cassidy,” he replied. “Five. Four…”

  Cassidy exhaled one last time. She had been afraid the first time she had done this. Nervous the second. By the third, it became rote.

  This would be the forty-eighth time she had died.

  “Three. Two. One. Extracting.”

  A sharp, stabbing pain went up through Cassidy’s neck and into her brain, and every nerve in her body activated at once, crying out in agony.

  But only for an instant, and then everything went black.

  Chapter 6

  Lead Technician Gaurav Singh moved his hands in sweeping patterns, checking off boxes and flicking screens out of the way as he finished closing out Shade Cassidy’s extraction. The whole scrub and extract had gone off without a hitch, her imprint successfully merged back into the source sequence and deleted while the host repo, Jessica, remained asleep.

  He signed the last confirmation field and then reached to his left, opening the chamber that had unlocked with his signature. A cylinder rested inside. He reached in to pick it up, his gloves protecting his hands from the intense cold. A small pinhole transparency allowed him to scan the contents of the cylinder, but there was no need. He knew what it looked like inside. Dry ice packed the casing from both ends while a disc the size of a quarter rested in the center.

  The door to his room opened, and Captain Dorne walked in.

  “Captain Dorne,” Singh said. “I’ve just completed Cassidy’s extraction.” He held up the cylinder, showing Dorne that Cassidy’s consciousness was no longer imprinted to the girl.

  “I know, Guarav,” Dorne replied. “That’s why I’m here. Were there any complications?”

  He shook his head. “No. It went by-the-book. Cass is always professional.”

  “And you scrubbed everything I recommended?”

  “Of course, ma’am.”

  “What about the mobile interface? Was it a fractal?”

  “No, Captain,” Singh replied. “It…I’ve never seen anything like it before. The UMI was part of Cassidy’s memory. They really did see it. But it didn’t come from prior transfer fragmentation or corruption. The cause was external.”

  Dorne made a face. “How can that be possible?”

  “I don’t know,” Singh replied. “It could be a brain synapse misfire or an ocular ghosting. Or maybe they had a holoprojector active on the table that was casting an image of a UMI? Any of those are possible.”

  “But you don’t think any of them are the answer?”

  Guarav smiled. “It’s not my area of expertise, but considering Cassidy has no history of the first two and the third doesn’t make a lot of sense in context, it leaves me open-minded toward other possible causes.”

  “Like what?”

  “Off the top of my head, I don’t know.”

  “That’s fair.” Dorne looked over at Jessica. “You haven’t started the cleanup process yet, correct?”

  “Not yet. I need to deliver Cassidy’s master to the Freezer first, as per protocol.”

  “Do you have an extra glove? I can take the master down.”

  “Of course, Captain,” Guarav said. He opened a drawer on the other side of his workstation with his free hand, taking out one of his spare gloves and handing it to Dorne. It was a little big on her, but not so much she couldn’t grip the cylinder. “Was that the reason you came down, ma’am? To ask about the potential fragmentation?”

  “It was the primary reason,” Dorne replied, taking the cylinder from him. “I also wanted to ask you what you thought about the statement the gang leader, Josias, made to Cassidy.”

  “When he told her she didn’t know what she had done?”

  “Yes.”

  Singh shrugged. “I didn’t really think anything of it. Cass seemed to believe there might be something worth saving there. She tried to persuade me to let her keep the memory.”

  “But you didn’t?”

  “Of course not. You were specific in your instructions.”

  Dorne smiled. “Good.”

  Singh found her response curious. “Captain, if you don’t mind me asking, is there something to be concerned about? I understand that you don’t want Cassidy to retain any residual memory that might be confusing without context, and that kind of vague declaration certainly fits the definition. But this isn’t the first time you’ve ordered me to remove specific memories. You don’t normally come down in person. I could have answered your question over the comms.”

  Dorne hesitated before answering. “I have a vested interest in Cassidy. They’re the most experienced Shade we have, which makes them extremely valuable. It’s imperative that we maintain the health of their master at all costs.”

  “I understand,” Singh replied. “You know that’s always my aim too.”

  “I do.”

  “It is curious, though. First the UMI and then Josias? Alone they don’t seem to have much meaning, but together...”

  “What are you implying, Guarav?”

  Singh smiled and shook his head. “My apologies, ma’am. I was just thinking out loud. It does seem odd to you though, doesn’t it?”

  “I think it’s easy to make connections between unrelated incidents when they occur within the same general timeline. That doesn’t mean those connections exist.”

  “But it also doesn’t mean they don’t. Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence. What if the two anomalies are related? Captain, upon further consideration, I believe we should open an investigation. Cassidy’s master doesn’t have the memories, but the host repo still does. It isn’t too late to record them for a more in-depth examination. It might be prudent to understand the root cause, especially if there’s any reason to believe it could be a sign of imprint degradation.”

  Dorne stared at him, lips working against one another while she considered the statement. “I don’t think that’s in our best interests,” she replied flatly.

  “As you said, Cassidy is valuable,” Singh argued. “We don’t want to lose a seasoned agent to a potential rare side-effect. If you allow me to delay—”

  “No!” Dorne snapped. “The extraction is completed. Finish the wipe and insert the alternate timeline so we can put the repo back in the gutter where we found her. Do you understand?”

  Singh flinched at the forcefulness of Dorne’s reaction. “Y...yes ma’am. I...I will. I’m only trying to do my job. I’m responsible for the safety and stability of the master print. For Cassidy’s safety and stability. I take that responsibility very seriously.”

  Dorne sighed, lowering her head. “I know you do, Guarav.” She used her free hand to reach beneath the back of her uniform jacket. She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Singh.

  “C...Captain?” Singh said, a wave of fear sending a chill across his entire body, which froze in place.

  “I’m sorry,” Dorne said. “I had hoped you would handle the extraction without giving it a second thought. But I also know you well enough to fear you wouldn’t be able to let it go. I have a responsibility too. No loose ends. Out there or in here.”

  “What about Jessica?” Singh asked in a quivering voice. “I need to finish the wipe.”

  “Loose ends,” Dorne repeated, as if the statement was a catch-all that could absolve any guilt she might have to feel otherwise.

  “I’ve done everything you’ve asked,” Singh cried. “I gave my life to the bureau.”

  “And for the bureau,” Dorne said. “Thank you for your service, Guarav.”

  The last thing he saw were the muzzle flashes, which were followed by blossoms of pain. He collapsed to his knees, grabbing the edge of the workstation to keep from falling completely to the floor. Dorne turned the gun on Jessica.

  He died before he had to witness what happened next.

  Chapter 7

  Intense pain coursed through Cassidy’s body, every nerve ending burning and tingling as though it were on fire. Eyes closed, a million thoughts raced through his mind, an entire lifetime and then some streaming past in less than a second. The sudden awareness sent a shockwave of fear and panic through him, adding to the physical pain until he realized what was happening.

  Imprinted. For the forty-ninth time.

  His eyes remained closed as the pain continued. He knew what had caused it. The scrubbers called it an integration test. An intentional triggering of the nervous system to measure the synchronicity and stability of the imprint.

  He had passed with flying colors.

  “Cassidy, can you hear me?”

  It took him a moment to capture and decipher the voice. The integration test had passed, but it would still take a couple of minutes for his imprint to fully align with the host repo’s mind. It was standard procedure. Nothing to worry about.

  That didn’t make it hurt any less.

  “I hear you,” he replied through clenched teeth.

  “Pain is a good sign.”

  Cassidy realized the voice was female, so it didn’t belong to Singh. They had assigned a new tech to him. He wondered why, but didn’t voice the question. Dorne made the decisions. End of story. “Better than the alternative.”

  “Have you ever failed an integration test?” his new tech asked.

  “No. I’ve always had good scrubbers, I guess.”

  Failing an integration test was like flipping a coin. Heads, the repo was put back to sleep, the sync reversed. When that happened, the imprint would be reflashed and only the repo had to die. Tails, the damage to the imprint from the misfire was too severe to repair and the master had to be flushed too. After forty-nine transfers, failing a test now would be the worst possible outcome. At least if he became corrupted or suffered real death he would die going out instead of coming in.

  She laughed. “I don’t want to brag, but…” Cassidy opened his eyes. His new tech stood at the corner of the workstation, looking down at him. Black, with a small afro, a round face and a nice smile. “Welcome back to the land of the living. I’m Delu Mensah. It’s an honor to meet you, Cassidy.”

  Cassidy didn’t move, giving his body time to recover from the integration test. “I still need to meet myself,” he replied.

  He took a moment to reach into his repo’s mind. Not deep. A surface level skim so he would at least know his name. He already knew instinctively that he was male.

  A shiver went down his spine when he collected the information, and he lifted his head to look at Mensah. The sudden movement sent a wave of dizziness through him and he dropped back to the chair.

  “Whoa, hold on there, Cassidy,” she said. “You can’t just pop up like that right after a transfer.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Cassidy replied, fighting hard to resist the urge to dig deeper into his host’s memories.

  “What do you mean?” Mensah replied. She looked at her display. “All of your readings are perfect. Is there a problem with the imprint?”

  “Not the imprint. The repo. Why am I shadowing Detective Hall? This has to be a mistake.”

  He was pretty sure there were rules about imprinting a Shade to a fellow member of the Bureau. Especially one who knew his prior repos. Hosts were selected based on their ability to infiltrate and eradicate whatever problem needed fixing. How the hell could Hall fit that description?

  “Don’t shoot the messenger, Cassidy,” Mensah replied. “They tell me which Shade to load, I go down to the Freezer to get it. When I come back, there’s a repo waiting. No identification. I don’t know who Hall is or why you’re upset.”

  Cassidy focused on his breathing, trying to calm down. Coming back to life was always a little traumatic. He didn’t need to rush into answers. If he gave it a chance, Dorne would explain. “Right. I’m sorry. It’s just unexpected because I know the repo.”

  Mensah’s eyebrows crinkled. “What do you mean you know him?”

  “He was my liaison.”

  “Hmmm.” Mensah looked at the screen again, as if his vitals would settle the predicament. “If the captain chose him, there has to be a reason.”

  “Yeah, that’s my thinking too.” Cassidy lifted his head again, more slowly this time. The sync was improving, making it easier to move without getting dizzy. He rattled his wrists inside the clamps. “I’m good. Stable. Can you unlock me?”

  “Of course,” Mensah replied, moving to his side and pressing on each clamp’s release.

  “Thank you,” Cassidy said.

  “Let me help you up.” She held her hands out. He took them, letting her pull him off the chair to his feet. He felt a little dizzy again, and she wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him steady. “You’re rushing it.”

  “I know. I need to talk to Dorne as soon as possible.”

  “I’m sorry, Cassidy. Dorne’s gone. It’s Captain Nevis now.”

  “Do you know what happened to her?”

  “You know how things work around here.”

  “Right.” He was still a little disoriented. He skimmed Hall’s memories again. The detective was almost fifty years old. “How long have I been in the Freezer?”

  “Twenty years.”

  The response was another hammer blow to his understanding of things. “Twenty years?” His previous longest stretch without a mission was two. What the hell had happened?

  “That’s what it said on my screen,” Mensah replied. “Doing the math from the last time you were extracted.”

  “Twenty years,” he said again, shaking his head in disbelief. “Am I cleared?”

  “As soon as you can stand on your own.”

  “I’m good. You can let go.”

  Mensah released her grip on him and stepped back. He took one tentative step forward, made it successfully, and moved more confidently to the door. Mensah motioned in front of her display and the door opened.

  “Briefing Room One,” Mensah said.

  “Got it,” Cassidy replied. “Thanks for putting me in.”

  “Anytime. I’ll be here to take you back out when you’re done.”

  Cassidy left the room. He followed the familiar bare corridors to a different section of the facility, stopping in a dead-end hallway where three doors on each side were numbered one through six. A green LED came on over the first door on the left and he went through it.

  The briefing room was as clinical as every other setup in the Underworld. A table flanked by a pair of chairs. A holoprojector mounted to the ceiling. Cassidy sat in the chair further from the door to wait for Captain Nevis to arrive.

  He didn’t have to wait long, though Nevis didn’t enter the way he expected.

  Instead, a holographic projection appeared in the seat across from him, revealing Nevis as a young, fit woman with a narrow face, high cheekbones and full lips. Her uniform was crisper than Dorne’s had ever been, without a single wrinkle or the pull associated with a taut fit. Her bobbed black hair was the same. Not one strand was out of place.

  “Shade Cassidy,” she said, offering a slight smile. “I’m Captain Nevis.”

  “Nice to meet you, Captain,” Cassidy replied. “I—”

  “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Nevis continued, interrupting him. “Foremost among them is why you’ve been imprinted to UDF Special Investigations Detective Jeffrey Hall.”

  “Yeah,” Cassidy agreed. “I thought—”

  “Especially in light of the fact that imprinting to a fellow agent was against the code of conduct when you were last put into the Freezer. As was imprinting to someone you’ve interacted with during a prior mission.”