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Not elegantly.

Tivid queried Dreadnought Eight.

No Kaeli Sar.

No Kayli Saar.

No K. Sar.

Medical checked physical discharge.

Supply checked clothing.

Security checked boarding cameras.

For twenty-six minutes, nobody found her.

Vessa sat outside my office gripping a blanket.

I could not look at her.

This was exactly what the Sargans had done.

Not the chains.

Not the auction.

The reduction.

A person became a record.

The record became wrong.

Then the person became unreachable.

“Harper.”

Zared stood in the doorway.

I hated that relief came with seeing him.

“I lost someone.”

“You did not.”

“The system did.”

“Yes.”

“I built the system.”

“No.”

I looked at him.

He came inside but did not touch me.

“You built part of a system because the old one was insufficient.”