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Of course it did.

Every system wanted a box.

I felt irritation rise.

Anik saw it.

“This does not mean someone else chooses it,” he said.

“What does it mean?”

“It means you tell us what you want. Given what you uncovered, it is the least I can do.”

I stared at him. Just like that.

No ceremony. No grand declaration.

“What I want?”

“Yes.”

The question should have been easy.

It wasn’t.

I had spent so much time deciding what I did not want.

Not reassignment. Not the market. Not forced compatibility. Not running. Not being someone’s protected object.

What did I actually want?

No one spoke.

Not Anik.

Not Veyr.

Especially not Veyr.

I looked at the record, then at the evidence files still sitting behind it.

Hundreds of entries. Maybe thousands eventually.

Samples. Women. Warriors. Assignments. Families.

Sera’n had found part of it.

I had found another.

How many people had noticed something strange and been told it was nothing?

How many had never noticed at all?

“I want my work.”

Anik’s expression sharpened. “Your laboratory position?”

“No. Not exactly.”