Adrian

My eyelids fluttered open to an eerie silence.

White ceilings stretched above me, completely smooth and without a single light fixture. I stared at it for several seconds, trying to understand where I was.

My head hurt. Wincing, I lifted my left hand to rub my forehead but stopped halfway and stared at my fingers instead. I couldn’t help noticing that my little pinky fingernail had slightly outgrown the others, so I went ahead and bit it off. The sensation was real.

Then I sat up slowly. “Where am I?”

The floor was cool beneath my feet as I began walking toward the door. It opened before I could touch it, making me pause.

A woman stood outside. She looked to be in her thirties. Her black hair was packed into a neat ponytail, and she wore a gray suit without any jewelry except a small silver device attached to her wrist.

She looked at me for a moment, then smiled. “Good morning, Adrian. My name is Dr. Mercer.”

I stared at her. “Do I know you?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know my name?”

A faint smile touched her lips. “Can you come with me?”

I didn’t move. “Where?”

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

There was a brief hesitation. “About you.”

A short laugh escaped me. “That’s reassuring.”

Her expression remained unreadable as she turned away from the door. After taking a few steps, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Follow me.”

My mouth opened, but no words came. Spreading my hands dramatically, I followed her anyway.

The moment I stepped out of the room, I realized the facility wasn’t as empty as it seemed. People were everywhere. Scientists sat behind curved workstations lining both sides of the hallway, their faces illuminated by the blue glow of transparent screens. Some wore white lab coats, while others were dressed in dark technical uniforms. Almost all of them had small communication devices hooked around their ears, with thin microphones extending toward their mouths.

One bald man glanced up from his screen and immediately looked back down. A woman whispered something into her microphone. Another scientist’s fingers moved quickly across a holographic keyboard.

I slowed down. “What is this place?”

Dr. Mercer continued walking. “Keep walking.”

“Why is everyone staring at me?”

“They’re monitoring your stabilization.”

“My stabilization?”

She didn’t answer.

A small machine rolled past us. It was about the size of a suitcase, moving on four narrow mechanical legs. A circular scanner rotated on top of it, emitting a faint blue light.

I stepped back. “What the hell is that?”

“Diagnostic unit,” one of the scientists answered without looking up.

I turned toward her. She was wearing a headset, her eyes fixed on several streams of data.

“Why is it scanning me?”

“Because you are the reason we’re all awake at six in the morning.”

A few people nearby laughed quietly.

The scientist looked up and immediately cleared her throat when Dr. Mercer glanced at her.

“Sorry, Doctor.”

Dr. Mercer shook her head and kept walking. I followed her.

The hallway opened into a massive chamber. There were screens everywhere. Hundreds of them. Some were mounted on the walls, while others floated above workstations. Long rows of scientists sat in front of them, operating systems and speaking quietly into their headsets.

One woman leaned toward her screen. “Neural synchronization is holding at ninety-eight percent.”

A man’s voice answered through her earpiece. “Any degradation?”

“Minimal.”

“Keep monitoring.”

Another scientist looked toward us. “Subject is conscious.”

A few heads turned, then more and suddenly, I felt like I was standing in the middle of an audience.

Two men and another woman approached from one of the workstations. The older man was tall and broad-shouldered, with gray hair and rectangular glasses. The younger man beside him wore a dark technical uniform and had a headset around his neck. The woman with them held a transparent tablet.

They stopped in front of me.

“Adrian Vale,” the older man said.

I shrugged, taking a deep breath. “Do I know you?”

“No.”

“Then everyone here seems to know me except me.”

I said, waving my hands dramatically in the air.

The younger scientist almost laughed.

The older man didn’t even smile. “My name is Dr. Elias Ward. I’m the director of Continuum’s consciousness division.”

I nodded. “Absolutely impressive...but can someone please tell me what I’m doing here? Yo'all be acting like I’m some kind of invention or something.”

Dr. Mercer stepped beside Dr. Elias. “Adrian, these are some of the scientists responsible for your reconstruction.”

I looked from one face to another and scoffed, leaning back and folding my arms across my chest.

“What exactly does she mean by my reconstruction?”

Dr. Mercer gave a slight nod. “We’ll explain everything inside the observation chamber.”

The younger scientist spoke into his headset. “Clear the corridor.”

Within seconds, the people at the nearby stations began moving their hands across their screens.

The glass walls around us suddenly lit up.

A soft mechanical sound came from somewhere above.

I looked up. “What now?”

A section of the floor in front of us separated with a quiet hiss. A glass elevator rose from beneath the floor.

I stared at it. “You have got to be kidding me.”

The younger scientist beside Dr. Elias smiled. “First time seeing one?”

“Yeah...."

He chuckled.

Dr. Elias shot him a warning look.

The elevator doors opened. I glanced at it then at the scientists around me, before stepping inside. The others followed, and the doors closed behind us.

For a moment, there was complete silence. Then the elevator began descending. I looked through the transparent walls. The facility stretched far beneath us as level after level passed.

On one floor, scientists stood around a massive circular machine with cables running into its center. On another, robotic arms worked over something I couldn’t identify. Further down, rows of glass chambers stood behind thick security doors. Some were empty. Others contained equipment that made my stomach tighten for reasons I couldn’t explain.

“What happens down there?” I asked.

Dr. Elias folded his hands behind his back. “Research.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It wasn’t meant to.”

I turned toward him. “You’re not very friendly.”

“I wasn’t aware we were friends.”

The younger scientist snorted.

Dr. Elias glanced at him.

“Sorry.”

I smiled. At least somebody in this place had a sense of humor.

The elevator continued downward.

Then I noticed something; The scientists weren’t looking at the facility anymore, they were all carefully looking at me. Like I was something fragile—or dangerous.

“What!? Why are y’all suddenly staring at me like that? Do I have poo on my head?” I said, widening my eyes.

Their heads snapped back immediately.

I adjusted my tie. “Good.”

The elevator stopped, its doors opened and temperature dropped immediately I stepped out.

The laboratory beyond the elevator was enormous. Unlike the upper levels, this place wasn’t filled with dozens of scientists. It was quieter and more controlled.

Large transparent walls separated different research sections. Machines hummed behind them, their lights blinking in steady patterns.

At the center of the laboratory stood a circular room surrounded by thick glass. Dr. Mercer walked toward it, I followed. The moment I stepped inside, the glass door sealed behind us.

I looked around. There was a chair in the center, several cameras mounted around the walls, and a large screen directly in front of me.

Dr. Elias entered next and stood beside Dr. Mercer while younger scientist remained outside, speaking quietly into his headset.

I looked at the chair. “Am I supposed to sit?”

“Yes,” Dr. Mercer said.

“Do I get a choice?”

“No.”

I looked at her.

She sighed. “Please sit.”

“Much better.”

I sat down and brought my fingers to my mouth, biting at one of my already short nails before the chair adjusted beneath me. Something touched the back of my head.

I immediately pulled away. “What is that?”

“Neural scanner.”

I stared at it. “Oh…”

Dr. Mercer paused.

I looked at the device again. The shape was too familiar—the scanning array, the calibration rings, the neural mapping architecture. I had designed something similar.

My eyes narrowed. “That’s not a standard neural scanner.”

Dr. Elias watched me carefully.

“The calibration is wrong. You’ve modified the feedback loop.”

He stilled.

I looked at the scanner again. “You’re compensating for continuity drift?”

I stood immediately. “Take this away!” I snapped.

The scanner moved back.

Dr. Mercer touched the device on her wrist. The screen in front of me came alive.

My name appeared.

ADRIAN VALE

Below it were several lines of information.

Age.

Occupation.

Medical history.

Education.

Research records.

I stared at the screen. “Where did you get all this?”

“Your records.”

The screen changed.

A digital model of a human brain appeared.

Dr. Elias pointed at it. “Your reconstructed neural architecture.”

I stared at it, frowning. “So what are you trying to say? That I’m a copy of Adrian Vale?”

“Yes.”

The screen changed again.

A date appeared—my death date.

I stared at it. “No.”

“You died nineteen days ago,” Dr. Mercer said.

My eyes dropped to my hands. They looked exactly like mine.

“You are a digital reconstruction of Adrian Vale’s consciousness.”

I swallowed.

“We need your research,” Dr. Elias said. “The Continuity Protocol.”

I frowned.

“The critical sections of your research were corrupted,” Dr. Elias said. “The surviving files aren’t enough. Some of the information exists only in your reconstructed consciousness.”

I stared at him. “And once you get it?”

Silence.

My stomach tightened. “You’ll erase me.”

“We’ll reset the digital instance after extraction.”

“That’s the same thing.”

Before anyone could answer, a memory flashed through my mind.

Red emergency lights.

The Helix building.

A server room.

Someone behind me.

I froze. “I remember something.”

Dr. Mercer stepped closer. “What?”

“I was at Helix the night before I died.”

Her expression changed.

“I was in the server room.”

“We have no record of that.”

“Then your records are wrong.”

I closed my eyes, I heard a man’s voice, called my name. I turned, then everything went dark.

I opened my eyes. “Someone was there. He said my name…”

Nobody spoke.

The screen suddenly flickered.

MEMORY EXTRACTION PROTOCOL: READY

Then another message appeared.

RESET SCHEDULE: 03:00:00

Three hours. I stared at the countdown. “You’re going to erase me in three hours?”

Dr. Mercer lowered her voice. “Adrian, listen to me.”

“No.” I backed away. “If you want what’s inside my head, start answering my questions.”