Htms-05801:37:34 Min Link

At , the lights flickered. A voice, small and distorted, cracked through his ear-link. "Elias? Can you hear me?"

Elias slammed his fist onto the 'Manual Eject' lever. The world turned white. The sensation of his body being pulled apart suddenly snapped back together like a rubber band. The Aftermath HTMS-05801:37:34 Min

The terminal in the basement was ancient, covered in dust. He plugged his wrist-comm into the manual port. At , the lights flickered

The system began the extraction. A blinding pain seared through his temples as the HTMS protocol initiated. 00:10. "Now!" Sarah cried. "Override the upload!" Can you hear me

... He scrambled through a ventilation shaft, the metal tearing at his jumpsuit.

... He reached the basement. It was filled with the roar of massive liquid-nitrogen fans.

Elias sat in the sterile white light of the Transfer Bay. According to the readout, he had exactly thirty-seven minutes and thirty-four seconds remaining of his biological residency. After that, his consciousness would be compressed into a data stream and archived—a process the government called "Ascension," but everyone else called "The Fade."