“I regularly have every piece of tech in my home checked. It couldn’t have come from them. I would have noticed data loss earlier.” She only half believes herself. Worry settles in the pit of her stomach that the virus had been hiding in one of her devices all along, devices that she has connected to in the past. What if the virus is inside her? The urge creeps into her to remove her Whistle from her temple and put it in a garbage disposal unit to be jettisoned into space.

He turns in his chair to face her fully. “Can I ask what you were doing when this happened?” He holds up the Bonder when he speaks, even though wires still hang from it.

Ify resists the urge to squirm. How can she confess to breaking office protocol and performing an invasive search of a patient without their consent? Even if this man doesn’t know the full extent of Alabastrine law, he’d know she was up to something suspect.

“I was inspecting materials I’d downloaded.”

Vikram frowns. “What kind of materials?”

The word memories almost slips out of Ify’s mouth. “Cerebral data. I work in a hospital.”

He holds his frown for a moment, then his face loosens. “Possibly a damaged braincase, then. Either way, the virus has crept into the Bonder’s other functionalities. It’s useless at this point. Most of its projection capabilities have been corrupted beyond repair. And if you were to connect to it, you’d be in for a world of pain. And you’d risk corruption yourself. You’re not connected, are you?” It sounds like a statement coming from him.

“No. Red-blood.” She pauses. “I do use Augments, however.” She points to her temple. “My Whistle. Here. It activates an implant at the base of my neck, connecting to my central nervous system.” She pulls back the collar of her shirt to show him the scar that will never heal. “It is removable. But that is what I use.” She lets go of her collar and straightens in her chair. “The Augment is for heightening my sensory perception—seeing farther, hearing more clearly—and it’s connected to my bodysuit for information transfer. It also enables remote connection to wireless devices. The Whistle is just for communication. Making and receiving calls, translation, that sort of thing.”

“Like a phone,” he says absently.

“A what?”

Vikram waves the Bonder in the air like it’s just some disposable piece of tech. “Well, whatever you downloaded is likely the source of the virus. I’d recommend a clean sweep of whatever devices you used to connect with this. And I’d suggest having it decommissioned and put in a steel box to prevent accidental remote connection with anything—or anyone—else.”

“That bad?” Ify says, trying to joke.

“It might try to connect on its own.”

“What? Without my turning it on?”