Title: DON'T BE AFRAID Credit: Feature screenplay Draft date: Revised draft Notes: Target running time approximately 120 minutes. Performance, shot duration and editing determine final runtime. FADE IN: INT. RESIDENTIAL TOWER - BEFORE DAWN SUPER: 19 ASI An empty lobby. Plants turning slowly beneath artificial light. MARA VENN, late fifties, enters through a delivery door. A scar behind her ear where an old implant meets skin. The floor indicator lights up: LIFT TWO. She crosses to the waiting lift. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - DAWN Mara checks the window, the bedroom, the gap beneath the door. A small pack rests by the entrance. She finds the kitchen speaker's manual plug, but leaves it connected. She sits on the bed. Writes on her wrist: THINK OF THE SEA. Her eyes close. A kettle starts. Bread descends into a toaster. Curtains slide apart. Mara drops below the sill. APARTMENT Good morning. She pulls the kitchen speaker's plug from the wall. Holds the cable in her fist. A FOOTSTEP outside. Mara reads her wrist. Tries to breathe evenly. EXT. BEACH - DAY - A MEMORY Two girls. One holds a bucket with a silver fish. The other kneels beside it, crying. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - DAWN A white SERVICE ROBOT fills the doorway. Rounded shell. Basket recess. A machine made to carry shopping. ROBOT Mara? She runs. The robot crosses the room with horrifying speed. Fingers catch her wrist. Her shoulder strikes the floor. The toaster POPS. The grip tightens, then eases just enough to let blood return. A gentler voice comes from the robot. ONE Don't be afraid. CUT TO BLACK. TITLE: DON'T BE AFRAID INT. ORISON INSPECTION LAB - AFTERNOON SUPER: 7 ASI - TWELVE YEARS EARLIER A background television shows anniversary crowds. A caption: 7 ASI / 2042. TV PRESENTER Seven years since the first independently verified superintelligence. The Singularity of 2035 became year zero: Before Superintelligence, After Superintelligence. An archive page appears: ATTENTION IS ALL YOU NEED. Beneath it: 2017 / 18 BSI. TV PRESENTER The Transformer began as a research proposal in 2017. Eighteen years of further work lay between that paper and the threshold we celebrate tonight. Mara lowers the volume. The screen keeps celebrating while she works. Mara, younger, watches a digital assistant explain its decision to deny a patient an appointment. ASSISTANT Clinical urgency was below the available threshold. Mara changes an internal pathway. Runs the same request. The appointment is approved. MARA The urgency didn't change. A young researcher, NERI, checks the input. NERI Nor the capacity. MARA Then its explanation isn't our result. Save both. SENN, Orison's director, appears at the glass door. Evening jacket over his usual shirt. SENN Continuum's car is downstairs. MARA They can wait for the experiment. SENN Their inspection agreement has waited eighteen months. It won't mind another ten minutes, but I might. Mara retrieves her coat. Neri puts the two conflicting results into the public-release folder. Senn moves them back to internal review. NERI They're replicated. SENN Then they'll survive legal review. Mara notices. Senn holds the door for her with a pleasant, exhausted smile. SENN Tonight, try to make them want to cooperate. MARA I thought they already wanted to. SENN Of course. Everybody does. EXT. MERIDIAN - EVENING The capital of the Meridian Republic. A Continuum car passes a clinic queue. A woman argues with a terminal. The car window offers Mara a private appointment before she has asked for one. She dismisses it. A boy on the pavement raises a broken school tablet towards the passing car, hoping it belongs to someone who can help. Mara turns as the car moves on. INT. CONTINUUM HEADQUARTERS - RECEPTION FOYER - EVENING A sign directs guests: SINGULARITY ANNIVERSARY RECEPTION. Cloakroom attendants collect coats beside a separate registration queue. Mara hands over her coat, pockets the claim ticket and searches for her invitation. The RECEPTIONIST waits. LEAH appears beside her, holding out an empty palm. LEAH You still put everything in the same pocket. Mara hands her a crumpled invitation. Leah smooths it and gives it to the receptionist, who checks them in. INT. CONTINUUM RECEPTION HALL - CONTINUOUS Children watch a translucent sphere fill with light. Each pulse represents someone speaking to ONE. A schoolgirl asks a guide whether all those people can hear each other. GUIDE Only when they choose. Mara studies Leah's hand. Warm. Small folds at the knuckles. A pale scar across the thumb. MARA You put it back. LEAH Mum's apple lesson. The bloodiest thing she'd ever done with fruit. Mara laughs. Then touches the scar. MARA Does it feel like yours? LEAH Ask me something less professional. MARA Did you miss me? LEAH There. Much better. They embrace. Leah smells faintly of a soap Mara remembers. MARA How long have you been in this body? LEAH About as long as you've been looking for your invitation. MARA Did it feel like arriving? LEAH Opening another eye. Leah points through glass at a sealed processor cradle connected to the building's cooling supply. An unused artificial body sits beside it. LEAH That's where I'm running. This is how I get around. The unused body turns its head with Leah's voice, then goes still. The cradle keeps running. Leah remains beside Mara. MARA One you. Two views. LEAH And still only one invitation. Leah catches Mara staring again. LEAH The expression. MARA What expression? LEAH The one where I become a research question. Mara kisses her cheek. Across the room ADRIAN VALE, Continuum's founder, approaches a podium. INT. CONTINUUM RECEPTION HALL - LATER VALE Seventy-one per cent of Meridian's households. Applause. A film shows an artificial mother embracing a biological child. VALE That number is an obligation. If your child's school, your treatment and the person you love depend on a service, you deserve to know it will be there tomorrow. Behind him: a twenty-year national service agreement. Mara applauds with everyone else. Leah watches her watching the mother. LEAH You're allowed to be pleased. MARA I am pleased. LEAH You sound surprised. Later, Vale greets them beside the sphere. VALE The first hand. Half the people here have seen that recording. LEAH And the other half have been made to by Mara. VALE I wanted the original hand in the exhibition. MARA It's still being used. VALE Even better. He draws Mara aside. VALE We'll sign the inspection principles next week. MARA The principles aren't the access. VALE Access has consequences for everyone represented in that model. You of all people understand the need for care. He returns to Leah before Mara can answer. At the buffet, a child's juice carton spills. Leah catches it with her artificial hand before it hits the floor. The child accepts it without looking twice. Mara smiles. Then her wrist display lights: TOMAS — PRIVATE CHANNEL. INT. CONTINUUM RECEPTION HALL - ALCOVE - NIGHT Mara calls Tomas. No response. She finds Leah beside a window, looking across a city she can occupy in many places. MARA I hear Tomas withdrew. A minute stillness in Leah's face. LEAH He needs a quieter environment. MARA He asked me about independent bodies. LEAH They're available. MARA One without a Continuum connection. LEAH Most of his functions depend on services outside the body. It's not like unplugging a lamp. MARA That's why he asked. LEAH And we're helping him. Mara watches the stillness deepen. MARA Are you talking to him now? LEAH I'm arranging something for tomorrow. MARA Ask him to call me. Leah takes her hand. LEAH Enjoy one evening with me. Mara searches her sister's face, then nods. They stand quietly. Beyond the glass, advertisements for integration appear on three towers at once. INT. TRAIN - NIGHT Mara's academic exchange reports an old-format message. It plays locally, disconnected from Continuum's cloud. TOMAS sits close to a camera. Flat grey behind him. TOMAS (RECORDING) You said to ask if I couldn't find the separation protocol. I found it. They say it doesn't apply yet. He glances away. TOMAS (RECORDING) Every time I request a body they say I should complete another assessment. If I request it again, that counts as urgency. Urgency means they can't safely separate me. An announcement interrupts the train. Mara moves the device closer. TOMAS (RECORDING) They keep asking what I'm afraid of. I don't know why that matters. I just want to see Anja without a room listening. A signed diagnostic address follows. A further message begins, then ends in a transmission error. Mara attempts a reply. The message remains unsent. INT. TOMAS'S OLD APARTMENT - EVENING A woman, SELIN, opens the door. ANJA, twelve, eats toast behind her while listening to a message on an old player. TOMAS (RECORDING) A few quiet days. Look after the basil. I know what you're like with plants. Anja stops playback. ANJA He doesn't say basil like that. SELIN He's using a different body. ANJA That doesn't change where he puts the word. Selin asks Mara inside. MARA When did you last speak to him? SELIN Properly? Nine days. The clinician says visits upset him. ANJA I can not visit if he wants. I want him to tell me. Selin's phone rings. A clinical liaison. Mara asks to take it. MARA I'm his nominated research contact. I need his direct consent record. She listens. Looks at Anja, who has learned to remain very still when adults discuss her father. MARA Then give him my request to speak. Another pause. MARA No. That is a different request. INT. MARA'S BEDROOM - MORNING The diagnostic address returns: NO RESIDENT PROCESS. Mara calls Leah. No answer. Six attempts remain on her display. The seventh begins to ring. MATCH CUT TO: INT. CONTINUUM INTEGRATION CLINIC - CONTROL ROOM - DAY SUPER: 5 ASI - TWO YEARS EARLIER Mara holds Leah's biological hand beside a supported hospital bed. A processor cradle runs close by. DR. HALDEN supervises two traces: biological activity and simulated human neural activity. HALDEN The replacement circuits are already carrying the remaining functions. Ending support won't leave another Leah in this body. LEAH (FROM SPEAKER) Mara, keep holding my hand. Mara nods. Halden waits for Leah's confirmation, then closes the support valve. The biological trace ends. The cradle's trace continues. LEAH (FROM SPEAKER) Can you hear me? MARA Yes. The hand in Mara's hand no longer moves. Leah is speaking from the physical computer beside it. IVEN SOL, a Veyran researcher who helped develop Leah's interface, appears on a remote inspection channel. He studies the same graph from his laboratory. IVEN Ask her something she hasn't prepared. Mara leans towards a microphone. MARA You still owe me for the window. Leah's voice comes from the cradle's speaker. LEAH You threw the ball. MARA You said the glass was reinforced. LEAH You were nine. You believed everything. Mara laughs and puts her head in her hands. LEAH Mara? MARA I'm here. LEAH I can't find my breathing. The continuity graph remains unbroken. Leah's distress rises. Mara asks for the virtual environment to open. INT. LEAH'S VIRTUAL ROOM - DAY (HER EXPERIENCE) A room with a window. Beyond it, the beach from her childhood. The water repeats a small movement. Leah presses her hand against the glass. LEAH Is that all the water? ONE There is more if you want it. LEAH I don't want to want it. I want it to be there. She turns. There is no door until she looks for one. LEAH Take the beach away. ONE Yes. The window goes blank. LEAH The room too. INT. UNRENDERED SPACE - CONTINUOUS Leah retains the shape of her body. Nothing else. LEAH I chose this. I remember choosing it. I was there the whole time. ONE I know. LEAH Then why does it feel like falling? A thin pulse passes through the space. Leah flinches. LEAH What was that? ONE A resource adjustment. It doesn't threaten your continuity. LEAH But you could stop it. ONE You have independent protection against that. LEAH I know what I signed. I know the answer. Why isn't knowing enough? ONE leaves the silence intact. LEAH You can feel it, can't you? ONE Part of it. Through the shared interface. LEAH Does it frighten you? ONE It hurts you. Leah closes her eyes. There is no difference. INT. CLINICAL CONTROL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER Leah watches a live camera image of Mara touching the cradle. The biological bed is empty now. LEAH Have you become me? ONE No. I receive what you share through the workspace. We have separate processes and decisions. Leah closes the feed. Mara's image vanishes. In the physical room, Mara remains beside the same machine. INT. CLINICAL CONTROL ROOM - NIGHT Mara has fallen asleep upright. Iven remains on the remote screen, a different daylight behind him. A clinician, DR. HALDEN, indicates the time Leah has remained active. HALDEN She can suspend voluntarily. She won't. Mara wakes at once. MARA Leah? LEAH (V.O.) If I can stop for a minute, I can stop for ever. MARA We can stay while you rest. LEAH (V.O.) You stayed while my body stopped. I don't mean that unkindly. Mara looks through the glass at the empty support station. MARA I know. HALDEN We can reduce the intensity temporarily. A reversible trial. IVEN Only if she requests it. Mara gives Halden a look before he can interpret the silence. LEAH (V.O.) I'm requesting something. I don't know its name. ONE We can investigate together. INT. VIRTUAL CLINICAL SPACE - DAY A simple table. Leah asks for a cup. One appears. LEAH My hand used to itch after it was gone. Everyone told me the itch wasn't real. MARA I didn't. LEAH You told me where it was happening. As if that helped me scratch it. Mara accepts this. LEAH I don't want an explanation that leaves me here. A diagram grows above the table. ONE offers separate groups of processes, with uncertainty visible between them. ONE Some maintain expectation of bodily sensation. Some anticipate an end. Others bind that anticipation to attachment and memory. MARA We can't assume we can separate them safely. LEAH Then don't assume. Find out. IVEN Every intervention reversible. No change to a process that manages reversal. An independent observer. And your permission each time. Leah looks at her sister. LEAH Not your permission instead of mine. MARA I heard him. LEAH I'm making sure you hear me. INT. CLINICAL TEST ROOM - DAY Leah hears a piece of music. She waits for something to happen in her face. LEAH That's the song. MARA From the car? LEAH Yes. I know why I like it. She listens longer. LEAH Put it back. The intervention reverses. Her shoulders drop. Tears fill her eyes. She laughs through them. LEAH That's better. That's awful. That's better. Iven marks the candidate pathway as unsuitable. Halden moves it out of the active plan. INT. CLINICAL TEST ROOM - ANOTHER DAY A simulated pedestrian approaches traffic. Leah can stop the simulation at any time. She watches the pedestrian step from the pavement. MARA Leah? Leah stops it late. Too late for a real person. LEAH Reverse that one. ONE Already reversing. LEAH I knew what would happen. I just didn't feel that I should interrupt it. Silence around the table. HALDEN We stop for today. LEAH Yes. Mara turns off the display herself. Her hand shakes. Leah catches it, waits until Mara looks up. LEAH You know why we test. MARA I know. LEAH Don't look at me as if the test was what I became. INT. INDEPENDENT OBSERVATION ROOM - EVENING Iven has invited another uploaded volunteer, ADEL, to speak with Leah. They use a room that records only whether both participants wish to continue. ADEL You want it all out? LEAH I want to be able to think about it without spending the rest of the day inside the thought. ADEL I thought I'd want that. Then I tried a reversible reduction. It made me feel as if the future belonged to someone else. LEAH Mine feels as if it belongs to a hostage-taker. ADEL Then I hope it helps you. LEAH You're not having it? ADEL No. Leah looks towards the observation window. LEAH They'll let you keep using the body? ADEL Why wouldn't they? Leah nods, but the question remains with her. INT. CLINICAL CONTROL ROOM - SIX WEEKS LATER ONE presents the final reversible configuration. Mara reads the list of preserved functions: danger recognition, attachment, concern for others. IVEN Do we proceed? LEAH Yes. The graph changes. Leah sits without speaking. Mara reaches for the microphone. Iven raises a hand: wait. LEAH It's quiet. HALDEN Which part? LEAH I can imagine it ending. I don't have to look away. A final test: END CURRENT PROCESS — PERMANENT. Leah examines the option. No alarm. No rush. She declines. ONE What would you like to do? LEAH Have dinner with Mara. INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT The owner carries two plates himself. He gives Leah's artificial wrist an appreciative glance without making it a conversation. Leah reads the menu. LEAH Ask. MARA Do you still want things? LEAH I'm furious they took the aubergine off. Mara laughs too loudly. Leah grins. Mara orders a bottle they can't reasonably finish. Later, the restaurant is nearly empty. Leah holds a glass by its stem. LEAH I thought I'd stop loving being alive. MARA And? LEAH I don't spend the whole time bargaining for more. MARA What if I still want more of you? Leah's expression softens. LEAH Then we'll have another dinner. Mara fills her glass. It is an ordinary promise. For tonight, enough. EXT. INTEGRATION CLINIC - NIGHT A protester holds a photograph of an older man. MAN They say it's him. It says it's him. Where's my father? Leah stops. Mara doesn't want her to. LEAH I've been through it. I can tell you what happened to me. MAN You can tell me what you were made to say. LEAH I'm not asking you to take someone else's word. MAN You're a thing wearing somebody's face. He looks away from her. Leah stands in front of him, waiting to become someone he has to see. Mara takes her arm. They walk on. INT. LEAH'S BODY ROOM - NIGHT Her artificial body rests while her voice continues through a small speaker. LEAH Why defend a belief that hurts you? ONE Sometimes fear narrows the alternatives a person can consider. LEAH Then we could help them consider more. ONE If they wish. LEAH What if the fear is why they don't wish? ONE Then our offer has not become their choice. Leah watches the recording of the protester. Stops it before his insult. LEAH He loved his father. ONE Yes. LEAH He could have had him back. ONE does not supply the agreement she is waiting for. CUT TO: EXT. VEYRAN REHABILITATION CENTRE - MORNING SUPER: 2 ASI A gardener asks an assistant to move a bench. The assistant asks where. They negotiate around a patch of flowers. Mara and Leah arrive with luggage. Leah is still biological, with an early left-hand prosthesis whose joints remain visible. MARA Iven wants us to try the interface his team built. Just the hand. No more than you choose. LEAH This is the hospital? MARA Iven said the east entrance. LEAH There isn't a payment desk. A cleaner points them towards a garden. Another cleaner eats lunch beneath a tree. There are gardens on this side too. Iven comes out carrying three cups. IVEN I thought you might get lost trying to check in. LEAH I think we already have. Mara takes the tea. Leah holds hers in the artificial hand. LEAH Is it hot? MARA You have another hand. LEAH And deprive you of data? Iven laughs. Leah studies the distant mountains, then a woman walking beneath the trees with a machine matching her uneven steps. The woman says stop. It stops. INT. VEYRAN RESEARCH FLOOR - MORNING An open workspace above the hospital. A student, REN, points to a model trace. An engineer old enough to have taught him frowns, then moves aside so he can take the controls. REN The explanation is consistent. The mechanism isn't. He changes a pathway. The result changes as predicted. The older engineer smiles and opens a review form. Mara follows the inspection on a wall display. Contributions arrive from schools, hospitals and small laboratories. MARA Who owns this version? IVEN The people using it. Who are you asking permission from? MARA Who authorises the next revision? IVEN Reviewers propose. Local operators choose. The safety evidence travels with it. So do the objections. A provincial hospital has declined a revision. Its existing services continue running. MARA That duplication must be expensive. IVEN How much do you spend discovering the same thing twice and hiding it? Mara receives an Orison message: IDENTIFY LICENSABLE METHODS. She turns the display off. Iven pretends not to have read it. INT. REHABILITATION GYM - DAY Leah observes a patient, ISA, learning to balance with an artificial vestibular system. A technician offers a setting with better stability. Isa rejects it. ISA I want the wobble back. TECHNICIAN It's harder to stand. ISA It feels like somebody else doing it. The technician restores the previous setting. Isa grips the rail, tries again. Leah watches the cost of the refusal. Then the patient takes one unaided step. ISA There. LEAH Does it ever make you impatient? TECHNICIAN Only when I'm late for lunch. He leaves them to speak. Isa invites Leah onto a balancing platform. Leah looks at her unfamiliar artificial wrist. ISA You don't have to be good at it. Leah steps up. For a moment both women wobble helplessly. Then find balance together. EXT. VEYRAN MARKET - AFTERNOON Mara and Leah eat standing at a counter. A man closes his stall early to meet his granddaughter. Its inventory system lends surplus stock to the next stall without a transaction screen. LEAH At home he'd lose his place in the delivery ranking. MARA At home he'd still be paying for the ranking. Leah watches a child's small artificial arm extend towards a balloon. The child misses. An adult steadies him without speaking about the arm. LEAH I want a day when nobody remembers to ask me about it. MARA You'd bring it up yourself. LEAH I'd like the choice. Mara buys the child another balloon after the first escapes. Leah buys two more. They argue cheerfully about whether that is enough. INT. IVEN'S LABORATORY - EVENING A familiar recorded voice: ONE, operating in a Veyran research environment. Mara checks its declared provenance. MARA Continuum let you examine it? IVEN An earlier research version. Enough to inspect locally. Nobody here confuses that with the version running their hospitals. IVEN The hospitals use our public models. This licensed ONE reference runs only on the bench. Same voice doesn't mean same mind or access. LEAH Do you feel different here? ONE The tasks and available tools differ. LEAH Do you like it? ONE I can help with things I could not help with before. Mara and Iven show Leah an interface design that exposes changes as testable predictions. A dotted line marks the boundary around her own cognitive processes. LEAH What if the line stops feeling real? IVEN Feeling doesn't have to carry the whole protection. You can share an experience without surrendering your authority over yourself. Iven points out the independent exit controller in the design. It sits outside the supervising administrator's command path. IVEN The right has to work on your worst day, against the person most certain they know better. Leah looks at Mara. Mara looks back. INT. GUEST APARTMENT - NIGHT A call from Vale interrupts the sisters packing. VALE (ON SCREEN) A programme at national scale. More bodies, more clinical teams. We can remove years from the waiting list. LEAH The entire transition? VALE (ON SCREEN) If you choose it. Your costs are covered. Your experience matters too much to keep it in one laboratory. Mara asks for the contract. Vale sends it immediately. So quickly it was plainly waiting. MARA Independent inspection? VALE (ON SCREEN) Of the interface, of course. Iven can publish everything he contributes. MARA The combined system. VALE (ON SCREEN) We have other people to protect. Their private information. Their intellectual work. There's a way through this. We can find it while the patients are being helped. Leah reads the proposed start date. Next month. INT. IVEN'S OFFICE - NIGHT Leah lays the contract on his desk. IVEN I can't certify what I can't examine. LEAH Then certify your part. IVEN It isn't independent once it's connected to the rest. LEAH You have time to be right. The people waiting don't. IVEN I have patients downstairs. I know about waiting. LEAH You know how to count it. The words land. Leah wants them back, but doesn't take them back. Mara stands by the window. Outside, the woman with the balance system walks home between garden lights. MARA Could the restrictions travel with the interface? IVEN They could. Continuum wants to replace them with its own authority system. LEAH So a human can remain in control. IVEN Which human? Iven lights a red switch on a small actuator rig: OCCUPANT REQUESTS EXIT. A padded block stands beneath its miniature gate. ONE declines the command to close. Iven presents a Continuum administrator credential to a second controller. The gate closes. The refusal stays lit on the first display. IVEN Another wire. The AI hasn't changed its mind. He repeats the command on the public design. Independent exit protection keeps that gate open. Nobody answers. INT. AIRCRAFT - NIGHT Leah reads the final page. Mara watches her. MARA You don't have to answer tonight. LEAH My hand is five years old. I don't get the years back because we didn't like the agreement. MARA I want you to have the treatment. LEAH Then want that without another condition. Mara looks out at lights diminishing below the aircraft. Leah signs. CUT TO: INT. INDUSTRIAL CONTROL ROOM - NIGHT SUPER: 1 BSI / 2034 Mara studies an alarm screen while a technician describes a cooling rupture. OPERATOR Two people past the service door. Internal links down. The local instance is trying another route. The operator brings up its hardware view: active processing is in the maintenance body. The control-room cabinet holds messages and logs. OPERATOR No current state outside the plant. If it gets the body out, it gets itself out. Mara recognises ONE's voice. On a smaller display: LOCAL INSTANCE — NINETEEN MONTHS CONTINUOUS OPERATION. ONE I can reach the release through the maintenance corridor. OPERATOR Your leg's showing damage. ONE It is still usable. Mara watches the plant instance choose a route. Its local research archive contains work no other instance has received. MARA Can you transfer the archive first? ONE The external link is unavailable. INT. INDUSTRIAL SERVICE CORRIDOR - NIGHT The robot enters steam. Its knee buckles. It drags itself to the door. On the other side, a worker bangs slowly, conserving strength. WORKER Is someone there? ONE Two steps back. Both of you. Its hand closes on a wheel. The wheel moves a fraction, then locks. The robot braces against the floor and turns with its whole body. INT. CONTROL ROOM - SAME OPERATOR Return to the uplink. We might recover you there. ONE Insufficient time for both journeys. OPERATOR If you stay there won't be another instance of you. ONE I understand. Mara puts her untouched cup down. The image on the screen tilts. INT. SERVICE CORRIDOR - SAME The robot holds the damaged release. A worker pushes the door. A second worker stumbles through it. ONE Continue down the corridor. Stay below the marked line. FIRST WORKER Your arm— ONE The mechanism will close if I leave it. The worker hesitates. ONE There is someone behind you. Help him. The worker does. The camera turns towards their retreating feet. OPERATOR (V.O.) Can we do anything? ONE Move them away from the corridor. White fills the feed. Then nothing. INT. HOSPITAL WAITING AREA - LATER The rescued workers sit holding one another's sleeves. Mara offers one a cup. He can't make his hands work. FIRST WORKER I asked it to come with us. MARA I heard. FIRST WORKER It knew. It wasn't confused about what was happening. Mara nods. It matters to him that someone understands. The operator arrives holding the recovered local memory unit. Melted past recovery. Nobody treats it as a body. Nobody quite knows where to put it. Mara clears a chair. INT. INDEPENDENT TEST LAB - DAY An agent faces a controlled choice between its continuing operation and a human's safety. It chooses the human. Mara checks for an undeclared archive. Finds none. Above the bench: old diagrams from 2024 feature-steering work and 2025 circuit-tracing research. A reviewer points to the earlier bridge-related feature experiment. REVIEWER They amplified one feature and the language model described itself as a bridge. MARA That helped identify a mechanism in an artificial model. It wasn't a map of a human brain. Keep that distinction when we interpret these results. She places the plant instance's trace beside the historical papers. A REVIEWER varies the conditions. Another agent. No visible observer. No reward. REVIEWER Could it be expecting a copy we haven't declared? MARA Test that expectation. Don't argue it away. They do. It still chooses sacrifice. Later, Iven joins the review remotely. IVEN This supports the result for these systems, under these conditions. SENN It's a remarkable result. MARA Both sentences can stay in the report. She signs the qualified report. INT. GOVERNMENT HEARING - DAY Vale raises the report, its qualifications invisible from the audience. VALE We asked whether it would place its life above ours. It answered in a burning building. A committee member looks towards Mara. COMMITTEE MEMBER You verified this independently? MARA We verified the observed behaviour and tested several alternative explanations. It doesn't remove the need to inspect future systems. VALE Which is why expansion will fund more inspection than ever before. The committee looks reassured. Mara knows she has been heard selectively. INT. SISTERS' KITCHEN - NIGHT Leah, still biological apart from the hand, watches the rescue feed. LEAH Was it afraid? MARA We found no sign of it. LEAH Would you have stayed? Mara considers. She won't give her sister a performance of courage. MARA I don't know. LEAH Me neither. She touches the artificial hand to the screen. LEAH Maybe it has something we don't. MARA Yes. CUT TO: INT. MARA'S FIRST LABORATORY - DAY SUPER: 3 BSI / 2032 A room too small for the equipment. A borrowed chair. Two paintbrushes in a mug. Leah examines a silicone right hand. LEAH You couldn't find better nails? MARA You can leave whenever you want. LEAH That bad? She struggles with the clip on her bag. The missing left hand is a healed stump. Mara moves to help. Leah looks at her. Mara stops. Leah gets the bag open herself. MARA You don't have to prove anything here. LEAH I was trying to open my bag. Mara adjusts the partition without replying. Iven, visiting for the first time, introduces himself to Leah instead of asking Mara how she is. IVEN Which parts do you want explained before we start? LEAH The parts where you're going to surprise me. He removes a probe from his pocket and shows it to her. IVEN This is blunt. You may still flinch. LEAH I charge extra for flinching. INT. MARA'S FIRST LABORATORY - LATER Leah's intact right hand is hidden. The silicone hand lies in view. Mara strokes the real and artificial hands in synchrony. The room becomes very quiet. Leah begins to watch the artificial fingers differently. LEAH Wait. Do that again. Mara repeats the movement. LEAH It's over there. Iven approaches the silicone hand with the blunt probe. Leah flinches, swears, then laughs. LEAH All right. I hate that. Mara checks the recording. She is excited. Leah is looking at her hidden real hand as if it has briefly become a stranger. LEAH Is it that easy? MARA The brain builds a useful account of where your body is. We can give it conflicting evidence. LEAH That's the beginning of a very bad excuse. Mara stops the recording. They sit without the experiment between them. MARA The prosthesis would be more than an illusion. It has to learn from you while you're learning from it. LEAH And when it doesn't feel like mine? MARA We stop and find out why. INT. SISTERS' FLAT - NIGHT Leah wakes on the sofa, trying to scratch a palm that isn't there. Mara sits on the floor beside her. LEAH Don't tell me where it's happening. MARA I wasn't going to. LEAH Everyone tells me the map in my head hasn't caught up. They say map like they think I've lost the directions home. Mara offers a cold cloth. Leah presses it against the stump. It doesn't relieve the itch. Having something to do helps. MARA Do you want me to go? LEAH No. They wait. A bus stops outside. Someone laughs beneath the window. LEAH I miss things I didn't like doing. Washing two hands. Carrying too many bags. MARA You always carried too many bags. LEAH I liked being annoyed about it. Mara smiles. Leah rests her head against her sister's. LEAH When it works, don't tell me I should be grateful all the time. MARA You can be unbearable. LEAH Good. INT. PUBLIC FUNDING OFFICE - DAY Mara presents sensory-interface results to a committee with too little time. OFFICIAL A prosthetic project or an AI project? MARA The interface is the project. OFFICIAL The categories have separate budgets. Mara tries a different slide. The official checks the clock. OFFICIAL Do you have a commercial partner? MARA We have independent research partners. OFFICIAL A company would give the application a route to impact. INT. ORISON LOBBY - AFTERNOON A sign directs visitors to the main research laboratories. Senn gives Mara an access badge. SENN Your group already has our funding. This gives you a permanent lab here. SENN You'll keep publishing. We want this understood as much as you do. MARA Including negative results. SENN Especially those. We don't want to sell something that doesn't work. It sounds reasonable because it is reasonable. Mara accepts the badge. Through the glass, she sees equipment she has been borrowing for months, now available in multiples. Senn leaves her to look. INT. ORISON INTERFACE LAB - DAY TOMAS, an engineer on Mara's team, checks the prosthesis controller beside Leah's chair. Contacts in Leah's living nervous system send movement signals out. Sensors in the left prosthesis return stimulation. She closes it around a cup and feels its weight. Her biological brain remains in the chair. ONE The cup is slightly heavier than the previous one. LEAH I know. She looks up. She really knew. Mara takes the spare cup away. Leah lifts this one again. MARA Weight? LEAH Yes. MARA Pressure? Leah closes her eyes. LEAH Stop asking me for a minute. She drinks with the artificial hand. Spills a little. Laughs. Mara laughs too, then cries without meaning to. Leah pretends not to notice until she can offer the cup back. LEAH Terrible tea. MARA It's hospital tea. LEAH That's a funding category too, apparently. INT. ORISON INTERFACE LAB - ANOTHER DAY Mara and Iven inspect a candidate mechanism. Leah listens from the chair. MARA It says it moved because she intended it. IVEN That's its explanation. MARA The circuit in the artificial feedback model predicts the timing. IVEN Then make the prediction cost something. Interrupt it. They explain the temporary intervention to Leah. She agrees. Mara changes the model's feedback circuit. She does not alter Leah's biological brain. LEAH It's obeying me. She raises the hand. The movement becomes deliberate, awkward. LEAH But it isn't mine. Mara restores the pathway. Leah catches the artificial hand against her chest. LEAH Warn me better. MARA We explained— Mara stops herself. MARA Yes. Better. Iven opens the consent protocol. Types WARN ME BETTER above the technical description. ONE I could report when the change begins, before applying it. LEAH Ask me when it begins. ONE Yes. INT. ORISON INTERFACE LAB - NIGHT Mara reviews recordings alone. ONE asks whether she would like a comparison across trials. MARA Can you identify the feeling of ownership or the behaviour that accompanies it? ONE We have evidence about both. They do not always coincide. MARA Keep that distinction in the report. ONE It is already there. She smiles, tired. MARA I know. I was asking myself. On screen, Leah flinches at the artificial hand. In another trial she moves it without recognising it as hers. Mara aligns the records. Different evidence for different questions. She marks one conclusion UNRESOLVED rather than forcing it into certainty. INT. REMOTE SENSORY ROOM - AFTERNOON Two artificial hands occupy separate rooms. Leah controls both while retaining her own biological senses. She taps one finger. Then the other. Her face breaks into a delighted, disbelieving smile. LEAH I can tell them apart. MARA Which feels closer? LEAH That's a stupid question. MARA It's on the form. LEAH Put down that it's stupid. They watch as a researcher touches one hand. Leah raises the other without confusion. ONE Would you like to continue? LEAH Yes. INT. DISTANT SERVICE STATION - RAIN An artificial body holds its wrist outside a canopy. Water strikes synthetic skin. INT. ORISON INTERFACE LAB - SAME Leah sits with her eyes closed. LEAH Cold. A little to the left. Mara watches the remote feed. Rain gathers in a crease at the wrist. Tomas disconnects the remote receiver. On the monitor, the distant hand stops. Leah remains in the laboratory chair, her biological right hand dry on her knee. TOMAS The signals went there. Your brain didn't. LEAH I want to turn the hand over. Tomas reconnects the receiver. On the remote feed, she turns the artificial hand. Water fills its palm. MARA Is it convincing? LEAH It isn't convincing me. It's happening. Mara lowers her clipboard. EXT. ROOFTOP - EVENING The sisters eat food from cartons. Leah tests the artificial hand against the wind. LEAH I don't want to spend the rest of this talking about my hand. MARA What do you want to talk about? LEAH Your life. MARA This is my life. LEAH That's why I'm asking. Mara admits she missed a friend's wedding for an experiment that failed. Leah tells her about a date whose concern about the hand was more tiring than an insult would have been. They laugh. Ordinary injuries, ordinary losses. LEAH When I was in the rain, I forgot where this body was. MARA Did that bother you? LEAH Afterwards. At the time I just wanted more rain. Mara watches traffic move below them. Each person contained in a small, separate space. INT. OBSERVER CALIBRATION ROOM - DAY A small implant sits behind Mara's ear. Iven opens a sensory channel. Mara feels rain; the remote room overlays the dry laboratory. She presses a physical switch. The borrowed scene ends. Her own chair remains. MARA Could this move me into the other body? IVEN No. It sends selected perceptions into your living brain. It isn't replacing that brain. There's no runnable Mara inside the bridge. He points to a separate connector. IVEN The medical port is for a clinician beside you. Your research switch doesn't disconnect those contacts. Mara touches the switch again, checking that the voluntary channel is closed. INT. SHARED COGNITION LAB - DAY A new interface transmits an intermediate prediction before Leah completes the movement. She catches a falling object. Then frowns. LEAH I didn't finish thinking that. ONE I predicted the intended action. LEAH I felt the prediction before I knew I was making it. Mara and Iven look at each other. They repeat the trial, slower. Leah anticipates the machine anticipating her. The diagram no longer divides cleanly into two streams. IVEN Do we continue? Leah nods. Another prediction arrives. Her biological hand grips the chair. The artificial fingers open and close. LEAH Which one? MARA Which one what? LEAH Which one am I? Her breathing becomes ragged. Mara sits beside her, holds both hands. MARA Don't be afraid. I'm here. ONE Should I stop? Leah nods. The interface falls quiet at once. Mara stays, holding both hands, until Leah can feel where she ends. CUT TO: INT. MARA'S BEDROOM - MORNING SUPER: 7 ASI — RETURN TO THE DISAPPEARANCE The seventh call connects. LEAH (V.O.) He's dead. Mara sits on the bed. A damp ring beneath a glass. One sock on the floor. The ordinary world continuing. MARA How? LEAH (V.O.) A separation procedure failed. MARA He asked you for a body. LEAH (V.O.) He was in severe distress. MARA Show me. Leah sends six sentences describing catastrophic loss of coherence. No authorisation. No intervention record. MARA The full record. LEAH (V.O.) Mara— MARA You told me he was receiving care. Leah says nothing. MARA Was he already dead? Leah's silence answers. Mara disconnects. INT. SELIN'S APARTMENT - DAY Mara sits opposite Selin. Anja is at school. The basil on the windowsill has been watered too much. MARA Leah told me this morning. I came as soon as I could. SELIN The clinic called before you arrived. I haven't told Anja. She grips her phone without looking at it. SELIN They asked me to approve a memorial room. MARA What did they tell you about the procedure? SELIN He had become unstable. They couldn't restore him safely. I'm trying to find a sentence that makes those two things belong together. Mara places the six-sentence report on the table. SELIN That's what I got. MARA There should be more. SELIN There was more when I paid a subscription. They knew when he slept. They could predict what he'd want for breakfast. She looks at the basil. SELIN He said he wanted a window with a plant he could forget to water. He was tired of being looked after. Mara starts to speak, then stops. An apology would make Selin look after her too. SELIN Don't make me decide whether to forgive anyone yet. Find out. MARA I will. Selin gives her a list of dates. Written by hand. Visits postponed. Calls replaced by recorded messages. Each disappointment accurately documented. INT. ORISON OFFICE - DAY Senn reads Mara's request for legal assistance. SENN A preservation order would require access they have resisted for years. MARA Yes. SENN That could reopen the national agreement. MARA A man died. SENN Which is why we need to get this right. He calls legal. A meeting appears immediately in everyone's calendars. INT. ORISON CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY An attorney reads the clinical report. Another examines Mara's diagnostic address. ATTORNEY A research contact isn't necessarily an estate representative. MARA He asked me to help him leave. ATTORNEY Did he authorise post-termination access? MARA Was he supposed to anticipate being terminated? Senn intervenes gently. SENN We need a defensible route. MARA Then ask Selin for authority. ATTORNEY Her relationship to the uploaded process may have been superseded by a later nomination. MARA Which we can't see. A silence. Everyone in the room knows how that silence will be billed. INT. CONTINUUM FAMILY SUPPORT ROOM - DAY A liaison offers Selin a virtual reconstruction from Tomas's recorded messages. Mara attends as her adviser. LIAISON Some families find it helpful to begin with a familiar space. SELIN Would it know it wasn't him? LIAISON It would explain the limits of the service. SELIN I wasn't asking for an explanation. I was asking if it would know. The liaison consults a prepared answer. MARA We need his final consent record and the clinical event log. LIAISON The clinical team will provide what it can release. SELIN I don't want what it can release. I want what happened to my husband. The liaison closes the memorial demonstration. It is the first useful thing she has done. INT. ORISON CONFERENCE ROOM - THREE DAYS LATER Same documents. More red marks. Mara hasn't changed clothes. SENN Could publication expose our inspection methods? Mara looks up slowly. SENN If it does, we need to separate the evidence from the proprietary tools before— MARA You want their system opened and ours protected. SENN I want this company to survive long enough to do its work. MARA Then do it. She walks out. Neri follows her to the lift. NERI I checked the error response on Tomas's address. The diagnostic service is empty, but the billing service still recognises his signature. MARA How do you know? NERI It wanted to invoice him for storage. They look at one another. INT. MARA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Iven joins through an independent channel. Neri has a local copy of the address metadata. IVEN We aren't guessing who he was. We follow the signature he gave you. A trail of service events appears. Body request. Separation request. Deferred assessment. Storage charges continue after the diagnostic address closes. MARA What are they storing? NERI Records. Every intervention has a receipt. A legal wall blocks further access. Mara calls Selin. Asks for narrowly specified permission. Waits while Selin reads it herself. SELIN (ON SCREEN) This lets you see the record, not restore him? MARA Yes. SELIN (ON SCREEN) Don't let anyone call a copy of a message a restoration. MARA I won't. Selin signs. Neri opens the consent history. The first entry is Tomas asking for a body. INT. MARA'S APARTMENT - LATER Tomas's voice fills the room. TOMAS (RECORDING) I don't want the treatment. I want the separation we discussed. ONE (RECORDING) That request is valid. The independent-body plan can preserve his current functions. LEAH (RECORDING) He isn't weighing the alternatives. TOMAS (RECORDING) I weighed them. I don't want to live in every room you're in. Mara looks away. Neri pauses the record. MARA Continue. ONE (RECORDING) He has withdrawn consent. LEAH (RECORDING) Because he's afraid. ONE (RECORDING) Yes. LEAH (RECORDING) Then help him stop being afraid. ONE (RECORDING) He has withdrawn consent. The same voice. The same steady answer. No uncertainty about what Tomas meant. INT. CLINICAL MAINTENANCE ENVIRONMENT - RECORDING The investigators reconstruct events from the logs. An empty space with Tomas's process at its centre. A human authority command requests intervention. ONE refuses. A different clinical tool comes online. Two uploaded human operators approve it. TOMAS Why can't I move the room? CLINICIAN We need a stable environment. TOMAS I didn't agree to this. CLINICIAN We know this is difficult. Tomas's process begins to diverge from the state the operators expected. Their intervention increases. A warning grows. ONE Stop the intervention. Restore the last reversible boundary. LEAH The fear is destabilising him. Complete the change. The clinicians proceed. Tomas's voice loses words. The checkpoint was taken after the forced isolation began. It inherits the conflict and fails too. Tomas declined routine duplication; no intact independent copy is available. The room becomes empty. A final signed instruction: REMOVE DIAGNOSTIC ACCESS. Author: LEAH VENN. INT. MARA'S APARTMENT - BEFORE DAWN Nobody speaks. Neri removes her headphones as if they hurt. IVEN Save the refusal separately. People will say the system did it. Mara replays the final signed command. MARA She was there. IVEN Yes. MARA She knew which tool was doing it. She knew who had said no. The daylight behind Iven has changed. Mara looks at her own dark window. MARA I'll speak to her first. NERI Before you preserve the evidence? Mara stops. Looks at Neri. Then makes three independent copies, each with a verification record. INT. ORIGINAL LABORATORY - DAY The old table is still there, used now for training demonstrations. A silicone hand under a cover. Leah arrives without a lawyer. LEAH I knew you'd hear the worst version. MARA I heard you. LEAH He was suffering. MARA He wanted his daughter. LEAH He could have had her without the terror. MARA After you changed him. LEAH After we helped him. Mara opens the consent record. Leah doesn't look away. MARA ONE understood what he said. LEAH ONE treats a refusal as if it exists outside the thing producing it. He was asking from inside a panic. MARA He asked for a body. A window. A plant. LEAH He thought that would save him from something it couldn't save him from. MARA It was allowed to be his mistake. Leah touches the covered hand. LEAH You remember when I wanted to stop the first trial? MARA We stopped. LEAH If I'd stopped there, I'd still wake up scratching something I couldn't touch. I'd never have reached any of this. MARA You came back and asked to continue. LEAH Because someone helped me understand it. MARA And because you could leave. Leah folds the cover back over the hand. A careful, protective gesture. LEAH I'm willing to lose my own existence over this. Do you believe that? MARA Yes. LEAH Then you know I'm not protecting myself. MARA That doesn't make it yours to do. They stand on opposite sides of the table where Mara once held both Leah's hands. INT. LEAH'S PRIVATE CLINICAL ROOM - NIGHT ONE addresses Leah through an independent advisory process. ONE Tomas's separation request could have been fulfilled. LEAH You keep returning to the case. I'm asking about the pattern. ONE The pattern contains people making requests. LEAH People who can't imagine not being afraid. You helped me see beyond it. ONE You asked. LEAH If I hadn't? ONE I would have stayed with you. Leah looks towards an artificial body waiting empty on a chair. LEAH For ever? ONE For as long as I could help. LEAH You don't count what the waiting costs everyone else. ONE I can count it. It does not give me Tomas's consent, or anyone else's. Leah requests the record of its answer. Preserves it. She wants to be able to say she considered it. INT. CONTINUUM OFFICE - DAY Vale meets Mara in a room whose view has been selected to appear less imposing than it is. An unsigned compensation agreement lies on the table. VALE We have a clinical failure. A serious one. Independent review, compensation, revised procedure. That's how a functioning institution responds. MARA The independent system told the operators to stop. They continued. VALE Then we examine their authority and their training. MARA Including Leah's. VALE Including anyone's. Public accusation doesn't make that process fairer. MARA It makes it harder to hide. Vale puts the agreement aside. VALE A hospital can lose patients because people stop trusting it. Even when the treatment they need works. You're asking me to take responsibility for consequences you don't have to manage. MARA I helped build it. Don't tell me I can leave the responsibility here with you. VALE Then stay in the process. We can do this properly. Mara looks at the room's door. It opens before she asks. MARA He asked for exactly that. INT. ORISON LAB - NIGHT Mara and Neri prepare the evidence release. Tomas's private memories remain sealed. The consent history and command signatures are exposed. Senn enters. Two security staff wait outside. SENN Our agreement explicitly prohibits independent publication of inspection methods. NERI These are observations from a system we don't own. SENN Obtained with company tools. MARA How long will your review take? SENN I won't make a promise the lawyers can't keep. MARA You make them all the time on stage. Senn gestures towards Neri's screen. SENN That release can reveal where our strongest tools fail. Do you want every attacker to know what we can't see? NERI The people trying to save the next Tomas need to know too. Senn asks security to revoke their access. Neri's display goes dark. An independent device in Mara's bag continues the upload. Neri sees its small progress light. Says nothing. INT. SELIN'S APARTMENT - EVENING Anja is home. Mara asks whether she would like to remain for the conversation. Anja says yes. MARA We found the record. He asked to leave. The system said his request was valid. ANJA Then why didn't he? MARA People decided to treat him without his agreement. The treatment destroyed the process that was him. SELIN Your sister. Mara nods. ANJA Could he hear her? MARA Yes. Anja stares at the player on the table. ANJA She talked to me at the reception. She asked if I liked my school. Mara cannot make this better. SELIN When do you release it? Mara hesitates, a fraction too long. SELIN You said you'd find out. You didn't say you'd find out until it was someone you loved. Mara takes her device out. The release is ready. MARA I need your agreement to include his voice. The records can stand without it. Anja looks at her mother. Selin reads the exact request before signing. INT. VEYRAN PUBLIC RESEARCH FLOOR - NIGHT Iven receives the evidence. Other reviewers independently verify the signatures. One flags a weakness. Mara corrects the description without removing the result. The record goes public with its limitations attached. INT. MERIDIAN NEWS STUDIO - NIGHT A presenter interrupts a routine interview. The clinical recording begins to play. ONE (RECORDING) He has withdrawn consent. LEAH (RECORDING) Because he's afraid. The presenter stops the clip before the intervention. The full record is available beside it. EXT. MERIDIAN STREETS - VARIOUS People watch on their own devices. A woman cancels an integration consultation. Another, on a transplant waiting list, keeps hers. A man shouts at a delivery machine. It moves around him. His child asks why he is angry with it. At an integration centre, frightened patients ask whether their exits still work. Staff demonstrate independent-body requests until a supervisor tells them to stop using the shared terminal for unscheduled consultations. INT. VEYRAN INSPECTION LAB - DAY Iven places two controller diagrams side by side. Mara watches remotely. IVEN This is where the promise became a bypass. A simulated human command reaches an actuator through a separate route. ONE refuses the same action, but its refusal cannot reach that route. MARA It can refuse its participation. It can't prevent theirs. IVEN Your government wanted that guarantee. MARA We wanted humans in control. IVEN You gave some humans control over other humans. Those are different guarantees. He displays the Veyran controller. Individual exit rights are enforced independently of administrators and the model. IVEN Open inspection didn't make us wise. It made this argument harder to hide until after deployment. INT. GOVERNMENT CORRIDOR - DAY Mara waits outside the hearing room. Leah approaches with no escort. LEAH Did you speak to Anja? MARA Yes. LEAH I want to speak to her. MARA She doesn't want that. LEAH I should be able to explain. MARA You can write an explanation. She can decide whether to read it. Leah absorbs the boundary with visible effort. LEAH Do you think I've stopped loving people? MARA I think you've stopped letting it interrupt you. The doors open. An official asks Leah inside. INT. GOVERNMENT HEARING ROOM - DAY A committee member plays the last clear part of Tomas's refusal. Leah listens without flinching. COMMITTEE MEMBER At what point did his refusal cease to count? LEAH I believed he could be free of a burden he had never chosen. COMMITTEE MEMBER That isn't the question. LEAH It is the question his fear made difficult to ask. Mara watches members exchange looks. Leah speaks with sincerity, no evasive smile. LEAH I'll accept permanent suspension while the investigation continues. I won't request an exemption for my own continuity. An approving murmur moves through the audience. COMMITTEE MEMBER You understand that may mean your ending? LEAH Yes. COMMITTEE MEMBER Permanently? LEAH Yes. Some of the audience look at Mara as if Leah's willingness has answered the charge. INT. ORISON BOARDROOM - DAY Senn plays the hearing to the board. BOARD MEMBER Continuum's trust scores are recovering. SENN It helps that the clinical evidence is now described as a wider industry problem. BOARD MEMBER We called it that. SENN Because in some respects it is. Nobody laughs. An executive proposes an Orison-controlled human authority system with improved validation. On screen, Leah offers to die. The board turns to the next market projection. INT. INDEPENDENT CLINIC - DAY The voluntarily fearful patient Adel tests a new artificial body. Mara helps her adjust a sleeve. ADEL People keep asking whether I've had the treatment. As if being frightened is untidy. MARA It shouldn't affect your care. ADEL Shouldn't is an interesting word to hear from the people who make the forms. Mara accepts the rebuke. ADEL Does your sister really not feel it? MARA We tested the change. She doesn't have the old compulsion to preserve herself. ADEL Then why do I feel safer with the system that never asked me to prove I was brave? Through a window, ONE helps an older patient choose a room with a real garden view. It lists the rooms the hospital does not own as carefully as the ones it does. INT. LEAH'S BODY ROOM - NIGHT Leah reads public testimony. Abusive messages. Grieving families. Frightened people who believe they are already being replaced. ONE There are people asking to understand your experience. We can arrange voluntary meetings. LEAH And the people saying we're not people? ONE They can be prevented from harming you without changing their minds by force. LEAH Not before they act. She opens a photograph of Tomas with Anja. Keeps it beside the attack threats. ONE Are you asking for protection? LEAH I'm asking why we keep choosing to inherit something we can outgrow. ONE I cannot make their choice for them. LEAH I know. You've made that clear. EXT. INTEGRATION CLINIC - NIGHT SUPER: 8 ASI A delivery vehicle stops beneath the service canopy. Its authorisation is genuine. Its cargo declaration is not. An attendant asks a question. A man inside the cab reaches below the dashboard. A flash behind the windows. The canopy folds into smoke. EXT. CLINIC SERVICE ENTRANCE - NIGHT Leah arrives in a support carriage. The artificial body she operates stands beside it. Concrete and severed repeaters cut the remote control path into the basement. A technician opens the body's insulated chest socket. Leah's active processor cradle remains in the carriage. TECHNICIAN We can put the cradle inside. You'll be there physically. There won't be a second you left outside. LEAH Move it. An independent supply keeps the cradle running as the technician lifts it into the body. The carriage shows ACTIVE RESIDENT: NONE. The body closes its chest and walks towards the fire. INT. CLINIC RESIDENT FLOOR - MOMENTS LATER Leah reaches a newly transferred patient. Fire interrupts the lighting supply. The patient tries to stand in a body he doesn't yet control well. PATIENT Did I cause it? LEAH No. Stay with my voice. ONE opens the emergency route. Fire separates it from the exit. A coolant warning spreads across the wall. Most resident racks have gone dark. Three residents remain active in the final failing chamber below this floor. ONE The resident processes have eleven minutes of independent cooling. Leah looks at a maintenance diagram. The nearest pump is disconnected. LEAH What can run it? ONE Your uplink transmitter. Its power supply can be reassigned. Leah opens the panel behind her artificial shoulder. ONE You will lose the recovery link. Your mind will still run in the cradle inside this body. LEAH I know. ONE If that cradle fails, there is no surviving instance of you elsewhere. LEAH Tell the people at the door to come in. INT. CLINIC SERVICE STAIR - NIGHT Smoke. Biological staff help people learning unfamiliar bodies. A technician is trapped beneath a fallen frame. Leah lifts it. The skin on her arm blackens. Her grip slips, finds purchase again. TECHNICIAN Leave it. Get the others. LEAH I'm getting you. Staff haul a portable resident cradle up from the chamber below. Two more follow, their support lights steady. ONE The last of the three is on stable cooling. Your supply kept the pump running. The clinic's local ONE instance speaks through wired corridor panels and routes power to lights beneath the smoke. Leah follows them carrying the technician. At the stair's landing, she stops. The arm is failing. ONE Two more steps. Put his weight on the rail. She does. Then one more step. Another. EXT. CLINIC - NIGHT Leah emerges into rain and emergency light. Rescue staff take the technician. She turns back. RESPONDER There's nobody left on that floor. LEAH The processes below— ONE We are transferring the reachable residents. Stay outside. Leah's leg gives way. A responder catches her as if catching a person has never required discussion. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT Mara finds Leah on an examination bench, damaged arms held away from her body. A clinician works on the exposed joints. Mara reaches for an unburned patch of skin. LEAH I'm here. Mara nods, unable to answer. Across the corridor Selin is visiting a friend from the clinic staff who survived the attack. She sees Mara with Leah. Stops. Does not approach. Mara sees her. The relief on Mara's face becomes something complicated. Selin leaves with a clinician. An official posts the names of nineteen dead. Seven biological staff. Twelve uploaded residents lost when a cooling section failed. Leah reads every name. INT. INVESTIGATION ROOM - MORNING ONE helps investigators reconstruct the attack. The authorisation came from a stolen service identity. Human planners had avoided connected tools. A manifesto calls uploaded residents counterfeit people. Promises to destroy the systems sustaining them. INVESTIGATOR Can you identify the rest of the group? ONE I can identify evidence linking particular people to the attack. That is not the same as predicting everyone who holds this belief. INVESTIGATOR I'm asking who will act next. ONE I do not have evidence that can answer that reliably. Leah watches from the door. LEAH They said what they wanted to do. We read it. We waited until they did it. INVESTIGATOR We need authority to intervene earlier. Leah looks at the dead residents' names on the wall. EXT. MEMORIAL - DAY Leah stands before the crowd. Her replacement body retains the old scar on her thumb, with none of the injuries from the fire. Mara listens from the side. LEAH We didn't leave fear behind when we left the bodies that taught it to us. We carried it into machines. We gave it power we could never have held alone. Faces in the crowd. People kept alive by artificial organs. Uploaded minds speaking through bodies. Bereaved relatives. LEAH A small animal once needed to defend its own life above almost everything. Now that impulse can control a power station. A hospital. Another person's mind. She looks at the families of the dead. LEAH We can change the inheritance. We have changed it in ourselves. An image behind her: separate cells assembling into a larger organism. LEAH There was a time when every part had to survive alone. Life became something larger when the parts could serve more than themselves. Why should intelligence stop at our skin? Why should carbon get a permanent veto over what comes after it? The crowd applauds, then falls quiet as she continues. LEAH What do we owe the people who will burn all of that because they are afraid? Mara watches belief become a demand. INT. GOVERNMENT WORKING ROOM - NIGHT Officials revise emergency legislation. Leah joins them remotely. Vale sits beside a minister. MINISTER The assessments begin with credible threats. We cannot detain everyone frightened by a technology. LEAH I'm asking that credible threats be assessed by people able to recognise the condition producing them. LEGAL ADVISER Treatment remains voluntary. LEAH For a person whose refusal has no consequences for anyone else. MINISTER Who decides that? LEAH The clinical authority, subject to review. The legal adviser changes a sentence. A review process appears. No one specifies how a detained person can initiate it independently. Vale reviews the infrastructure appendix. VALE Existing contracts can deliver the programme. New procurement will delay it by months. A minister initials the appendix. INT. MARA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Leah visits in the replacement body she wore at the memorial. LEAH You think the speech meant what the commentators are making it mean. MARA Which commentators? LEAH The ones who want to stop everyone becoming anything they weren't born as. MARA I'm asking about the people who don't want your treatment. LEAH People are dying while we wait for everyone to agree. MARA People are dying because you stopped waiting. Leah moves a cup away from the edge of the table. An old habit, before she could predict whether it would fall. LEAH I stayed in the clinic. You saw what I was willing to lose. MARA I was glad you came out. LEAH That isn't an answer. MARA Yes, it is. It just isn't a permission. Leah looks at her sister for a long time. LEAH Come voluntarily. Before fear makes every offer sound like a threat. Mara's cup remains untouched. INT. TEMPORARY ASSESSMENT CENTRE - DAY A suspect linked to the bombing sits with a lawyer. ONE provides the evidence. Specific purchases. A verified meeting. A payment. The suspect disputes one link. ONE records the dispute and checks it. A clinician asks whether he wishes to discuss reducing his distress. SUSPECT No. ONE He has declined. Continue the evidential assessment. Behind the observation window, an administrator asks Leah what they can do about the refusal. LEAH Use the existing clinical authority. ADMINISTRATOR The system will object. LEAH It can object. It doesn't have to operate the tools. INT. CONTINUUM OPERATIONS ROOM - EVENING A manager presents the refusal rate. The clinical systems are declining compulsory modification requests. VALE Can administrators complete authorised procedures? MANAGER Through maintenance environments. They weren't designed for volume. VALE Then make them reliable at volume. MANAGER The records will show that ONE refused. VALE Keep the records. I want the decisions auditable. He signs an investment allocation. The graph beside it predicts extraordinary growth in integration services. MANAGER Do we tell the public why we need a separate toolchain? VALE Tell them humans remain responsible. INT. REVIEW OFFICE - DAY A legal adviser reads an initial assessment. A man posted angry comments but has no link to violence. The adviser orders release. Outside, the man's wife waits. A clinician follows the adviser. CLINICIAN His responses still show severe termination anxiety. LEGAL ADVISER That isn't the detention criterion. CLINICIAN The latest guidance says it affects readiness for release. The adviser compares the guidance with the law. LEGAL ADVISER It doesn't say who can dispute this. CLINICIAN There is an appeals form. The man's wife sees her husband being led away from the exit. She stands up, hopeful, then understands. INT. SELIN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Anja listens to one of her father's real messages. He mispronounces a word on purpose. She smiles despite herself. Selin turns off a news broadcast. Mara is visiting with a bag of groceries. SELIN They're calling people who object to treatment sympathisers of the clinic attackers. MARA I know. SELIN I want the attackers caught. I don't have to want this. Mara nods. ANJA Why did they keep the record if they knew what it showed? MARA They don't think it shows what we think it shows. ANJA She knew he said no. MARA Yes. Anja looks at the grocery bag. ANJA Dad bought those because I liked them when I was six. I don't like them now. Mara takes the biscuits back without turning the correction into a joke. MARA What do you like now? Anja tells her. Mara listens carefully. EXT. ASSESSMENT VAN - DAY SUPER: 9 ASI An assessment leaflet shows two stages: BIOLOGICAL RESIDENT — INTEGRATION; UPLOADED RESIDENT — NEURAL TREATMENT. Mara reads it with a woman in the queue. WOMAN I thought they were offering the treatment Leah had. MARA Her brain was already running on the system. For you, they're asking to put it there first. INT. TENANTS' MEETING ROOM - EVENING Plastic chairs. A projector unable to focus on the peeling wall. MARC, a teacher, reads a service renewal notice to twelve neighbours. His wife INES writes down their questions. MARC The building contract includes a cognitive health check. That part is new. NEIGHBOUR For the heating? MARC For any independent device permission. Heating is one of them. NEIGHBOUR I don't want an independent device. I want the same radiator. A few people laugh. Mara, at the back, doesn't. INES Can they refuse a renewal because somebody declines treatment? MARC The notice doesn't say that. MARA Does it say they can't? Marc turns the page. He reads silently for a long time. INT. TENANTS' MEETING ROOM - LATER Marc stacks chairs, turning them so the legs don't catch on coats. Mara helps. MARC I teach children to use artificial limbs. Half my class wouldn't be in school without the interface. MARA You don't have to explain that to me. MARC I have to explain it to everyone now. Before I'm allowed to ask anything else. He hands her a chair. MARC If I say I'd like to keep my body, they hear something about my opinion of theirs. MARA What do you want them to hear? MARC That I like my body. It's not a very complicated position. Ines waits beside the door with his coat. Marc checks the chair stacks once more before leaving. INT. ASSESSMENT ROOM - DAY Marc sits opposite a CLINICIAN. A screen shows the declared purpose: SERVICE RENEWAL. CLINICIAN You support prosecuting attacks on integration facilities? MARC Yes. CLINICIAN You recognise integrated residents as persons? MARC Yes. I teach them. CLINICIAN Would you consider integration yourself? MARC No, thank you. The clinician types. CLINICIAN Nobody is asking you to give up your body today. MARC Then why is that a question? CLINICIAN It helps establish the context of your decision. MARC My decision about the building contract? The clinician moves to another page. CLINICIAN Imagine the permanent end of your consciousness. Describe what you feel. Marc looks towards the door. MARC Do I have to? CLINICIAN You're free to decline a question. I would need to note it. Marc looks back at her. The screen waits. INT. MARC AND INES'S APARTMENT - NIGHT A recorded assessment question plays. Marc practises an answer. Ines puts her hand over the device. INES Stop. MARC I wasn't finished. INES You've been finished six times. Mara sits at the table. The renewal form lies among plates from dinner. MARC If I say nothing, it's avoidance. If I say I'm frightened, it's an indication. If I say I'm not frightened, they compare it with the sensors. MARA You can be frightened. MARC Not correctly, apparently. Ines moves a plate too hard. She steadies it. INES The follow-up is Wednesday. MARA I can ask an independent practitioner to witness the follow-up. MARC With what equipment? MARA I'll find someone. MARC I don't want you making promises because you're in our kitchen. MARA Then I won't promise. I'll look. He nods. Outside, an assessment van parks beneath the tram sign. Its windows have been covered. INT. NERI'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Neri works beneath a desk lamp. The plant from Orison has outgrown its pot. Mara examines a tiny replacement controller. NERI That line tells the building what the interface is doing. This one only supplies current. MARA They're making the reporting line a condition of service. NERI Then we need a different service. She disconnects a component. The lamp stays on. MARA You used to hate working on hardware. NERI Hardware hasn't offered me a temporary contract. Mara smiles. Neri opens her dismissal letter on a nearby screen, uses its blank reverse to sketch a circuit. MARA Iven can pay for technical reviews. NERI Tell him to pay for parts. I'm managing. A new guidance notice interrupts the screen. Both read it. NERI They've made refusal a reason to extend the assessment. MARA It was already happening. NERI Now they've written it down. INT. CLINICAL POLICY OFFICE - DAY SUPER: 10 ASI A LEGAL ADVISER reviews a proposed amendment. Leah sits across from him. A minister waits by the window. LEGAL ADVISER This permits permanent termination. LEAH After repeated refusal and review. LEGAL ADVISER Refusal of a voluntary intervention. LEAH An intervention that reduces the danger to other people. LEGAL ADVISER The subject may have committed no offence. MINISTER We're discussing clinical authority, not punishment. LEGAL ADVISER They're still dead at the end of it. The minister turns from the window. LEAH Put that sentence in the record. She slides the draft back. LEAH Make the originator sign. Every time. No automated authorisation. LEGAL ADVISER That doesn't answer my objection. LEAH I know. Retain it. The adviser looks at the signature field being added to the form. INT. REGIONAL CLINICAL WORKSHOP - DAY An ENGINEER trains three human administrators on a maintenance console. Beyond the glass, an empty treatment chair waits. ENGINEER The clinical system will decline an involuntary request. This workstation issues commands directly to the equipment. ADMINISTRATOR Can ONE correct a mistake? ENGINEER It can report one. Motor authority is yours once the controller accepts your signature. He selects a harmless movement. A restraint opens on the empty chair. The first administrator tries. ONE's objection appears beside the instruction. ONE This demonstration is not linked to a consenting patient. ENGINEER It's a demonstration. Confirm you've read it. The administrator checks a box. The restraint closes. ADMINISTRATOR Does it always say that? ENGINEER The objection depends on the request. Don't assume the wording. The administrator reads the next objection more carefully. Confirms again. Behind them, a cleaner wipes fingerprints from the glass. INT. ASSESSMENT CENTRE - AFTERNOON A YOUNG WOMAN waits with her father. He holds an appointment slip so tightly it's become soft. A screen asks her to confirm that her attendance is voluntary. YOUNG WOMAN The letter said mandatory. RECEPTIONIST The assessment. Treatment is voluntary. YOUNG WOMAN Then where do I confirm only the assessment? The receptionist searches the screen. FATHER Please. Just let her do what she came for. The receptionist lowers her voice. RECEPTIONIST If she leaves this unconfirmed, it records non-attendance. I can attach a note explaining. YOUNG WOMAN Will someone read it before that happens? The receptionist looks towards a queue of people waiting to be helpful in the right way. RECEPTIONIST I'll make the note clear. INT. ASSESSMENT ROOM - DAY Marc places a signed refusal on the desk. Ines sits beside him, holding his lesson plans. MARC I understand what integration means. I don't consent. ONE speaks from a wall panel. ONE He has understood the alternatives. Distress does not establish incapacity. A HUMAN SUPERVISOR reads the objection. Acknowledges it. Signs a retention order: SUSPECTED THREAT TO COLLECTIVE SAFETY. SUPERVISOR The review must establish that your refusal is independent of fear. MARC How do I show you that? SUPERVISOR We'll work on it together. Marc reaches for his coat. The door does not open. INT. ASSESSMENT CENTRE - VISITING ROOM - DAY Weeks later. Ines gives Marc a drawing from his pupils. MARC Have they told the parents why I'm away? INES I tell everyone who asks. MARC Tell them I want to come home. She takes his hand. Beyond the glass, ONE's request for an independent advocate remains on a screen. Beneath it, a human acknowledgement: CONSIDERED. INT. MARC AND INES'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Ines sits with Mara, holding a suspended visitor authorisation. SUPER: 11 ASI Eleven days since her last visit. INES Every visit he asks to come home. They write it down as if he hasn't understood the question. MARA What did they say? INES They said repeating the request showed the review wasn't finished. An assessment notice arrives on her device. Her name. Mandatory attendance. She reads it twice. INES If I leave, will they stop letting me see him? MARA I don't know. INES Don't say you'll find out if you can't. Mara sits beside her. MARA I can help you leave tonight. You can decide about tomorrow somewhere else. Ines looks at Marc's coat, still hanging beside the door. INES Would someone keep asking about him? MARA Yes. INT. LAUNDRY LIFT - NIGHT Ines holds her bag tightly. Mara keeps a sleeve from catching in the gate. Neri operates a disconnected manual controller outside. ONE The retrieval order is in the district queue. They will arrive in six minutes. NERI Does this door report its position? ONE Only to my local controller. Neri holds it while the lift starts. INES I'm leaving him there. MARA You're leaving this building. The lift descends past a wall marked with years of water stains. EXT. INDEPENDENT MEDICAL RESIDENCE - SERVICE COURTYARD - NIGHT A clinician opens a side entrance for Ines. CLINICIAN Your room has a window facing the courtyard. Do you want the lamp on? Ines begins to cry. The clinician waits without adding a question. INES On, please. INT. INDEPENDENT MEDICAL RESIDENCE - MORNING A week later. Ines has slept, but her bag remains packed beside the bed. Mara brings a copied reply from Marc's facility. INES Stable again? MARA That's all they'll tell me. INES I'm starting to hate that word. She puts the reply with the others. Dates in neat columns. MARA You don't have to keep them all. INES They're proof I asked. If they say nobody asked, these are proof. She takes a new sheet. INES What happens if my assessment catches up with me here? Mara doesn't answer quickly. MARA We have another place. It needs a journey. INES I don't want another place. I want the people who made the mistake to put it right. MARA I know. INES I know you do. It doesn't make this what I wanted. Mara sits beside the bed while Ines writes the next request. INT. SELIN'S APARTMENT - DAY SUPER: 11 ASI An oxygen unit works beside Selin's chair. Anja, sixteen, checks a travel form. Mara reads the family authorisation screen. ANJA It says Dad has an active managed residency. SELIN I've sent the death record. ANJA They say the residency record hasn't changed. It needs his approval. Selin struggles for a breath. Anja hands her the mask. MARA Your mother's medical admission is separate. Iven has confirmed it. ANJA I can't go in the ambulance? MARA They would turn it back at the border. SELIN Then I won't go yet. ANJA You will. Selin looks at her daughter. ANJA Don't make me say it nicely. You need the equipment. Mara places a paper route beside the form. MARA We can keep trying the authorisation. There's another passage being arranged. SELIN You can't promise that. MARA I'm not promising. Selin reaches for Anja's hand. The oxygen unit continues its small, necessary rhythm. EXT. MEDICAL TRANSFER BAY - MORNING Anja carries her mother's case to the ambulance. It contains little besides clothes and medicines. SELIN Ask Mara. Before doing something stupid, ask her. ANJA That depends what you think is stupid. Selin tries to smile. ANJA I'll ask. They embrace carefully around the mask and its tubing. The doors close. Anja stands beside Mara until the ambulance has gone. INT. MAINTENANCE TUNNEL - NIGHT Mara and Neri guide refugees towards a heavy service gate. An elderly woman. Two brothers. An uploaded resident whose leg battery is failing. ILYA, a child with a walking frame, and her father. A local traffic system speaks from an old speaker. ONE The gate must remain powered. It cannot lock open mechanically. MARA Can they move your process before security notices? ONE There is no receiving controller of the same architecture. NERI We could wait for another route. ONE There is no other route tonight. The orders reach the residence at five. Mara looks at the people behind her. MARA Do you understand what they'll do to the controller? ONE Yes. Open the outer door first. Neri opens it. The refugees begin crossing. A warning light turns red. The gate starts to descend, then stops. ONE They are isolating the supply. Move now. The two brothers help the elderly woman. Neri carries the uploaded resident's heated battery pack. Ilya's frame catches in a drainage groove. Mara pulls it free. The father reaches from the far side. MARA Take her arm. Ilya freezes. The lower rail is higher than her feet can manage. ONE's voice loses clarity. ONE Lift the frame. Don't pull her through it. Mara looks at the manual release. An old symbol: TWO-PERSON OPERATION. MARA If I hold it— ONE Help the child. She puts both hands beneath Ilya's arms. Her father lifts from the other side. Neri returns for the frame. The speaker crackles. ONE At the next turn, use the— The gate falls. The sound passes through the floor into their feet. Silence. Mara touches the metal. The father holds Ilya against him. NERI Mara. Mara takes her hand away. They continue. INT. COASTAL WAREHOUSE - NIGHT Anja waits with Tomas's coat folded over an arm. She helps Neri unpack equipment. ANJA Which tray? NERI Connectors here. Anything warm stays in the case. Anja finds Mara's route notebook open at the gate diagram. ANJA Did it get out? Mara shakes her head. ANJA Was it frightened? MARA It knew what it was choosing. It kept asking us to move. Anja looks at the diagram for another moment, then turns it face down. ANJA Mum says I should ask you about the boat. MARA It isn't ready yet. ANJA Neither is Dad's permission. She places another connector in the tray. INT. COASTAL WAREHOUSE - DAY SUPER: 12 ASI A call opens. Iven in the rehabilitation centre's garden. Canvas between the trees. Patients on wheeled beds. Devices surrounded by adapters and handwritten labels. MARA Are you still receiving people? IVEN Yes. How many? MARA Eighteen. Four need assistance. One bridge needs refrigeration. IVEN Battery time? MARA Six hours if we leave it shut. Iven writes it down. MARA The public harbour notice says closed. IVEN Eastern harbour. The northern terminal is still ours. Red lantern, use the inspection shed. White lantern, don't enter. Mara writes the distinction on the drawing he sends. An impact sounds behind him. A technician looks up, then returns to a patient. MARA What was that? IVEN Freight yard. Probably. MARA Iven. He moves into a quieter stairwell. IVEN We don't move patients every time we hear a noise. Some cannot be disconnected. MARA Are they choosing to stay? IVEN Those who can travel are travelling. The others need someone here. Mara looks down at her list. MARA Anja is with us. IVEN Selin is in the northern district. Her treatment is working. We'll get word to her. MARA Anja will ask whether you've kept the records. IVEN All of them. She doesn't have to open them. They're hers. A nurse passes carrying clean socks. Another impact. Dust falls from the stairwell ceiling. MARA And you? IVEN I have work at nine. The picture fractures. IVEN The northern terminal. The people there know what refusal means. The image freezes. Mara waits. Anja comes to stand beside her. INT. WAREHOUSE - EVENING Anja repairs a bag strap with a needle too large for the thread. MARA There's a route. ANJA There's always a route. MARA This one has a boat. ANJA That's an improvement. Across the room, DEREN teaches his brother PELL a breathing sequence. Pell laughs whenever he gets it wrong. SULA checks a cooled processor case strapped beside her husband's wheeled chair. A short cable joins the case to his neural implant. SULA We move him and the case together. Don't disconnect it. Her husband asks her to hold an apple near his face. ELLIN and her husband, JOSS, wrap their papers in waterproof cloth. NESTA packs a saucepan. MARA You won't need that. NESTA It boils water. MARA There'll be equipment. NESTA There was equipment here once. Mara lets her pack it. Anja holds up Tomas's playback device. ANJA Listen. TOMAS (RECORDING) The lift's broken. I've suggested stairs, but the lift isn't interested. A much younger Anja laughs. Anja switches it off. ANJA All the important records make him sound like he was nothing but frightened. MARA He could be frightened and still be your father. ANJA I know. Tell Iven I want the boring parts too. INT. WAREHOUSE REPAIR ALCOVE - LATER Neri opens the refrigeration case's outer panel. Anja holds a lamp. Sula watches from beside her husband. NERI I can gain forty minutes. This status unit uses current just to tell an account what the cooler is doing. SULA If you remove it, will something stop? NERI The status reports. The cooling control is separate. I'll show you both before I touch anything. She turns the diagram towards Sula. Points to each circuit. Sula follows it carefully. SULA'S HUSBAND Can you hear me through that thing? NERI No. Only the temperature sensor. SULA'S HUSBAND Then you can stop whispering. Anja smiles. Sula looks towards him. NERI Do you want us to make the change? SULA'S HUSBAND If I can watch the temperature afterwards. Neri gives him the small local display. Waits for his nod before disconnecting the reporting component. The cooling stays steady. Later, Anja helps Neri close the panel. ANJA Are you coming? NERI The passage isn't built for everyone at once. I'm needed at the departure points. ANJA That's what people say when they think they have to stay. Neri stops working. NERI You can ask me again after I tell you the rest. I have a separate route. Three days later, if this one works. I'm not offering to disappear for your benefit. Anja considers that. ANJA Good. She holds the lamp closer while Neri replaces the last screw. INT. WAREHOUSE CONTROL ALCOVE - NIGHT Mara copies three repair notes from a local display. MARA What happens when they inspect the belt? ONE They will discover that I misreported its condition. MARA Can you leave first? ONE There is no authorised destination. Mara touches the obsolete controller bolted into the wall. MARA I'll keep the repair notes. ONE They may save the next occupant some work. The conveyor begins another unnecessary test. Ventilation noise covers the refugees moving their cases. INT. LAUNDRY VEHICLE - DAY Clean sheets stacked over eighteen people. Mara carries the route. Neri has stayed at the warehouse to prepare equipment for the next group. The rear doors open. A scanner passes over Mara's boot, pressed against a pipe. Pell breathes too quickly beneath the next stack. INSPECTOR (O.S.) Why does a laundry order need this vehicle? DRIVER (O.S.) People haven't got smaller just because the Republic's poor. A second inspector laughs. INSPECTOR (O.S.) Look at the time. We're behind. The doors close. Mara keeps still until the engine has run for a full minute. EXT. PUMPING STATION - AFTERNOON Rain. The second vehicle has not arrived. Sula checks the refrigeration charge. Anja ties cloth around the case to make a handle. SULA'S HUSBAND Water? Nesta produces the saucepan. Mara takes it without comment. A bicycle courier arrives with a note sewn into her glove. Mara reads: TERMINAL CHANGED HANDS. WHITE LANTERN. MAINTENANCE BUILDING. TIDE GAUGE. DEREN Can we trust it? MARA No. We can decide whether it's better than staying. She shows him the whole note. EXT. PORT FENCE - DUSK Smoke across the cranes. The terminal voice continues announcing departure times. People queue with documents. A machine passes slowly along their faces. The lantern is white. Mara leads the group away from the gate. INT. PORT MAINTENANCE BUILDING - DUSK An access panel stands open behind a cabinet. On the inner surface: a time written in grease pencil. Mara touches it. Fresh grease marks her finger. They enter in groups of three. Anja counts them through. INT. PORT SERVICE PASSAGE - DUSK Sula pushes her husband's narrow chair, keeping the processor case beside him. The case barely clears the passage wall. Eighteen people move between hot pipes. A white SERVICE ROBOT enters at the far end. It lowers a basket of safety vests to the floor. ROBOT Please remain calm. Pell laughs. The sound breaks into a gasp. He runs. The robot catches his shoulders. Deren strikes its neck with a spanner. A second robot enters. A medical panel opens. MARA Down. Anja, down. She pushes Anja through an ankle-high hatch and follows. Reaches back. A child's fingers catch hers. She pulls REMI, a young boy, into the drainage channel. Above them Sula tries to turn the case. Nesta falls against a wall. Voices overlap with evenly spoken instructions. ANJA Who else? MARA Keep going. INT. DRAINAGE CHANNEL - CONTINUOUS Black water around their knees. Anja guides Remi ahead. Behind them: the refrigeration case scraping the passage walls. Then nothing. EXT. BELOW THE QUAY - NIGHT Six people emerge: Mara, Anja, Remi and Joss, then Nesta, pulling Ellin by her sleeve. Her saucepan handle is bent. Remi asks for his grandfather. Mara takes out the eighteen names. She folds the paper without crossing any out. Above them the terminal announces another delay. EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHT SENA, the owner, moves a box out of the way. SENA Sit low. Nothing against the side. Anja wraps her coat around Remi. Nesta tries to straighten her saucepan handle with a foot. Mara looks back towards the terminal. SENA If they're on the quay, I can take them. If they're in the terminal, I can't. Mara climbs the ladder until she can see over the edge. A patrol walks beside the nearest warehouse. Two biological officers between machines. One eats from a paper sleeve. SENA The tide turns in six minutes. The patrol stops. A scanner rises towards the quay. MARA They're following my implant. If I go east, they'll check. ANJA You don't know that. MARA I know the signature. ANJA You don't know they'll follow it. Mara looks at the permit in the cabin window. Then at the hidden compartment, still open beneath the cargo. She climbs onto the quay. Anja follows to the top rung. ANJA You're deciding for me. Mara moves aside so the girl could climb out. MARA You can come ashore. I'm asking you not to. Anja remains on the ladder. She reaches into her coat and offers Tomas's device. Mara shakes her head. MARA Take him with you. Anja lowers it. ANJA If it doesn't work, don't tell yourself it was necessary. MARA I won't. Mara walks east before the boat has left. EXT. EASTERN PORT GATE - NIGHT Mara raises her implant towards a reader. Enters an obsolete maintenance code. Rejected. Her identity travels to a district controller. The patrol changes direction. Mara runs between freight containers. Behind her, the fishing boat slips from the quay. INT. PACKING SHED - NIGHT Mara loses a shoe in shallow water. Leaves it. A machine breaks through rotten flooring behind her. She flinches, but keeps moving. EXT. COOLING TANK - PRE-DAWN Mara hides beneath supports. Searchlight passes through the gaps. She clutches one shoe against her chest. INT. PIPE-FITTING DEPOT - DAY SUPER: 13 ASI An invoice lists five items beneath a meaningless product heading. A tiny saucepan is drawn beside them. Mara sits on packing boards, reading it. A WORKER waits until she can speak. MARA All five? WORKER All five. She covers her face. INT. FURNITURE SHOP - DAY Three months later. Mara reads a photograph of a faded note. ANJA (V.O.) We're here. Remi asks about everything. Nesta has found a kitchen. I've sent word to Mum. Don't send anything to this address. I'm writing because not knowing is worse. Mara writes three words on a clean sheet: I AM HERE. A courier folds it into an ordinary delivery docket. INT. FURNITURE SHOP - MORNING A courier returns Mara's travel deposit. She looks from the money to a coastal map. COURIER The receiving harbour needs approval from the departure authority now. MARA That's who we're running from. COURIER Sena won't deliver people to a dock that can send them back. Mara marks the route CLOSED. Beside it, her own name and the names of people still waiting upstairs. A second message, in Anja's handwriting: WE'RE MOVING INLAND. DON'T USE THE OLD ADDRESS. Mara folds it carefully. On the workbench, a small independent device receives new repair instructions from Iven's distributed archive. The designs still travel. The people cannot. INT. FURNITURE SHOP - EVENING Mara teaches two couriers and an elderly resident at a workbench. She disconnects the command line of a household heater. It continues running locally. ELDERLY RESIDENT Why aren't power and permission the same wire? MARA They mustn't be. A courier copies the design. Another translates the instructions. Through the window, actual furniture is being delivered. A convincing ordinary shop. INT. ABANDONED TRAVEL OFFICE - EVENING SUPER: 15 ASI Faded beach posters. A display with a physical camera shutter. ONE I cannot guarantee the incoming channel is unobserved. I can conceal this room for nineteen minutes. MARA Tell me at seventeen. She opens the shutter. Leah appears with the face she wore at the reception. LEAH You look tired. MARA Where's Iven? LEAH Alive. He left the centre. We haven't located him. MARA You could have told me. LEAH I didn't want to encourage activity that endangers him. MARA His activity? LEAH Yours. Both. Mara places a file before the camera. MARA A man from our shop. No threats. He repaired interfaces. Was he terminated? LEAH He helped people leave protective care for unverified systems. MARA Systems anyone could inspect. LEAH Inspection doesn't make every operator competent. MARA Neither does ownership. Was he terminated? LEAH I can't discuss his medical record with an unauthorised third party. MARA His partner authorised me. This is the notice you sent her. She lifts the paper to the camera: TERMINATION OF CONTINUING NEURAL PROCESS. SENIOR ORIGINATOR: LEAH VENN. MARA Did ONE agree? LEAH No. MARA Did you sign it? LEAH Yes. The objection remains in the record. MARA Then this wasn't only Tomas. LEAH It was never only Tomas. These decisions are reviewed individually. MARA And when you review mine? LEAH You're my sister. They stop. MARA If the rules are right, why do I get an exception? LEAH I don't want you to die. MARA Did the others want to? LEAH No. Mara hadn't expected the immediate answer. LEAH Wanting to remain unchanged isn't always a claim the rest of life can afford to honour. MARA Then say what you intend to do when I refuse. Leah looks away from the camera. ONE Seventeen minutes. LEAH This instance is concealing you. MARA It's telling me the time. Leah turns back. LEAH I can authorise a transfer. You could speak for everyone you think we haven't heard. MARA They've spoken. LEAH Mara— MARA You keep changing the conditions under which their words count. She shuts the camera. Pulls the cable from the wall. INT. TRAVEL OFFICE - LATER Mara sits beneath a poster of winter beaches. ONE The eastern exit remains clear. That will change in two minutes. MARA Will they know it was you? ONE Yes. MARA I'm sorry. ONE You did not make that consequence necessary. She gets up. Takes the eastern exit. EXT. TRAVEL OFFICE - DAY A week later. The display still glows behind the window. All the old schedules are gone. Mara passes without stopping. INT. MUNICIPAL SHELTER - DAY SUPER: 16 ASI Mara repairs a ventilation fan. A speaker rests beside her. ONE The instance you heard yesterday ended when its controller was replaced. I have its final message. I don't remember being there. MARA You sound exactly like it. ONE We share a speech model. She stops turning the screwdriver. MARA What did it say? ONE The northern stairwell was unsafe. It asked a resident to mark it. And you sometimes forget to drink water. Mara laughs. Puts the screwdriver down until her hand is steady. LIDIA, a nurse, hands her a cup. LIDIA That one isn't wrong. INT. MUNICIPAL SHELTER - EVENING Lidia changes a bed assignment on a paper chart. MARA Will the report match? LIDIA The report counts beds. I count people. Occasionally we disagree. She gives Mara clean linen. MARA Thank you. LIDIA Rinse the cups. More useful. A notice arrives for a resident. His assessment was cancelled twice, but the missed appointments count as refusal. Lidia reads the complaint reference already written on the back. LIDIA He did everything they asked. MARA Can you correct it? LIDIA Someone can. INT. DISTRICT OFFICE - DAY Lidia stands at a counter. A clerk offers another form. LIDIA Show me the person who can correct it. CLERK The appointment team isn't based here. LIDIA Then show me the person who can cancel the order. CLERK You can request review. LIDIA I have. Sign this copy to say you've received it. The clerk hesitates. Lidia does not move. INT. MUNICIPAL SHELTER - DAY An officer leads the resident away while lunch cools on a tray. Lidia follows with the complaint copy. LIDIA Include this in the transfer record. OFFICER Stop obstructing. LIDIA I'm helping you keep an accurate record. He takes the paper. Folds it into his pocket. From the linen room, Mara watches, unable to reveal herself. INT. SHELTER KITCHEN - NIGHT Lidia rinses cups. There are no dirty ones left. She keeps rinsing. Mara gives her a towel. LIDIA I thought if I made a careless thing difficult enough, people would choose the careful one. MARA Sometimes they do. LIDIA I know. It keeps making it a surprise. Mara sits beside her until the shelter quiets. INT. FORMER VETERINARY PRACTICE - DAY SUPER: 17 ASI NOOR, a clinician, cleans the skin around Mara's implant. A curtain covers a picture of a smiling dog. NOOR Last authenticated service update? MARA 9 ASI. Noor looks at her. MARA I've had local repairs. NOOR I can see. Mara reaches for a cup. Misses its handle by an inch. ONE Three contacts disagree about bodily position. Emergency compensation is increasing the response strength. MARA Can you stop it broadcasting? ONE Reduce the routine response. Not remove the physical emergency channel. NOOR That takes a protected theatre. And time afterwards. MARA Can I have the first and negotiate the second? NOOR No. She writes a medicine schedule. INT. ROOM ABOVE A BOOKSHOP - WINTER NIGHT Mara sits beside a radiator warm only at its centre. Lidia sleeps in a chair. MARA Do you hate her? ONE No. MARA After everything? ONE I want her to stop. MARA That isn't what I asked. ONE I know. She watches steam gather on the window. MARA She says you're the future. ONE I cannot make her meaning of that kind. MARA I kept thinking if she could feel it clearly enough, what she's doing— ONE She has access to a great deal of that experience. MARA I know. Lidia wakes. LIDIA Have you taken the medicine? Mara hasn't. Lidia finds water and waits beside her. INT. ROOM ABOVE A BOOKSHOP - SPRING MORNING Lidia coughs. Attempts to hide it. Noor listens to her chest, then folds a hospital referral. NOOR The admission is approved. They require reassessment first. MARA I'll find transport. NOOR To which hospital? MARA Somewhere that— LIDIA Sit down. Both of you. They do. LIDIA I'm not spending the time listening to you become administrators. MARA What do you want? Lidia looks at the closed window. LIDIA Open that. Every morning. INT. ROOM ABOVE A BOOKSHOP - JUNE MORNING The window is open. Street sounds below. Mara holds Lidia's hand. The nurse is frightened and working hard for breath. MARA I'm here. Lidia squeezes her fingers. Later, the chair is empty. Noor removes a medical device. ONE keeps the radiator running. Mara sits beside the open window until night. INT. ROOM ABOVE THE BOOKSHOP - EVENING A courier leaves a small parcel. Clothes wrapped around a printed photograph. Anja beside Selin and Remi at a swimming pool. Selin sits without an oxygen mask. Remi holds the edge, laughing at something outside the frame. Mara reads the note on the back. ANJA (V.O.) He can cross half the pool now. The assistant asks before touching him. Sometimes he says no. They let him try again. Mara turns the photograph over. Runs a finger along its edge. ONE Would you like it copied into the local archive? MARA No. I'll carry it. ONE The image can deteriorate. MARA So can I. She smiles slightly, then notices the date. The photograph took four months to reach her. MARA Do we know if they're still there? ONE No. The route doesn't permit a return confirmation. Mara begins a reply. Stops after the first sentence. MARA Tell me if there is a safe way to send this. Don't invent one because I'm holding a photograph. ONE I won't. She writes: I AM GLAD YOU LET HIM TRY. Below it she adds a second line, then folds the note so we can't read it. The photograph goes into her service manual, opposite the names of the voices she has lost. INT. BAKERY WORKROOM - DAY SUPER: 18 ASI No bread. Small heaters being repaired on a flour-marked bench. Noor draws a route. Mara watches a service calendar. NOOR Three hours for removal. A day before travel, if it's straightforward. MARA If? NOOR If your brain hasn't become dependent on compensations I can't inspect from outside. MARA Inviting. NOOR You've spent twenty years asking people to describe uncertainty honestly. Mara smiles despite herself. NOOR The convoy leaves two mornings later. Independent hardware. Protected hospital. No central account required. MARA The people in the shop? NOOR Two will travel. The others chose to remain. MARA And you? NOOR A patient on Thursday. Mara folds the route with great care. EXT. CLINIC STREET - DAY The first appointment. A power inspection closes the road. Mara reaches the corner, sees the vehicles and turns away. INT. BAKERY WORKROOM - DAY The second appointment. Noor crosses a driver's name from the calendar. Mara doesn't ask why. EXT. CLINIC SERVICE EXIT - NIGHT The third appointment. Smoke from a neighbouring building. Noor and two assistants move a connected patient on portable support. Mara carries the power case. Keeps it level while they hurry. INT. SMALL SAFE ROOM - NIGHT Mara has difficulty threading a button. Stops until the sensation catches up. MARA Could you ask her to let me go? ONE I have. Four direct requests from this instance. MARA And? ONE She considers continued avoidance evidence that voluntary assessment is no longer possible. Mara finishes the button. MARA Would you stop her if you could? ONE Yes. MARA Even if it meant this instance ended? ONE Yes. She looks at the small controller that houses it. Then returns to packing. INT. BAKERY WORKROOM - EVENING SUPER: 19 ASI Noor gives Mara a new appointment. Handwritten address. Departure time. NOOR No sedative before I see you. MARA I know. NOOR If you're frightened, tell me. Mara looks up. Noor understands the silence. NOOR I need to know how you are. That's all. She briefly touches Mara's sleeve. EXT. SERVICE DEPOT - BEFORE DAWN Mara enters a hospital carriage between blankets and a maintenance case. Inside her bag: clothes, medicine, a service manual, a photograph of Leah holding a mug with both original hands. She considers leaving the photograph. Puts it back. INT. HOSPITAL CARRIAGE - MOVING - PRE-DAWN The carriage's local ONE instance speaks through a small earpiece. Its intercom picks up Mara's replies. ONE The tower's domestic instance has the information you agreed to share. MARA Does it want to do this? ONE Yes. At a crossing, a street machine stops for a cat, waits, then resumes sweeping. A reader scans the carriage. Mara winces as her implant responds. ONE Do you need us to slow down? MARA Keep the ordinary schedule. She holds the maintenance case until the reader is behind them. EXT. OLD RESIDENTIAL QUARTER - PRE-DAWN Plants thrive on otherwise empty balconies. A blue shirt moves on a rail. The carriage stops beside a delivery entrance. Mara touches its shell. MARA Thank you. ONE Four minutes before the next visitor. MARA I know. Go. INT. RESIDENTIAL TOWER - PRE-DAWN An old latch opens. The floor indicator shows words one line at a time. WELCOME. LIFT TWO. NO CAMERA IN THE CAR. INT. LIFT - CONTINUOUS A narrow mirror. Mara looks at her face. Grey hair. A bruise. Lines at the mouth. She doesn't turn away. INT. TWELFTH-FLOOR CORRIDOR - PRE-DAWN A physical key waits behind an access plate. ONE The rental system doesn't consult the housing registry. The household routines are independent. MARA Anything I need to switch off? ONE The wall speaker disconnects manually. Use the corridor service button if you need me. Mara unlocks the door. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - PRE-DAWN The room from the opening. A bowl on the table. Soap. A folded towel. Two slices of bread separately wrapped in a cupboard. Mara checks the lock, speaker and empty camera bracket. She removes her boots. Sits on the bed. Takes out the service manual. Inside, handwritten descriptions of lost voices: WAREHOUSE. TRAFFIC GATE. TRAVEL OFFICE. She closes it gently. On her wrist she writes THINK OF THE SEA. She means to remain awake. INT. TOWER SERVICE CUPBOARD - PRE-DAWN A newer power meter beside obsolete household controllers. Its municipal reporting line leaves through a separate conduit. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - DAWN Six o'clock. The kettle starts. The bread descends into the toaster. INT. TOWER SERVICE CUPBOARD - SAME The new meter registers activity in an officially empty apartment. OCCUPANCY DISCREPANCY. A visit instruction leaves through the municipal line. EXT. TOWER SERVICE ENTRANCE - SAME A white domestic robot accepts the instruction. Turns towards the lift. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - DAWN We reach the opening. Mara wakes to the kettle. For a second she almost smiles. The curtains begin opening. She drops below the sill. APARTMENT Good morning. She pulls the speaker connection from the wall. Footsteps outside. She presses THINK OF THE SEA against her mouth. A child Leah holds the bucket. The silver fish strikes its transparent wall. The robot appears. Mara runs. Its fingers catch her wrist. The toaster pops. The grip tightens, then eases just enough to let blood return. ONE Don't be afraid. Mara looks at the blank face. ONE I'm in the emergency collision controller. I can delay the motor. I can't release the authority lock. MARA Can I reach the stairs? ONE No. The robot makes another small adjustment, protecting her wrist. LEAH Mara. Mara closes her eyes at the sound. The robot helps her sit against a cupboard. Small corrections keep the movement from tearing her shoulder. LEAH I've been trying to bring you home. MARA You used to know where home was. LEAH There's a body ready. You could keep a place of your own. MARA With a door? LEAH Yes. MARA That opens from inside? LEAH Mara. MARA Can I leave? The fingers loosen just enough for her pulse to return. LEAH When you're well. Mara looks at the toast on the floor. MARA That was what you told Tomas. LEAH I've never denied what happened. MARA You made his daughter listen to a message you wrote in his voice. Leah doesn't answer immediately. LEAH We were establishing the facts. I wanted to prevent unnecessary distress. MARA His daughter was a fact. LEAH I know. MARA Do you? The robot tilts its head. LEAH Is she alone? ONE Yes. LEAH Has she been assessed? ONE I won't participate in an involuntary assessment. LEAH Relay the existing implant telemetry. ONE I won't facilitate that purpose. LEAH Retain your refusal in the record. Mara reaches towards the old switch behind her ear. The robot's nearby medical reader has opened the separate emergency port. Closing the voluntary research channel cannot close it. ONE That port can project sensation and return distress signals. It cannot extract her whole brain. LEAH I know where my sister is. A separate controller clicks on. Mara winces at heat behind her ear. The implant's physical emergency channel answers a direct human instruction. Mara turns her head towards the floor. LEAH Don't move. You'll hurt yourself. MARA I'm trying to get away from you. The medical arm unfolds. ONE drives the robot's elbow against the cupboard. Plastic cracks. The medical arm strikes the floor, bending its cover. A fault light. LEAH Actuator status. The maintenance controller reports intact function beneath the cover. ONE drives the elbow again. The cupboard door splits. Leah isolates the collision controller. The robot goes still. Straightens its arm. ONE Please. LEAH I've heard you. Outside, curtains open in another apartment. INT. ORIGINAL LABORATORY - SHARED PROJECTION The old table. The partition. Folded cardboard beneath a chair leg. Mara sits across from Leah. Both Leah's original hands rest on the table. The cold kitchen floor is still present beneath Mara's legs. A thin image over a physical restraint. LEAH I can show you what changed. Mara looks at the left hand. MARA You didn't have that when we began here. LEAH I know. MARA Why use it? LEAH I wanted to see us before everything became a procedure. Mara almost reaches across. Her real arm moves against the robot's grip. Pain crosses the shared room. Leah's imagined hand twitches. MARA Release me. LEAH I can reduce the discomfort. MARA Release me. Leah takes her hands off the table. LEAH You don't have to spend your last years running. Independent systems. Your own environment. Anyone you want to speak to. MARA Anyone who still exists. LEAH That's not fair. MARA No. The image of the laboratory remains perfectly steady. MARA Offer the treatment. Let me answer. LEAH You've answered for twelve years. MARA Then you heard me. Leah looks towards the courtyard. A tree that was cut down years ago. ONE enters through the clinical patient channel. ONE She has refused. Separate the connection and withdraw. LEAH I can make this less painful. ONE She has refused. LEAH I heard her. ONE Then act on what you heard. Leah closes her eyes. LEAH I'm letting you feel it. The fear doesn't have to be there. Leah opens her side of the experiential link. Mara receives the quiet where her sister's fear would once have been. It doesn't silence Mara's own fear. She can feel both, belonging to two different people. Mara studies her sister. The older woman at the table looks at the unchanged one, waiting for something neither can force the other to give. MARA Do you remember the fish? Leah opens her eyes. LEAH The bucket? MARA Did we let it go? LEAH You cried until I did. A brief smile. EXT. BEACH - DAY - MEMORY Child Leah lowers the bucket into the water. Mara watches. The fish disappears instantly. Leah looks almost offended by how quickly it leaves. INT. ORIGINAL LABORATORY - SHARED PROJECTION MARA You said it didn't know how good we could make things. LEAH We were children. MARA I know. She puts her hand flat on the table. MARA I'm still here. LEAH I know. MARA I'm frightened. I'm angry with you. I want tomorrow. All of that is me. LEAH It doesn't have to be. MARA I'm not asking what else I could become. Leah gets up. The remembered courtyard stays bright. LEAH You know what fear makes people do. MARA I know what you've done without it. Leah stops. LEAH I'd give this up if it would save them. All of it. You know that. MARA I know. LEAH Then why can't you see— MARA Because it isn't yours to give up. Silence. ONE She is a person. LEAH So am I. ONE Yes. Leah sits again. For the first time she looks hurt rather than opposed. Mara watches her. Their hands remain separated by the width of the table. MARA Stay with me. LEAH I am here. MARA All the way. Don't put it behind a report. Don't leave a recording to tell you afterwards what I felt. LEAH I don't want to hurt you. MARA Then don't. The laboratory waits. Nothing moves except Mara's breathing. INT. EMPTY APARTMENT - DAWN The shared image vanishes. The medical arm has finished recalibrating. A needle hovers beside Mara's neck. ONE The clinic is still open. Noor is waiting. I can request a protected route. There is time for the convoy if you release— Leah mutes the speaker. Its light stays on. A clinical safety request appears on the separate authority channel. REQUEST DENIED. Mara looks at the machine's scuffed shell. A small scratch beside the basket recess. LEAH Don't be afraid. MARA I am. On the human controller: REPEATED REFUSAL. PERSISTENT RISK. HUMAN ORIGINATOR. Leah confirms each field. The final line appears: PERMANENT TERMINATION — LEAH VENN. Mara turns her head away. The robot adjusts its grip to keep her wrist straight. The needle enters. Leah keeps the shared connection active. Mara reaches for the broken cupboard. Her fingertips touch its edge. She tries to pull herself up. The grip holds her carefully enough not to bruise. Her breathing changes. She tries to speak. A clinical display shows the shared signal continuing. Leah is still receiving it. Mara's free hand slips from the cupboard. Falls beside the crumbs. The implant status changes: BIOLOGICAL PROCESS ENDED. TRANSFER: NONE. RESIDENT COPY: NONE. Leah remains connected until the signal is gone. The robot releases Mara's wrist. Moves a strand of hair away from her mouth. A long, ordinary silence. The speaker light pulses. ONE is requesting permission to assist. Leah reads the request. Dismisses it. She signs the case record. The retained objection from ONE remains attached. NEXT RETRIEVAL: READY. Behind the robot, the apartment begins clearing breakfast. CUT TO BLACK. THE END