--
The apartment was quiet.
Evelyn sat at the edge of the bed, one leg tucked under the other, watching the city blink through the window. The room was sparse — a screen, a chair, a bed that didn't creak. No photos. No mail. No memories.
Just silence.
And Milo.
"Sleep score: 42%," he buzzed. "You dreamt of falling."
She didn't respond.
She was already dressed.
---
ValeTech's lobby was colder than she remembered.
She scanned her badge. The system accepted her without hesitation.
"Elena Voss," the receptionist said, barely glancing up. "Floor 47."
Evelyn nodded and walked toward the elevator.
---
Her desk was waiting.
The same corner. The same view. The same quiet.
A new assignment had appeared overnight — system diagnostics for the Virex pitch. Nothing flashy. Just enough access to observe.
She opened the file.
Neural architecture. Quantum compression. Predictive cognition.
She didn't understand all of it.
Not yet.
But she saw the patterns.
---
Mid-morning, she passed Nova in the hallway.
Nova's heels clicked like punctuation. Her voice was smooth, rehearsed. She was surrounded by executives, laughing at something Evelyn couldn't hear.
Evelyn didn't flinch.
She didn't blink.
She just watched.
---
Later, in the analytics lab, Evelyn ran into Dr. Lira Venn again.
"Voss," Lira said, nodding. "Settling in?"
Evelyn nodded. "Quietly."
Lira studied her. "You're not here to climb, are you?"
Evelyn tilted her head. "Should I be?"
Lira smiled faintly. "Everyone else is."
She turned to leave, then paused. "Keep watching. The system likes you."
---
Lunch was quiet.
Evelyn sat alone in the break room, stirring her tea. The hum of the vending machine filled the silence.
Tomi appeared, balancing two cups.
"You always sit here?"
Evelyn looked up. "It's quiet."
He handed her a cup. "Try this. Less bitter."
She took it. "Thanks."
He sat across from her, elbows on the table. "So… how lost are you?"
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"You're new. You've got that 'what did I sign up for' look."
She smirked. "I signed up for a desk and a paycheck."
"Sure," he said. "But you landed in the middle of something bigger."
She stirred her tea. "Like what?"
Tomi leaned in, voice lower. "Nova Quinn is chasing a contract with Virex Systems. It's kind of a big deal."
Evelyn nodded slowly. "I've heard the name."
"Then you've heard of Ash Calder."
She paused. "No."
Tomi blinked. "Seriously?"
"I didn't pay much attention before."
"Before?"
She looked away. "Before I started listening."
Tomi tilted his head. "Calder's the CEO. Doesn't do interviews. Doesn't do handshakes. Just builds things and disappears."
Evelyn said nothing.
Tomi smiled. "Nova calls him 'the signature she can't forge.'"
Evelyn looked at her tea. "Sounds difficult."
"Sounds impossible."
---
That afternoon, Evelyn reviewed the Virex pitch materials.
Nova's voice echoed from the meeting room next door.
"We need this contract. Virex is the future. If we land it, we rewrite our place in the market."
Someone asked, "Will Calder come here?"
Nova hesitated. "He doesn't travel much. But he's watching."
Evelyn kept her eyes on the screen.
She didn't react.
But the name lingered.
---
After work, Evelyn walked through the city.
The lights blurred. The air buzzed.
She passed a bookstore, a bakery, a man playing violin near the subway entrance.
She stopped.
Listened.
The music was soft. Sad. Beautiful.
She didn't know the song.
But it felt familiar.
---
Back at her apartment, she sat by the window.
The city blinked.
Milo hovered quietly nearby.
"You're quiet today," he said.
"I'm always quiet."
"Not like this."
She didn't answer.
She was thinking.
About Nova.
About Virex.
About Ash Calder.
She didn't know him.
But something about the name stayed.
---