Sera wasn't lying about being able to feel the mapping that was going on in her head.
Her creature paced under her skin, all teeth and arrogant ease. They knock at the door, little river. We answer only if we want to.
Mercer did not react to the metaphor he couldn't hear. Instead, he reacted to the data.
"Push through," he instructed.
Kearns hesitated. "If we increase the field intensity, we could cause neural burn."
"If she were vulnerable to neural burn," Mercer replied with cold logic, "the virus would have killed her already. Increase power."
Kearns obeyed him.
The nodes glowed hot white for half a second before stabilizing into a deeper violet.
Sera felt the new pressure hit.
This time it wasn't feathers. It was a wave, soft but undeniable, washing across her inner world with deliberate force, trying to map everything at once.
Her jaw flexed.
