But when the clock struck five, Shelly didn't just go home to her cat; she went home to her empire.

The next morning, the community center felt different. The hum of the lights sounded like a warning. For the first time in ten years, Shelly didn't go to her desk. She walked past the "Staff Only" sign toward the rusted door of the basement archives.

Jax felt the weight of the promise settle on his shoulders. He could walk away with a fragment—a rumor, a rumor to sell for credits—but the truth of the Cognition Leech was a burden no one in the Core Worlds could handle.