For the first time, she felt an unsettling sense that she was perched on something alive—restless, waiting. As she watched the geologist sleep again, she realized this wasn’t just a medical recovery. It was a message, still buried under years of silence and scrambled speech.
Helen submitted a formal request to the university archives for Ward’s research notes. The reply arrived within the hour: Access restricted. Industry-funded confidential research. Liability concerns. She stared at the denial, heartbeat climbing. Whatever he had uncovered wasn’t simply lost; someone had put it behind a locked door.