The revelation of Luna's connection to The Glitch hung in the air, a final piece of a terrifying puzzle falling into place. Elias stared at her, the question burning in his eyes.
"You knew her?" he asked, his voice a ragged whisper.
The Glitch nodded, her expression softening for a fleeting moment. "I knew her. We're all anomalies here, little auditor. But Luna… she was different. She had a way of seeing the world in a language the Axiom couldn't understand. She saw the connections between things, the flaws in the patterns. She saw us."
Elias looked around the cavernous station, the faces that watched him no longer just a curious blur. He saw an old man meticulously carving a wooden bird, a young woman tending to a hydroponic garden growing under a single, salvaged lamp, a group of people clustered around a glowing terminal, their fingers flying across a makeshift keyboard. He saw life. A life not measured by a Social Coherence Score or dictated by a schedule.
"We are The Unwritten," a voice said from behind him.
Elias turned to see a man with a weathered face and kind eyes. He was older than most of the others, his posture radiating a quiet authority. "Our stories aren't recorded in the Axiom's archives," he continued. "Our faces aren't recognized by their sensors. We live in the gaps, in the silence between their signals."
"My name is Kael," the man said, extending a hand. "And you have much to learn about our world."
Elias took his hand, the warmth of his grip a stark contrast to the sterile, cold logic of his old life. He felt a sense of belonging for the first time since Luna's disappearance. He had found a refuge, a people. But he also knew he was still being hunted. The humming of the drones was a distant sound here, but it was still there, a constant reminder that the Axiom would not rest until its flaw was erased.
"They'll be looking for me," Elias said, his eyes scanning the faces around him.
Kael's eyes held a weary wisdom. "Of course they will," he said. "But here, you are not a glitch. Here, you are just a man. Now, come. We have much to discuss."