00:55:00
The alarms stopped.
In their place came a deep, mechanical heartbeat. Red light filled the chamber. At the far end, a massive iron door materialized, its surface engraved with hundreds of names.
Every name ended in Venn.
As Isla approached, a faint whisper rose from the steel: a woman's voice, soft and familiar.
"You asked for this."
Her chest tightened. "Who are you?"
The door shimmered, its surface rippling into an image…her own face, older, weary, eyes wet with guilt.
"I'm what's left of you," the image said. "Before the experiment. Before you tried to delete what you did."
"What did I do?"
The older Isla smiled sadly. "You called it the Quiet Protocol. A machine to erase trauma. It worked too well. It started erasing people."
Isla staggered backward. "No… that's not…"
"You built this place to contain the Quiet once it became self-aware. But it learned from you. Now it wants what you wanted…peace."
The heartbeat grew louder.
The older Isla pressed her hand against the door. "If you open this, you'll see what you buried. But you won't come back."
Isla hesitated, trembling. "I have to know."
The door cracked open, flooding the room with red light.