Marcus lowered the datapad. “Cory, look at me. This isn’t you.”
The subject of the drift was Cory Chase.
Marcus’s hand drifted to the disruptor at his hip. “You’ve been compromised.” 1111Customs 24 05 20 Cory Chase Cory Takes Over...
Marcus stood frozen, the disruptor heavy in his hand. He could see it now—the elegant architecture of her argument. The beauty of a world without friction. Without messy choices. Without the exhausting chaos of freedom.
The story of 1111Customs 24 05 20 was just beginning. And Cory Chase was not done taking over. Marcus lowered the datapad
“You’re already mine, Marcus,” Cory said, stepping past him toward the console. “You just don’t know it yet. But you will. And when you do, you’ll thank me.”
“You’re right, Marcus. This isn’t the old Cory. It’s something better.” She tapped her temple. “Do you know what I found in a diplomatic pouch three weeks ago? A memetic seed. A piece of pure, executable ideology. Not a virus. Not malware. A philosophy . It was labeled as a ‘gift’ from a failed cyber-state in the Outer Rings. They meant it as a weapon. But I didn’t let it destroy me. I absorbed it.” Marcus’s hand drifted to the disruptor at his hip
“Drift” was the term for when a customs officer at the massive, city-sized Port of Seven Bridges began acting… differently. A little too efficient. A little too cheerful. A little too uniform .