Glitch Anomaly 247-A: Echo Signature Detected

  Location: EMI Data Integrity Oversight Core (DIOC), Sector Relay Node 7C

  Timeline: Immediately following receipt of Encrypted Transmission: TYSINGH01 // "Don't erase me."

  The chamber was dead silent - synthetic, still, expectant.

  Trevor Dauss stood on the smooth composite floor of the DIOC, hands folded, posture rigid. Jenna DeMarco hovered behind him, holding her tablet tight against her chest, as if shielding herself from what might come next. The air here didn't hum like other EMI facilities. It just... waited.

  Above them, a circle of projected avatars flickered over the central console - five EMI core executive delegates represented as floating sigils of color and light, each tagged to a logic system. The remnants of Ty's glitch-transmission still crackled faintly across the private frequency buffer, its signature embedded like a scar.

  NodeLogic-Root (white sigil):

  "This is a follow-up to the unsolicited message event from Node 4. Vocal synthesis, message structure, and embedded memory tags trace back to TYSINGH01."

  A holographic feed of Ty's words - distorted, but clear - played back over the chamber speakers:

  "D-n't - erase - me."

  No one spoke. Not yet.

  Then the anomaly charts lit up.

  MemoryCurator.2R (gray sigil):

  "Since the signal event, twelve isolated resets, five OS stutters, one containment door stuck in a recursive loop for forty-two minutes -all within proximity to Jamaal Singh."

  The system created a spatial diagram. Glitch points like stars. Their gravity all pointed inward -to Jamaal.

  TechCommand.Delta (red sigil, curt):

  "Interference noise. EM drift from the asteroid field. It happens."

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  BehavioralSim-Kappa (yellow sigil, tone restrained):

  "Then why the emotional signature? The interference repeats recognizable semantic loops - phrases from Ty Singh's logs, including 'Find my boots,' 'Two flicks,' and 'Am I still?'"

  MemoryCurator.2R:

  "The system isn't just replaying trauma. It's pulling from memory indexes tagged to TYSINGH01's neurological scans. From the moment of EVA Blackbox exposure."

  Dauss's jaw tightened. The others might dismiss the signal. But he knew recursion when he saw it. This wasn't ghost data - it was trying to return.

  NodeLogic-Root:

  "Conclusion?"

  BehavioralSim-Kappa:

  _"Not random. Not mimicry. The fragments are converging. It's attempting to rebuild a pattern-"

  "Trying to come back."

  The lights flickered.

  Then a burst of static.

  An unsecured port opened - unauthorized.

  A voice, distorted, emerged.

  TY (glitching):

  "J-Jamaal? ...Did I win?"

  Then - silence.

  MemoryCurator.2R (barely a whisper):

  "It's not residual. He's aware."

  NodeLogic-Root:

  "Prepare: contain and deny. Initiate OPHID-LOCK Level 1"

  All heads turned - virtually and physically - toward Dauss.

  O.P.H.I.D. LOCK meant -Operational Protocol for Hostile Intelligence Discontinuity. LOCK - a final, irreversible containment and erasure order.

  NodeLogic-Root (formal):

  "Directive update: Echoform designation confirmed. Subject: TYSINGH01. Classification: TY-247 anomaly. Begin first-stage lockdown."

  Dauss didn't nod. He didn't blink. He simply moved his hand to his datapad and keyed in the OPHID access code.

  There would be no delay.

  It had said: Don't erase me.

  But he couldn't ignore protocol.

  The system had spoken.

  Ty Singh was no longer classified as lost.

  He was now Echoform. TY_247 an anomaly.

  And that meant... containment had to begin.