The first sensation was weightlessness.

Then sound — the low hum of circuits and whispers, like wind moving through an infinite corridor of glass.

Hale blinked and found himself standing in a space that didn’t obey geometry. The ground beneath him shifted with every breath — a reflective surface rippling like water, casting back fragments of color that weren’t quite light. Above, towers of streaming data rose into darkness, curving in on themselves like ribs around a heart.

And ...