Prologue: The Recovery Campus
“Pull him out, hurry!”
“Pin him down! Fast!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“He’s entered mania! Attunement agent!”
“Dammit! Guide! Where is the guide?”
Rowan opened his eyes, a piercing ring echoing in his ears.
This was no ordinary ring; it was a specially configured emergency notification, and its sounding meant he had to return to his workplace immediately.
He took only ten minutes to wash up, threw on his greyish-white uniform jacket, and hopped into a driverless shuttle he had hailed at his doorstep.
Five minutes later, Rowan stood before the three-story-high silver metal gates of the Recovery Campus.
The security system scanned his body instantly: “Please state your name.”
“Rowan Wright.”
“Welcome back, Rowan Wright.”
The heavy metal doors slid open to both sides, revealing a sixteen-meter-wide road leading straight to a white domed building in the distance. The building looked close, but it was actually over seven hundred meters away. Rowan hopped onto a commuter shuttle near the entrance: “To the Administration Building.”
As he stepped into the large conference room, he saw Cliff—the supervisor who had called him back from his leave—speaking in front of a communication screen. Over a dozen colleagues from the Recovery Campus were seated in the chairs below.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Rowan said as he found a seat.
“It’s fine. Everyone is here, let’s begin.” Cliff opened a file on the light screen. “I’ve gathered everyone because we just received notice. In exactly one week, a newcomer will be arriving.”
