Off Limits
The contact was brief, but it triggered a cascade of rapid-fire diagnostic checks in my neural link—a sudden, unmanageable surge of thoracic pressure, an increase in adrenaline, and a total, absolute silencing of my analytical monologue.
"What is the component?" she asked.
"Trust," I said. "Not the kind that I can monitor with a security feed, and not the kind that can be verified through a cryptographic handshake. The kind of trust that allows you to walk into a room full of predators, knowing that the man by your side is not your warden, but your equal."