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Ryan left for the train station before sunrise.
The ride was quiet. Coastal road, dawn sky turning from gray to pink, the two security personnel in the front seats treating him like freight. Today he was in a regular-looking sedan instead of the tactical SUV. The body panels were still armored. The difference was visual: a low-profile vehicle for a low-profile trip.
He reached the station with time to spare. Stood on the platform. Watched the sun crest the horizon and gradually start feeling uncomfortable on his skin.
His phone buzzed.
"Getting off the train. I'm at the exit. Come outside."
He stepped out of the station entrance and had barely sent a reply when he heard it.
"Ryan!"
Chloe was coming across the plaza at full speed, pink rolling suitcase behind her, a backpack slung over one shoulder, her stride easily covering twice the ground of anyone else on the concourse.
She stopped in front of him and immediately reached up to pat the top of his head.
"You grew. Again."
Ryan realized she was right. The months since he'd last seen her had added another inch or two. Chloe had been slightly taller than him all through childhood. Now she had to tilt her head down to look him in the eye.
"Let's get in the car."
The sedan pulled away from the curb. Chloe sat beside Ryan in the back seat, immediately unzipping her backpack and pulling out a small camera to check its battery and card.
"We're going straight to the research center?" she asked, looking out the window like a kid on a field trip.
"It's not far from my facility. We'll shoot the test, then head back for dinner. I told them to save us drumsticks."
Chloe nodded approvingly and kept inventorying her equipment. She'd brought four cameras of varying sizes, a lens kit, a small lighting rig, and a pocket-sized audio recorder. The woman had come prepared.
-----
The sedan pulled up to the Prism Sciences workshop. Chloe stepped out, looked at the building, and stopped mid-stride.
"This? This is it?"
"This is it."
She walked up to the metal gate and flicked one of the painted letters on the sign. It didn't fall off, but it looked like it had considered the option.
Ryan shrugged. "The mountain isn't great because it's tall. The mountain is great because a sage lives on it."
"You're quoting poetry at me now?"
"Shallow water, deep dragon. Don't let the exterior fool you. When the first-generation product launches, this place becomes a landmark."
"You're so full of it."
"Fine. The real reason is that we don't have enough money for a nicer building. Once I get Dad's next funding round together, we'll break ground on something proper."
Chloe patted him on the shoulder. "Progress. You're finally admitting to budget constraints."
Mason opened the door. His eyes tracked Chloe with the confused expression of a man who was not expecting to see a pretty college student walk into his workshop.
"This is…"
"My camera operator. She's filming today."
"Ah. Right. Of course." Mason caught the look on Ryan's face and quickly steered the conversation away from whatever he'd been about to say. "Come in, come in. Everyone's ready."
Inside, the team had set up for the test. Grant was seated in the test chair with Danny beside him. The new prosthetic was on its support stand. Cables and connectors were arranged on the bench.
Chloe didn't waste a minute. She opened her bags, pulled out four cameras, and started setting up angles.
One locked on Grant's face for reaction coverage. One on the prosthetic for movement isolation. One wide on the whole room for context. One handheld for her own use, floating between subjects as needed. Within fifteen minutes, she had a multi-camera setup that would have been standard on any broadcast production.
The team watched with the relief of people who'd been dreading another round of shaky static-camera footage. Ryan's last test video had become a minor meme for its "classified-grade cinematography." They did not want a repeat.
Grant looked more relaxed this time. Several media outlets had contacted him since the first video went viral, offering small appearance fees for interviews about his experience as a test subject. The money had genuinely improved his family's situation. Danny, his son, looked less anxious than before, more engaged, occasionally smiling.
Chloe gave the go signal. The team moved.
A technician fitted the sensor cap onto Grant's head. Connected the signal converter. Linked it to the prosthetic. Ran the system diagnostic. Green across the board.
Ryan settled at the monitoring station.
Mason approached him quietly. "Should we have someone narrate the technology this time? Like the Whitfield video? To compete on the educational angle?"
Ryan shook his head. "Save that for the product launch. Until then, let them speculate."
He turned to Grant. "Start with the three movements we nailed last time."
"Got it." Grant closed his eyes, focused.
The prosthetic responded instantly. Fist closed. Wrist rotated. Elbow flexed. Each motion executed smoothly, without the hesitation that had marked the first session.
Ryan gave a thumbs up. "Now try all three simultaneously."
Grant concentrated.
The prosthetic responded.
The fingers closed into a fist while the wrist rotated and the elbow flexed, all three motions executing in parallel without any delay between them. The hand moved like a hand. Not a sequence of mechanical responses. An actual, coordinated limb performing multiple movements at once.
Applause from the team.
"Now for the hard part." Ryan kept his voice level. "Individual finger control."
Grant nodded. He knew this was the test that mattered. Five individual neural signals had to be isolated, decoded, and mapped.
The room went quiet.
Grant stared at the prosthetic, concentrating with the focus of a man trying to remember something he'd forgotten a decade ago. The fingers didn't move.
Minutes passed. Sweat beaded on Grant's forehead. Danny handed him a tissue.
Thirty minutes in, with Grant's shirt now damp with effort, the first breakthrough came.
A single click. Clean. Definite.
The left thumb of the prosthetic extended and flexed once.
The room exhaled. That was the first signal. With one finger mapped, the system had a reference point for isolating the others. The rest would come.
It took another ninety minutes. Each finger's neural signature was identified, locked, and integrated into the control system. By the time the fifth finger twitched into action on command, it was late afternoon.
Chloe was drenched in sweat from hauling cameras between positions for four hours straight. She had enough footage to edit three different versions of the test.
"Dinner," Ryan said. "My treat."
"I thought you were going to say bubble tea."
"I was. Then I remembered you told me you're training."
Chloe pouted theatrically. "I appreciate the restraint."
"We'll hit the cafeteria at the facility. Fresh-caught fish, rice, vegetables. Much better than the tea shop."
"Can I get two drumsticks, though?"
"Two."
"Only two?"
"Two."
Chloe considered this. "Fine. But only because you're being very adult about the bubble tea."
-----
Back at the tea shop, the owner swatted a fly on the counter with a practiced flick. He looked up in time to see two figures walking past his front window without coming in.
He recognized them. The same kids who'd talked about ten million dollars. The same boy who'd walked away without ordering last time.
Now they weren't even entering.
"What is this," he muttered. "They're bragging from outside the store now?"
Remote bragging. Exterior-only.
He shook his head and went back to wiping the counter.
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