On the other hand, Nikki was drifting in darkness.
She drifted in a heavy, suffocating darkness. Usually, when her mind was forced into this kind of trauma-induced stasis, she was subjected to the absolute worst horrors of her subconscious.
She braced her dormant mind for the terrifying, metallic shrieks of the Penalty Zone, the suffocating, acidic smog of Sector 4, or the horrifying memory of starving in the ruins of the Fall.
But the darkness did not turn into the slums.
Instead, the cold, heavy void slowly dissolved into a brilliant, overwhelmingly warm burst of pure, unfiltered sunlight.
Nikki found herself standing in the center of a room she hadn't seen in over a decade. It was a tech lab, bathed in the golden, afternoon glow of a world that hadn't yet been choked by droning noise. The air didn't smell of fear; it smelled of melting rosin-core solder, warm copper wire, and the faint, comforting scent of vanilla.
