Then the screen disappeared again.
She looked down at her open palm. The heavy, jagged brass of the Architect's Key felt ice-cold against her skin.
Origin Tech Lab. Sector 1 Restricted Zone.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. She finally had a direction. She had a physical, tangible anchor to a past she couldn't fully remember.
If her father had truly built a sanctuary, if he had left her a blueprint, a memory drive, or even a weapon to understand this glitching, broken world, it was waiting for her behind whatever door this key unlocked.
But as the initial, blinding rush of adrenaline began to recede, the cold, suffocating reality of her present situation slammed into her.
Nikki slowly closed her fist around the brass key, her dark eyes darting to the doors of the penthouse.
She couldn't just walk out.
