👉 Previous Decision: You chose Option A – Secretly slip the coded pocket note into orderly Toby’s external laundry cart while complying with the verbal scan.
The decontamination chamber hissed around Clara, sterile air rushing. Dr. Silas Avery watched her from the other side of the glass, a faint smile playing on his lips. His gaze felt like a physical weight.
“Nurse Barrett,” Dr. Avery’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Your personal effects, please. Standard procedure.”
Clara kept her hands steady, unbuttoning the small pocket on her scrubs. The folded note, precisely 3×5 inches, was cool against her thumb. The chamber’s automated voice announced, “Orderly approaching with collection cart.”
Toby Lawson, a young man with nervous eyes, pushed a large metal cart through a side hatch. It clattered with used scrubs, towels, and various hospital waste, heading for the central laundry chute. He paused briefly, his back to Avery, struggling with the cart’s stuck wheel.
“Here you go, Toby,” Clara said, her voice even. She placed her work ID badge, a pen, and a small, innocuous hair tie into the designated tray.
As Toby grunted, wrestling the cart, Clara’s right hand dipped into the overflowing pile of linen just for a split second. The tiny note, with its coded words, vanished amidst the fabric. She then presented her empty hand to the scanner.
Dr. Avery’s smile widened. “Excellent cooperation, Nurse Barrett. Step into the neural dampening field now, please.”
The air around her shimmered, a low hum filling the small room. She felt a vague pressure behind her eyes. It was disorienting, but the carefully chosen trigger words on her note, now far beyond the field’s reach, would anchor her core memories.
She emerged, blinking, into the sterile corridor. Dr. Avery still watched her, a subtle test in his gaze.
“Any… lingering thoughts, Nurse Barrett?” he asked, his voice low.
“Just glad the shift’s over, Doctor,” Clara replied, a dry taste in her mouth. She pushed past him, her heart thudding a frantic rhythm. The note was out.
She had planted the seed.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 3A to continue the story
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