Run: 2026-02-22-01KJ36WTG6PCBDED6JJFG0RQQ7

Mara did not wish to be present. She had sworn to herself that she would not return, yet here she stood in the lobby of the building she had left three years earlier. It had not been intended that it would feel this way. "You are late," said the receptionist, a young man who did not look up from his screen. He had been typing something and did not pause. "She is waiting in the conference room. You will want to hurry—she is not in a good disposition." Mara could not determine whether that remark was meant as a warning or merely as casual conversation. She did not think it mattered. She had already made her decision, and there was no point in reconsidering it now. The hallway had not altered. The same grey carpet, the same harsh lighting, the same faint scent of coffee that had been left too long. Mara would not have been astonished to find her old nameplate still affixed to the door, but it was not there. Someone else’s name had taken its place. "I did not expect you to actually come," said Priya, who had risen from her chair the moment Mara entered. She was not smiling. "We have a problem, and you are the only one who can assist." "I am not certain that is true," Mara replied. "I have not been involved in the project for years. I would not know where to begin." "You would be surprised," Priya said. "It is the same codebase. They have not altered the core modules. You would recognize it immediately." Mara did not respond right away. She had already told herself she would not be drawn back in. Yet she had not anticipated Priya asking in person. That was not fair—it is harder to refuse someone face to face. "I shall consider it," she said. That was neither a yes nor a no, and both of them knew it.