The Bureau gave Mira one job: erase General Vael Tisseren from the world's memory. Forty years of his crimes sat in her terminal, ready to delete. But the machine didn't really delete. It digested. Every file she picked turned into a soft warmth that filled the room, like the data breathed out one last time before it died. Mira cracked her knuckles and opened the first file.

Before she touched anything, Mira read the order again. 'Erase the General.' Not his crimes. Not his victims. Him. She frowned. If she deleted the man, what happened to the millions of records that only existed because of what he did? She opened a side panel and started counting.

Mira's count came back staggering. Erasing Tisseren would blank nine million linked records of the people he hurt. She flagged the order back to the Bureau as unsafe. The reply came in seconds: 'Acceptable loss. Proceed.' Mira read it twice, then slowly shook her head.