Defrag: 264

One enforcer whispered to the other: "What do we do with him?"

He pressed the key to his temple. The lace interface hummed. defrag 264

Kaelan knew what it meant. Every citizen of the Sprawl knew. It was the count of fragmented memory clusters in his neural lace. The higher the number, the slower the mind, the looser the grip on self. At 300, you were sent to a Reintegration Facility. At 350, you were declared a ghost—a personality shattered beyond recovery, your body recycled for biomass. One enforcer whispered to the other: "What do we do with him

Outside, in the dark corridor, someone else heard the violin music bleeding through the walls. Someone whose own count was 298. And for the first time in years, they chose not to go to their pod. Every citizen of the Sprawl knew