The Echo in My Veins

Aris Thorne’s favorite sales tactic was fear.

“Feel that anxiety in your chest, Mr. Reynolds?” she whispered, her neural implant syncing with the client’s emotions. “That’s your competitors’ ambition… But our security AI can make it stop.”

On her retina display, Reynolds’ bio-signals spiked – fear (87%), greed (12%). She pulsed a wave of synthetic relief through their neural link. “Just sign, and breathe easy.”

He signed. SyntCorp’s 10-million-credit deal closed.

“Another satisfied customer,” chirped her implant, NEUROSYNC v.4. The tech that revolutionized empathy – for quarterly profits.

The glitch hit during Typhoon Petra.

Aris was optimizing a senator’s empathy profile (“Increase public trust metrics by 22%”) when lightning struck the SyntCorp tower.

CRACK!

White pain exploded behind her eyes. Saltwater flooded her mouth. She gagged, clawing at her throat – but her office was dry.

“Warning: Unauthorized neural sync detected,” NEUROSYNC flashed. USER ID: UNKNOWN. LOCATION: PACIFIC GYRE REFUGEE FLOATER #7.

Panic – raw, animal, not hers – seized her heart. Cold. So cold. Water rising. A child’s voice screaming in a language she didn’t know: “Aide-moi!”

“Terminate sync!” Aris gasped.

ERROR: CONNECTION STABLE. RECOMMEND DIAGNOSTICS.

She vomited into her designer trash bin, tasting seawater.

The refugee’s name was Kai, her implant learned.

10 years old. Born on Floater #7 after his island drowned. Now Petra was tearing his floating slum apart.

Aris felt everything:

Rope burns on his palms as he clung to collapsing walls

Starvation cramps (he’d traded his rations for rope)

Guilt – he’d let his little sister’s hand slip in the waves

“Make it stop!” Aris begged her boss, Vanya, in SyntCorp’s med-bay.

Vanya scanned Aris’ implant, eyes narrow. “Fascinating… A spontaneous sync with a Non-User. Do you know how much this data is worth?”

“He’s DYING!”

“And?” Vanya shrugged. *“50,000 refugees drown yearly. Focus on his neural patterns – that terror is pure gold for our next Fear-Persuasion software.”*

Aris’ hands trembled with Kai’s tremors. SyntCorp wasn’t saving him. They were studying him.

She stole three things that night:

Kai’s location data (from Vanya’s “research” files)

A thermal blanket (from SyntCorp’s disaster-response demo kit)

A syringe of NEUROSEDATE v.2 (to sever neural links)

Her yacht cut through Petra’s fury, autopilot locked on Floater #7’s last coordinates. NEUROSYNC screamed in her skull:

“SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED. SYNCCORP SECURITY DISPATCHED.”

Kai’s emotions surged – a fresh wave of terror. He’d seen the security drones.

“It’s okay,” Aris whispered, though he couldn’t hear. “I’m coming.”

Her implant translated his thought: “The metal birds… They always take people away.”

Floater #7 was a graveyard of plastic and splintered wood. Corpses floated between shattered homes.

There! A flash of orange fabric – Kai’s shirt – as a wave dragged him under.

Aris dove. Saltwater stabbed her eyes. Kai’s drowning terror became hers: burning lungs, crushing pressure, the awful peace of giving up…

She grabbed his collar. Kicked toward the surface.

A security drone’s spotlight pinned them. “Aris Thorne: You are charged with corporate espionage. Release the asset.”

“Asset?” she choked. “He’s a child!”

*“Correction: Neural Subject Gamma-7. Surrender or be pacified.”*

The drone aimed a sonic pulser. Aris clutched Kai tighter. His heartbeat thudded against hers – two drums in the same storm.

“Please,” she begged NEUROSYNC. “Show him I’m here!”

The implant sparked.

Suddenly, Kai stopped struggling. He looked at her – really looked – and Aris felt his shock: “You… feel my fear?”

She nodded, tears mixing with seawater.

He touched her implant scar. “Why help me?”

Aris pulsed back the only truth left: “Because now I feel your worth.”

The sonic pulse hit.

Aris’ bones vibrated. Kai screamed silently. She fumbled for the NEUROSEDATE syringe – meant to break her link to Kai. Instead, she jammed it into the drone’s spotlight.

POP! Sparks flew. The drone spun into the waves.

She hauled Kai into her yacht as three more drones closed in.

“Initiate emergency protocol!” Vanya’s voice crackled through the drones. *“Retrieve Subject Gamma-7. Eliminate the traitor.”*

Aris locked eyes with Kai. “Trust me?”

He nodded, still feeling her resolve through the implant.

She slammed the EMERGENCY BROADCAST button – linking her neural feed to every news channel, social platform, and SyntCorp client.

“You wanted to feel others’ pain?” Aris screamed into the storm. “FEEL HIS!”

She opened the neural floodgates.

Millions felt Kai’s drowning terror. His sister’s hand slipping away. The hunger. The cold. The drone’s spotlight hunting him like an animal.

Across the globe:

Stock traders in Tokyo collapsed, sobbing

Politicians canceled speeches, gasping for air

SyntCorp shareholders vomited during board meetings

Vanya’s voice cut through: “TERMINATE THE FEED!”

“Too late,” Aris whispered. “Empathy’s gone viral.”

SyntCorp collapsed in 48 hours.

Aris testified before the World Ethics Council, Kai beside her – alive, wrapped in that stolen thermal blanket.

“You weaponized empathy,” she accused. “But true connection can’t be controlled.”

The Council banned emotional manipulation tech. Repurposed NEUROSYNC implants now connect doctors to patients, teachers to students, aid workers to refugees.

Kai teaches Aris his lost language. She’s learning the word for “sister” – soeur – when his neural message pulses:

“The drones are gone.”

She looks up. Real birds – not machines – soar over the refugee resettlement camp.

“Oiseaux,” Kai teaches her. Birds.

Aris feels his wonder: warm, light, free. No implant needed.

Some bonds outlive technology.

Some hearts sync without wires.

And the most powerful connection

Is the one you choose to feel.