Exhale
“That’s Aiden. From Aelion.”
She kept working, but her eyes tracked him. He anticipated problems before they fully appeared—shifting a cart that was about to block a hallway, handing off fresh tubing to a nurse who hadn’t even asked yet. Quiet. Capable. In the middle of all this breaking, it stood out.
Later, as the new units were being positioned near the main bays, their paths crossed. Naomi wiped her hands on her scrubs and approached.
“These systems,” she said, nodding at the sleek equipment. “How do they hold up when everything else is falling apart?”