Chapter 6 – The Name in the Margin

The boardroom on the twenty-first floor, usually sober, neat, and rigorous like a corporate operating theater, was plunged into a perfectly contained but dense chaos.

It felt as if something vital were on the verge of collapse—without anyone daring to name it.

The automatic blinds, barely ajar, allowed narrow blades of light to cut across the central table. The screens flickered with truncated graphs and lines of code flashing persistent errors.

Biomedical engineers, geneticists, and executives surrounded the table like exhausted soldiers. They all knew they were failing. They just didn’t know how to say it.

Then it exploded.

“Model B collapsed in forty-two percent of the implants!” one of the engineers shouted.

His voice, fractured by frustration, ricocheted off the walls. In a gesture of helpless rage, he slammed his tablet onto the floor. The sharp crack sounded like a verdict.

“Five years and millions wasted on this!” another snapped.

Adrián Cast