Alex nearly wept. He logged in. His files were there. His thesis was there. The entire Windows 11 interface was intact, but something was… off. The taskbar was a translucent silver, and a small icon sat in the system tray: a gear with a keyhole, labeled .

With trembling hands, he plugged it in and restarted the laptop.

Alex typed back: “Who are you?”

He clicked it. A chat window opened.