Her device signaled against her hip, the glow bleeding through in her darkened apartment. Daniel’s name appeared - a sight that would have normally stirred frustration, but at this hour, sent a chill of concern right through her. Late-night messages rarely brought good news, and Daniel had never alerted her outside of work hours:

“sorry to reach out like this couldn’t get hold of anyone in town my mother fell she’s at Memorial I think they admitted her but I can’t get through to them. I’m still hours north. I understand if you’d rather not…”

The message trailed off, his usual confidence notably absent. The words hung there, heavy with unspoken vulnerability that made Juniper’s recent anger seem suddenly small and distant. Her fingers moved across the screen before she could second-guess herself:

Of course. headed there now.

Memorial 88 rose before her like a solitary beacon atop the western plateau, its terraced gardens casting long shadows down the facade. From this elevation, the metropolis sprawled below like a distant dream, while emergency vessels from the south moved silently between pads, their lights reflecting off the medical center’s gleaming towers. The hospital commanded its own gravity up here - a world apart from the city’s pulse, where time seemed to follow different rules.