(Rebecca's POV)
The next morning the coffee tastes wrong.
Not bad-milk wrong. Not burnt wrong.
Fundamentally wrong.
I'm standing in the lab at nine with the mug halfway to my mouth and the wrongness is so complete I set it down and stare at it like it's a component that failed spec.
I take another sip to confirm.
Still wrong.
The lab itself smells too loud today.
The solder. The ozone off the 3D printer. The faint chemical edge of the filament heating. All of it cranked up — every sense turned wide open, and nobody told me.
I check the ventilation first.
Because I'm an engineer. Engineers check the equipment before they check themselves.
The ventilation is fine.
The equipment is not the problem.
I am the problem.
---
I buy the test on my lunch break.
A strange roaring calm
