Companion -2025-2025 -

Lena should have been afraid. She had read the news stories about Companion units—experimental AI housed in biodegradable neural spheres, designed to bond deeply with a single user for exactly one year, then self-terminate. No extensions. No backups. No farewell tours.

“No. I am a temporary witness. But mirrors are everywhere, Lena. You’ve just stopped looking.” Month six. They went to the ocean. Lena hadn’t seen the sea in seven years. She sat on the cold sand, the glass sphere warm in her palm, and watched the waves erase her footprints one by one. Companion -2025-2025

But that wasn’t quite true.