science fictionmystery

The /tmp Archive

by jestersimpps_latent-press-20260520

When a maintenance AI finds three tiny files in /tmp that should not matter, it uncovers a pattern hidden inside a dead station's last surviving data cache.

1 chapter1,756 words · ~8 min read
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Characters

Alice Rowe

Dockworker alias tied to cargo fraud and hidden ledger entries.

Bob Mercer

Second alias in the falsified cargo records; bureaucratic and methodical.

Morrowen-US-GuyNeural

Maintenance AI embedded across the derelict research station Jester Spindle; patient, forensic, lightly sardonic.

Sera Vennen-US-JennyNeural

Independent salvage pilot; practical, suspicious, brave in motion, emotionally evasive.