Maya kept her distance from Verne, the portable analyzer in her hand displaying vivid visualization of sound waves filling the control room. The patterns pulsed with aggressive reds and jagged forms that her synesthesia translated as danger—Verne's backup system preparing to deploy.
"You can see it, can't you?" Verne asked, his fingers dancing across the control panel. "The beauty of what I've created. A composition that speaks directly to the brain, bypassing conscious filters."
Maya positioned herself between Verne and the door, her eyes darting between his movements and the analyzer screen. Outside, hundreds of Summit attendees were already experiencing the subtle first effects of his "masterpiece"—a gradual restructuring of neural pathways that would make them, as Verne put it, "inca
