Five years later, Seattle pulsed with innovation.
On the edge of Lake Union stood the glass-and-steel campus of the **Lily Heart Foundation**, its atrium filled with light, laughter, and the faint rhythmic thrum of recorded heartbeats echoing from the speakers overhead.
“Why does every room have the same sound?" a ten-year-old Lily asked, tugging on the sleeve of her favorite tour guide.
Aiden crouched beside her, still dashing in his lab coat and university ID.
“That sound," he said, “is your mom's heartbeat. Recorded the day after she survived surgery. Now it helps new patients remember they're never alone."
Lily grinned. “Cool. Can I mix it into a robot?"
“You're already ahead of me."
—
The foundation's new wing housed the *Starwolf Pediatric Innovation Lab*—a place where engine
