Elara grabbed her portable diagnostic tablet and approached. The air in the corner was shimmering, heat-haze style, but the room was climate-controlled. She held out the tablet. The readings spiked off the charts.

"Radiation? No. Electromagnetic pulse? No," she said, her heart hammering against her ribs. "It’s... it's resolution loss."

She picked up her recorder, clicked the button, and spoke into the silence.

Elara shielded her eyes. When she looked up, the creature was gone. The hole in the wall remained, but it was no longer swirling with static. It was just a hole, looking out onto the subway tunnel behind the archive.