Somewhere in northern France, in a distant future.
6:30 a.m.
Jin Wu, in his forties, stared at the screen on his desk in the dim morning light. The patient schedule scrolled before his tired eyes, a routine as mechanical as the limbs he replaced daily. His gaze stopped abruptly on a name: Theo Garnier.
His hand tightened imperceptibly around his cup of synthetic coffee.

Right ankle replacement. 10 a.m. “ 11 a.m.

Twenty years. It had been twenty years since he’d last seen that name. Thanks to the chip directly connected to his cerebral cortex, Jin sent an instant message to his colleague Sofia, the neural interface translating his thoughts into words: “Hey, I probably won’t be available around 11 for about an hour.”
Sofia’s reply appeared directly in his field of vision, overlaid on reality like a glowing ghost: “Hi Jin, no problem. Nothing serious, I hope?
-  Shouldn’t be. I’ll tell you later.

The operations proceeded as planned in the modest four-story clinic.

11 a.m. A slender man in a three-piece suit stepped out of the clinic’s elevator. His complexion was extremely pale, but thanks to biotechnological advances, nothing in his stride hinted that he had just undergone an ankle replacement. He walked up to the humanoid receptionist and asked to see Doctor Jin Wu.  The receptionist replied, “Of course. Who should I announce?”
- Theo Garnier.
The receptionist tilted her head with robotic precision: “Doctor Wu will come to get you. Please wait in the waiting room.”

As he walked toward the indicated room, Theo’s eyes methodically scanned the corridor walls, as if he could see through the material. Once alone in the empty waiting room, he began pacing, eyes fixed on the floor, analyzing, calculating.
Not far away, Jin was watching Theo on a surveillance screen. His former friend hadn’t changed: still that habit of scanning everything, analyzing everything. He rose from his desk, heart pounding with an apprehension he couldn’t quite define.
In the waiting room, Theo had finally sat near the window. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting bars of shadow across his pale face.

Jin entered, a forced smile on his lips: “Theo Garnier... how long has it been?”
Theo’s face lit up with a smile that seemed genuine: “I’d say at least twenty years.”
The two men shook hands. Theo’s grip was firm, almost too firm.
- Let’s go to my office”, Jin suggested. “It’ll be better to talk.”
They walked down the corridor in silence, their footsteps echoing in the clinic’s recycled air.