"I was killed so far as I can tell," North says, trying to keep the pain and panic out of his voice.

I can't find it either, North. My chip is gone.

Then how are you here?

The AI has nothing to offer there and North's fingers come up tot he back of his neck again, pressing hard at the skin, trying to see if it maybe healed over the chip. It's not possible, but it shouldn't be like this.

"There shouldn't be scars. There should be a neural interface port. And a computer chip. There's nothing? There should be something."