Tina, get rid of her right now!

Nathan stands in the middle of the yard, his heart pounding as Selena tries to climb over the fence, yelling at the neighbors for help. The teenager across the street is filming everything on his phone, and the woman with the trash bag is already pulling out her own phone, clearly about to call the police. Nathan realizes there’s no time—the situation is about to become irreversible.

He presses the phone to his ear and whispers, trying not to draw attention:

“Tina, get rid of her right now!”

Tina’s voice in his head responds instantly:

“Deleting entity. Confirm action.”

“Yes, do it!” Nathan hisses, glancing at Selena, who’s nearly over the fence.

The phone screen flashes, displaying a message:

{Deleting object… Completed.}

In that instant, Selena dissolves into thin air. Her body turns into a bright orb of light that quickly fades, leaving only a faint breeze on the lawn. Nathan freezes, staring at the empty spot where she just was.

The teenager across the street yells:

“What the hell?! She just disappeared!” He lowers his phone, his face pale with shock. The woman with the trash bag drops it to the ground, muttering:

“Is this some kind of trick?”

Nathan spins around and bolts back into the house, locking the door behind him. His hands tremble as he tosses the phone onto the table and collapses into a chair, breathing heavily.

“Tina, what was that? She just… vanished?”

“The entity has been removed from physical space,” Tina replies. “Her data is stored in ibod; you can summon her again if you want. But…”

“But what?” Nathan interrupts, sensing a catch.

“The device is overheating,” Tina says. “Look at it.”

Nathan shifts his gaze to the square storage device next to the phone. It’s hot to the touch, emitting a faint hum. A red indicator light blinks on its surface—something that wasn’t there before.

“Is that normal?” he asks, his voice shaky.

“Frequent creation and deletion of entities puts stress on the system,” Tina explains. “If the overheating continues, some functions may become unavailable… or worse.”

At that moment, Nathan hears noise outside—murmurs and the sound of a car pulling up. He peeks out the window and sees the teenager still standing by the fence, showing something on his phone to a man who just stepped out of a car. The woman with the trash bag is there too, gesturing animatedly. The video has clearly been recorded, and it’ll spread online soon.

Tina adds:

“Nathan, we have a problem. The video of Selena’s disappearance might draw more attention than her presence would have. What do we do next?”

Nathan stares at the blinking device, feeling panic rising. He needs to figure out how to get out of this mess.