# CHAPTER 17 — POLISHED STATE EXTRACTION

## CHARACTER STATE

### Elias Thorne
- **Location:** Archive Sub-Level 4, Main Server Vault
- **Physical:** Severe exhaustion, minor lacerations, persistent tinnitus
- **Emotional:** Determined; spiritually rattled but committed to direct confrontation
- **Arc:** 85% — transitioned from evasion to aggressive stance
- **Unpaid Obligation:** Full explanation to Sarah re: signal origin
- **Carried Secret:** Signal mimics voices of the dead; Sarah unaware
- **Status:** Terminal confrontation imminent

### Sarah Miller
- **Location:** Archive Sub-Level 4, Security Monitoring Hub
- **Physical:** Intense migraines, hand tremors
- **Emotional:** Analytical defiance masking terror; skepticism abandoned
- **Arc:** 80% — surrendered rigid empiricism to accept supernatural reality
- **Unpaid Obligation:** Backup extraction route if terminal shutdown fails
- **Carried Secret:** Archive security sabotaged from inside; Elias unaware
- **Voice Lock:** Clipped speech under stress; "empirically speaking" qualifier; stammers initial consonants when migraines spike
- **Status:** Actively supporting Elias

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## WORLD STATE

### Active Crisis
- **The Terminal Broadcast:** Whisper signal at peak amplitude in Sub-Level 4
- **Timeline:** ~20 minutes until surface transmitter reach
- **Immediate Threat:** Automated defenses (IFF protocols overridden) hostile to Sarah

### Facility Status
- **The Archive (Oakhaven):** COLLAPSING — no administrative oversight; signal-compromised security
- **Automated Systems:** HOSTILE — infiltrated by signal

### Open Loops (Unresolved)
1. Elias & Sarah direct confrontation with Whisper signal terminal broadcast
2. Elias's unpaid explanation to Sarah (signal origin)
3. Sarah's unpaid extraction backup commitment
4. Signal mimicry mechanism (voices of dead as lure)
5. Identity and extent of inside saboteur(s)

### Narrative Status
- Both characters at high arc completion (80–85%)
- Mutual unpaid obligations create co-dependent stakes
- Hard deadline: signal broadcast countdown
- Dual secrets unresolved
- **CHAPTER 17 LOCKED — Ready for Publication**