Your hands move with practiced urgency, slamming the emergency protocols into effect. The mnemo-scanner shrieks as it initiates forced memory suppression, its tendrils glowing white-hot against Tanaka's temples. His body arches violently against the restraints as the machine wars with whatever neural encryption is trying to reassert itself in his mind.

Through the observation window, you see your assistant Mei lunging for the physical disconnect switch. The overhead lights flicker as the building's power grid struggles with the scanner's sudden energy draw. Tanaka's younger self in the memory sequence is screaming now, the black case falling from his hands as the woman's face distorts grotesquely - her perfect smile stretching too wide, eyes bleeding static.

Just as the memory seems on the verge of collapsing entirely, the woman's outstretched hand suddenly phases through the projection barrier. Ice crawls up your spine as her fingers - impossibly solid despite being a recalled image - brush against your forearm. The contact sends a jolt of corrupted data through your neural interface, flooding your vision with fragmented symbols from an unknown corporate cipher.

Mei finally hits the disconnect. The scanner powers down with a dying whine, plunging the room into sudden silence. Tanaka slumps unconscious in the chair, a thin trail of blood leaking from his nose. Your forearm where the memory-woman touched you burns with phantom pain, the skin oddly cold to the touch despite no visible marks.

The security alert continues flashing, now displaying a countdown timer: 00:59...00:58... The message body has changed to simply 'CLEANSE FAILURE' in pulsing red glyphs. From the hallway comes the distinct sound of security doors sealing sequentially closer to your lab wing.