A chat window popped up, already typed out: “Welcome, Sarika! We’ve been waiting for you.” Sarika stared at the screen. The names were familiar: Arjun Patel, the senior UI/UX designer she’d met at a hackathon two years ago; Meera Roy, a data‑science prodigy she’d collaborated with on a community health project. She hadn’t spoken to either of them in months.