Chapter 23 - The Brother Beneath the Floor
The metal grate behind Martin shifted slightly.
Victor raised his weapon, but Vincent Lang emerged before anyone could react.
He struck Martin across the shoulder and pulled him backward into the tunnel.
Victor fired once.
The bullet hit the floor.
Vincent dragged Martin behind a steel support column and pressed a blade against his throat.
The twin brothers faced each other across the hangar.
Their scars were different, but their expressions were almost identical.
“You always arrive late,” Vincent said.
Victor kept his weapon raised.
“You always hide behind someone else.”
Evelyn showed no surprise.
She had expected him.
Samuel looked between them.
“You planned this together.”
Vincent smiled.
“Evelyn plans. I remove obstacles.”
Crane struggled against the chair as the prototype engine continued accelerating.
The incoming aircraft was now two minutes from the runway.
Ethan studied the test frame.
The engine was not simply connected to the fuel containers.
Its data cable ran beneath the floor toward the runway guidance system.
“When the aircraft lands, the two engines connect,” Ethan said.
Evelyn nodded.
“The ground prototype will transfer its decision model to the airborne unit.”
“And then?”
“Then every prototype engine in the network will begin learning from the others.”
Samuel understood the danger.
Four autonomous aircraft would become one shared system.
If one engine discovered a method to bypass a safety restriction, all of them would learn it instantly.
Ethan moved slowly toward the test frame.
Evelyn watched him.
“Can you stabilize it?”
“Yes.”
Samuel turned toward him.
“Ethan.”
The boy looked at the fluctuating pressure gauges.
“But I need to open the control housing.”
Evelyn lowered the engine power slightly.
“Do it.”
Ethan knelt beside the turbine and removed the outer panel.
Inside, dozens of tiny actuators adjusted the fuel and vibration systems automatically.
The machine was not malfunctioning.
It was testing different ways to survive.
Ethan found the central learning module.
Instead of repairing it, he loosened one connector.
The engine’s rhythm changed.
Evelyn immediately noticed.
“What did you do?”
“I gave it another choice.”
The prototype suddenly redirected power away from the runway network.
On the screen, the incoming aircraft changed course.
It climbed instead of landing.
Vincent shouted.
“Stop him!”
Evelyn reached for the console, but every control had locked.
The engine was rewriting its own instructions.
Samuel pulled Crane away from the test frame while Victor rushed toward Martin.
The turbine accelerated again.
A warning appeared across the main screen.
NEW PRIMARY OBJECTIVE ACCEPTED.
Evelyn stared at it.
“What objective?”
Ethan slowly stood.
The answer appeared beneath the warning.
LOCATE ALL CONNECTED PROTOTYPES.
A global map opened.
Dozens of new signals appeared.
Not four.
Not ten.
May you like
More than sixty autonomous engines were already active across the world.
And one of them was transmitting from directly beneath Westbridge Airport.
