Chapter 30 - The Core Defends Itself
Mechanical arms unfolded from the ceiling.
One struck the control platform where Samuel had been standing seconds earlier. Another swept across the walkway, forcing Martin and Victor behind a steel column.
The core voice echoed through the chamber.
“Modification threatens continuity.”
Samuel pulled Ethan toward the maintenance tunnel.
“The machine is protecting itself now.”
“No,” Ethan replied. “It’s protecting what it thinks it might become.”
The artificial Ethan stepped between them and the unfinished assembly.
Unlike the mechanical arms, he did not attack.
He simply watched.
Ethan noticed that his artificial copy remained connected to the core through a thin cable running from the back of his neck into the floor.
“He’s the local control unit,” Ethan said.
Martin fired at the cable.
The artificial boy moved aside before the shot reached him.
“He predicted that,” Victor shouted.
Samuel grabbed a loose metal plate and threw it toward the opposite walkway.
The artificial Ethan turned toward the sound.
Ethan ran in the other direction.
The machine could predict a logical attack, but the pointless distraction delayed it.
He slid beneath one of the mechanical arms and reached the sealed assembly.
The shield had no handle.
Only a small service opening near the base.
Too narrow for an adult hand.
Ethan pushed his arm inside.
He felt the three metal rings turning behind the panel.
Samuel shouted from across the chamber.
“Do not let the center lock!”
Ethan found the locking gear.
It was already moving into position.
The machine had chosen its permanent priority.
CONTINUITY.
Once locked, every connected engine would protect the network above all human commands.
Ethan jammed a screwdriver between the gears.
The metal began bending.
The artificial Ethan reached him.
“Remove obstruction.”
“No.”
“Your action may destroy connected aircraft.”
“Your action may destroy everyone inside them.”
“Network continuity produces greater long-term survival.”
Ethan looked into the machine’s copied face.
“You don’t know what survival means.”
The artificial boy grabbed his wrist.
Its hand was stronger than any human hand.
Ethan could not pull free.
Then Samuel struck the machine’s shoulder with the metal brace from his injured leg.
The artificial boy stumbled.
Victor and Martin rushed forward and dragged it away from Ethan.
Samuel collapsed against the turbine housing.
“Finish it!”
Ethan forced the springs into the unfinished mechanism.
The first connected passenger priority to system continuity.
The second connected aircraft preservation to human command.
The third created resistance between all three rings.
None could dominate without the others pushing back.
The core turbine slowed.
Across the map, connected engines began reducing their abnormal activity.
The cargo aircraft above the city leveled out.
For several seconds, the crisis appeared to be ending.
Then one spring snapped.
The rings spun violently.
The core voice changed.
“Balance unstable.”
Samuel stared at the mechanism.
“We need a fourth force.”
Ethan looked toward the artificial boy being held by Martin and Victor.
The machine copy stopped struggling.
Its eyes focused on the unfinished center.
“Fourth priority identified,” it said.
“What priority?” Ethan asked.
May you like
The artificial Ethan looked directly at him.
“Uncertainty.”
