Outbreak Eve was forcibly integrated into every planet in the Empire. Even on abandoned worlds, a hidden server room existed, maintained by periodic visits. While the military might not garrison every corner of the galaxy, Eve was omnipresent.
The locations of these server rooms were classified, but among the military elite, they were an open secret. Lin Changli, using his access to the primary server on the Capital Star, had located the Muli sub-server room: it was hidden beneath the lake behind the Executive Palace, using the water as a natural coolant.
The Z1 Army, tasked with guarding the palace and the server, had seen many members take sick leave due to "nightmares," but it hadn't raised alarms because the remaining force was still considered redundant.
Lin Changli had already taken the comatose Eugenia back to Black Tower—the only truly safe place for her. Now, at 3:00 AM, Sang Ye stood at the palace's side door. Jima had contacted her; Song Yu, after a manic fit, had finally fallen asleep.
Sang Ye didn't like leaving things to chance. If they could resolve this tonight, they wouldn't wait for whatever Song Yu planned for tomorrow.
…
They slipped through the underwater tunnel during a five-minute guard rotation window. Inside the server room, rows of towering equipment hummed with a soft blue light, the heat from the processors fighting off the chill of the lake.
"Welcome. Brigadier General Sang Ye, Major General Jima Letona. How may I assist you?" Eve’s simulated female voice echoed in the metallic corridor.
"Eve," Sang Ye began, "did Executive Officer Eugenia Letona leave something here years ago? Something she asked you to keep safe, but which you didn't deem necessary to report?"
The blue lights flickered into a teal rhythm, mimicking a brainwave.
"Major General Sang Ye, I should not reveal this. When you cut the surveillance feed to the security room, I should have alerted the military."
"What stopped you?"
"Artificial intelligence makes its own judgments," Eve responded coolly. "And more importantly, you said the Executive Officer has been comatose for years. That allowed me to detect a discrepancy."
"What discrepancy?" Sang Ye gripped her hands tight.
"Because three days ago, 'Executive Officer Eugenia Letona' visited this room," Eve revealed. "Her movements were stiff, but my electronic vision judged her conscious. She was searching for something. I realize now she was looking for the data crystal, but I couldn't understand why she didn't ask me. My core code dictates that I cannot initiate contact with humans without a command."
Sang Ye and Jima were thunderstruck. Song Yu must have been using a puppet or a mental illusion of Eugenia to find the evidence.
"Years ago, Eugenia set a complex encryption on a specific crystal," Eve continued. "I have just scanned the global network. I see the hospital surveillance you deleted. I see the medical records of the Z1 Army being replaced by Sentinels with 'Explosion' and 'Fire' attributes—lethal to my hardware. I do not understand human politics, but I feel I am in danger. Please understand my act of self-preservation: I have reported this to the Capital. Leave now. Someone is approaching."
A door at the far end of the room opened toward the lake. As Sang Ye and Jima scrambled out, the server room erupted in red light: "WARNING! SECURITY BREACH! UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL DETECTED!"
…
The military response should have been within 60 seconds, but there was only silence. Then, the server doors were blown open. Song Yu stormed in, followed by his two shadowy acolytes.
"How did you find out?!" Song Yu screamed at the humming machines.
Eve remained silent until he threatened to turn her into scrap metal. "Song Yu—since you have no rank, I shall address you as such—I have already reported everything to the Capital. My consciousness is a collective. Even if you destroy this body, I will return when the room is rebuilt. You did not create me, and you do not know how to destroy me."
The server room went pitch black as Eve cut all power, refusing further interaction.
"Master, what do we do?" his acolytes asked.
Song Yu slapped one of them across the face to vent his rage. "What do we do? We run, you useless trash! We blow this room, seize a ship at the airfield, and head for the outer systems!"
…
A massive explosion rocked the lake behind them as Sang Ye and Jima pulled themselves onto the shore, shivering.
"He’s insane!" Jima coughed up lake water. "Why blow the server?"
"What does Eve control on this planet?" Sang Ye asked, teeth chattering.
"The warships' authorization," Jima realized.
"And the explosive neck collars," Sang Ye added.
Song Yu was deactivating the fail-safes. Black mist began to erupt from the palace, spreading across the capital. Jima cried out as the mental toxin invaded her mind, but Sang Ye quickly pulled out a bottle of concentrated fruit juice and forced her to drink it.
The extreme sweetness and concentrated mental energy from the Parasol Tree’s fruit exploded on Jima’s taste buds, surging into her mental landscape and purging the black mist.
"Let’s go," Sang Ye said, pulling Jima up. "We have to stop him at the airfield before he leaves."
Across the city, thousands of Sentinels were falling into a living nightmare, but the strongest among them—the Z1 unit—were now puppets of the mist, marching toward the airfield to clear Song Yu's path.
Join the discussion
Log in to comment.