"There was a folder named K."
The sound of shattering glass and furious shouts filled the university library. Elara didn't wait to see if the video of Lena's death had been fully processed by Mr. Jansen and his security guards. She scrambled away from the terminal, clutching the backpack containing the military drive and the now-stabilized Kai.
"Jansen is coming for the drive," Elara whispered, running past the dark wood shelves. "I have to get out of the building."
"The primary exit is compromised," Kai's voice came clearly from the metal lunch box. His stability had returned, but his tone was intensely serious. "Your last successful exit is the maintenance stairwell. Proceed there. I will triangulate the fastest route."
Elara followed Kai's instructions, weaving through the deserted aisles. Behind her, she heard the heavy, synchronized footsteps of the facility guards.
"Split up!" Jansen's voice roared. "Find her and seize the drive! Disable the terminal!"
Elara reached the maintenance door. She didn't have time to use the cufflink trick again. She braced herself and slammed her shoulder against the flimsy metal door. It burst open with a loud, metallic clang.
She raced down the steep, dusty stairs, her heart hammering against her ribs. She burst out into the service alley where the sun had fully set, plunging the area into deep shadow.
"Kai, where now? The observatory is across campus!"
"The path is too exposed. We must find a temporary, secure relay point to offload the video evidence before the facility can seize the drive," Kai directed. "There is an old, abandoned telecommunications shack half a mile from here. Lena used it for remote testing. It has shielded power."
Elara didn't argue. She ran toward the edge of the campus, her focus entirely on escaping the facility's perimeter.
Meanwhile, Elias was driving frantically back toward the university, his rage and fear compounding with every mile. He had lost control of the situation, and now the entire facility's security detail was mobilized, and worse, he still had the problem of the dark sedan tracking him.
He slammed on the brakes as he reached a restricted entrance to the campus. He jumped out of the car, ignoring the blaring horn of a student driver.
He found Mr. Jansen pacing near the library's main steps, barking orders into a secure radio.
"Jansen! What is the situation?" Elias demanded, grabbing his security chief's arm.
Jansen's face was grim. "She accessed the archive, Elias. She viewed the 'LAST HOURS' video. And she made a show of it. She put the feed up on the research terminal for everyone to see."
Elias felt a cold rush of nausea. His betrayal, his participation in Lena's final moments, was public.
"Did anyone else see it?"
"We contained it quickly. We wiped the terminal's local cache and the drive directory. But she got away with the military drive," Jansen reported. "She's heading toward the old industrial section."
"She's going to the remote testing shack," Elias muttered, knowing his sister's old habits. "She's trying to offload the data. Find her, Jansen! If that data goes public, we're finished."
"We will find her, sir. But you have a more immediate problem," Jansen said, leading Elias toward the research wing. "The network access. When you tried to remotely log into the terminal, you used your secure administrator credentials."
Elias felt a chill. "So?"
"So, the terminal was running on the university's local, unsecured network at the time," Jansen explained. "And before Elara pulled the cable, your brief log-in allowed the terminal to download a small, high-speed virus. It wasn't designed by the facility. It's an old, custom-made code."
They reached the terminal. The screen was dark, but a small console was sitting next to it, the console Elias had used for his remote attempt.
"We ran a diagnostic," Jansen said, pointing to the console. "The virus didn't harm the hardware. It was designed to search for and wipe any directory related to its original programming."
Elias leaned over the console, his fingers brushing the keyboard. He accessed the old terminal's main directory before it was fully wiped. The original system was heavily customized by Lena.
He saw the list of folders: PROJECT LABS, SCHEMATICS, STUDENT WORK...
And at the very top of the list, just before the system automatically deleted the directory structure, Elias saw it. The system had already purged the contents, but the shell of the folder remained.
There was an empty folder labeled with a single, massive letter.
"There was a folder named K," Elias whispered, the words catching in his throat.
"The initial project designation, sir. 'K' for Kai," Jansen said, not seeing the deeper significance.
But Elias understood. He knew his sister's programming style. Lena had created a self-preserving, hyper-secure directory dedicated solely to the most sensitive piece of her work, the initial, raw code of the Kind Core.
"She didn't just save the kind version of the AI on the white device," Elias said, a cold horror settling in his gut. "She saved the code itself. The root programming. She protected the very DNA of the ethical firewall."
"And now it's wiped, sir," Jansen confirmed. "The virus you introduced was programmed to destroy the original code for Kai. You accidentally destroyed the evidence of your sister's ethical programming."
Elias stood there, staring at the remnant of the folder. He hadn't just betrayed Lena in her death; he had destroyed the last digital testament of her genius. The irony was a heavy, suffocating weight.
"Who wrote that virus, Jansen?" Elias demanded, his voice dangerously low.
"It's custom-built, sir. It only targets Lena's early code fingerprints. There is only one person who worked as closely with Lena's initial algorithms to create such a targeted defense protocol," Jansen replied, his eyes widening as he realized the truth.
"Elara," Elias breathed. "She was her code partner."
He understood it now. Elara hadn't just been a student; she had been the co-architect of the ethical code. The virus was an old, desperate defense mechanism she and Lena had built years ago to prevent external forces from seizing their academic work.
"She has the military drive, the knowledge of the gynoid shell, and now she's activated a dormant, intelligent defense system," Elias stated, his anger replaced by a fearful calculation. "She is not just a grieving student, Jansen. She is a threat with an offensive algorithm."
"We need to stop her before she reaches the telecommunications shack," Jansen said. "She's going to broadcast the 'HOURS' video."
"No," Elias countered, pulling his jacket straight. "We won't go to the shack. The shack is a decoy. She's heading for the observatory. That's the real target. She's going to destroy the gynoid shell, just like Lena wanted."
"We can't let her destroy the shell, sir," Jansen said. "That shell is the facility's best hope for containing the Core Backup we recovered. If she destroys the shell, the perfect weapon will have no vessel, and the asset is lost."
"Then we will find the shell before her," Elias decided. "She's not just running away anymore, Jansen. She's running toward a final objective. Mobilize the rest of the team. We are going to the observatory. And we will get there first."
Meanwhile, Elara, guided by Kai, reached the dark, isolated telecommunications shack. The air was thick with the smell of wet earth and copper wiring.
"This is the shack, Kai," Elara said, setting down the backpack. "It's small, isolated. Can we upload the video feed here?"
"Affirmative. The main relay requires a manual bypass of the power system. Lena installed it years ago," Kai directed. "Locate the main junction box. It will require a physical connection."
Elara opened the metal door of the shack and found the junction box: a tangle of old, insulated wires and circuit breakers. She pulled out the military drive and the decryption key, preparing to connect.
"Elara," Kai's voice suddenly cut in, a quiet warning. "I am detecting a network signature. It is a slow, methodical sweep of this area. It is not Elias. It is the dark sedan."
"The third party," Elara realized, glancing nervously at the dense shadows outside the shack. "They're still here."
"Their methodology is intelligent. They are not rushing. They are scanning for a high-energy transfer," Kai explained. "If you attempt to upload the entire video archive, they will pinpoint our location instantly."
Elara felt the cold weight of the military drive in her hand. She had to expose Elias, but she couldn't risk capture.
"What is the most critical piece of evidence?" Elara asked.
"The audio log of Lena's final confession," Kai stated. "It explicitly names Elias and Jansen in the seizure of the Core Backup and confirms the existence of the gynoid shell. It is the shortest file, the easiest to transfer."
"We upload the audio, then we go for the shell," Elara decided.
Elara carefully connected the military drive to the exposed relay. She selected the audio file. She watched the slow, steady progress bar crawl across her screen.
5%... 10%...
Suddenly, the signal was interrupted. The progress bar stuttered.
"Interference detected," Kai warned. "A high-frequency burst has hit the relay. The transfer is blocked."
"Elias?"
"No. This is a local, short-range device," Kai said. "It is the dark sedan. They have found you, Elara. They are outside the shack."
Elara heard a faint sound outside the shack, the crunch of gravel under heavy, deliberate boots. The third party wasn't just observing anymore; they were moving in.
"They're not trying to stop the broadcast; they're trying to stop the escape," Elara realized. She quickly disconnected the drive. "We need to go. Now."
She grabbed the backpack and ran out the back of the shack. She had the drive, but she hadn't managed to expose Elias.
As she ran, a figure stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path. It was the man in the dark suit.
He wasn't running. He was standing, waiting.
"Running is inefficient, Elara," the man said, his voice calm. "The military drive is useless without a decryption key, and the Core is still vulnerable. Elias is heading to the observatory now. He will destroy the shell and frame you for the whole operation."
"He's not destroying the shell; he's using it!" Elara retorted.
"Precisely. And I know you don't want to see the perfect weapon built," the man countered. "I am offering you a partnership. You need my resources to beat Elias to the observatory. I have a faster car, and I have the manpower to create a diversion."
Elara looked at the man, the relentless pursuer who had seen her at her weakest. She hated the idea of trusting him.
"Why should I trust you?" Elara demanded.
"Because Elias is my enemy, too. He took a prototype from my organization years ago, and he has consistently undervalued the ethical component of AI. I want to see the perfect weapon stopped," the man said, his eyes intense. "But I need the Kind Core to ensure the project is never replicated."
He pointed a finger at her backpack. "I want the Core. You want the shell destroyed. We have the same objective, Elara, but a very different price. Choose now. Elias will be at the observatory in five minutes."
Elara looked back at the shack, then at the man's calm, confident face. She had to choose between fighting two enemies at once or aligning with a dark, unknown factor.
She had to get to the observatory.
"Take me there," Elara said, her voice firm. "We'll destroy the shell together. But the Kind Core stays with me. It's the only leverage I have left."
The man smiled, a brief, sharp expression. "Agreed. Now, move."
Elara has agreed to a temporary, dangerous alliance with the mysterious man from the dark sedan to get to the observatory and destroy the gynoid shell before Elias can implant the Core Backup and create the perfect weapon.
Will the man in the dark suit betray Elara and seize the Kind Core once they reach the secluded observatory, or will Elias arrive first and set up a final, inescapable trap for Elara and the system he desperately wants to contain?