👉 Previous Decision: A geomagnetic solar storm caused a catastrophic failure in the quantum severance core server.
In the total, inky darkness of Sub-Level 4, I experienced a blinding, agonizing rush of neurological integration. Two years of suppressed workday memories violently merged with my conscious mind. It was a deluge of data, faces, numbers, and decisions.
I remembered every document I signed. Every vote I redacted. Every conversation I had with my daytime self, the hidden notes, the desperate attempts to leave clues. Work-Julian, my other self, had indeed been fighting. And now, we were whole.
Guided by the faint glow of emergency floor lighting, I stumbled through the silent rows of blank terminals. The air crackled with ozone. I walked into the central vault, the heart of the operation, where the master server, now dark and inert, sat.
Arthur Pendelton stood alone by the silent master server, a small, analog emergency flash drive clutched in his hand. His face, illuminated by the red emergency lights, was stark, stripped of its usual calm.
This was it. A private, one-on-one confrontation in the pitch-black vault. No audience, no security guards, no technological shield. Just Arthur and me, two complete identities.
“It’s over, Arthur,” I said, my voice hoarse, raw from the surge of memory. “Your core is destroyed.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened. He looked at the inert server, then back at me. A deep sigh escaped his lips. “Perhaps,” he conceded, his voice brittle. He stared at the flash drive, then clenched his fist. “But you misunderstand the game, Julian. This was always about more than votes. This was about power.”
He met my gaze, his eyes cold and unwavering. “Your father was honorable, Julian—and that is precisely why he had to be ruined. Honor doesn’t scale in governance.”
➡️ Read CHAPTER 17 to continue the story.
+ There are no comments
Add yours