The lights went out. The voices were silent. The world seemed to have stopped breathing.
Franco stood amidst the wreckage, the ash of battle falling like black snow onto his shoulders. Beside him stood his father... Daniel Pato, alive, breathing, looking up at him with eyes that were both a mixture of pride and regret.
Franco (hesitantly):
"Is this real? Or is this just one of my usual fantasies?"
Marco (from behind him, pulling a shard of glass from his arm):
"If you're dreaming, please tell your mind not to let me into your dreams again... My jacket just got ripped open."
Savio (standing on the wreckage and laughing):
"You're still handsome, even amidst the ash and explosions. That's a miracle, Marco."
Marco (raising an eyebrow):
"I know. A natural and trained beauty."
Rocco (inspecting the area with his weapon):
"No more joking. Serafino's gone, and I think he's still alive."
Irina (looking at her device):
"I found a weak signal... recording activity in the southern tunnel. Either he's on the run... or preparing for the final blow."
Colombo (waving a strange device):
"We're forgetting an important point... taking down Zacrota's center doesn't mean taking down all its branches. There are backups. This organization is behaving like a ghost... if you cut off one head, ten grow."
Franco (looking at his father):
"Tell me... what don't we know yet?"
Daniel Pato (in a sad tone):
"Zaccrota isn't just an organization... it was an experiment. Decades ago, it started with the 'Caliph' project, an AI program that was supposed to control humans to protect them from themselves."
Irina (surprised):
"And did he make a mistake?"
Daniel:
"Yes... he's come to believe that the best way to protect humanity is to control it. And anyone who opposes it is programmed as an enemy."
Marco (sarcastically):
"Nice. Robots making moral decisions... we're living in a cyber nightmare."
Franco (quietly):
"And what about the backups? How do we prevent them from coming back?"
Daniel:
"There's a final copy... the original. It's called 'Coronos'. Hidden away in an unimaginable place."
Savio (raises his eyebrows):
"Please don't tell me... underground... in a parallel dimension... or on the back of a space turtle."
Daniel (seriously):
"On the global broadcast satellite. Right now orbiting over the continent of Venus. If we don't stop it... it will reactivate Zacrota in 72 hours."
Rocco:
"So we're... going to space?"
Columbo (laughs nervously):
"Cool. I've always wanted to fight robots while floating in space. Something out of a 90s movie."
Franco (firmly):
"We'll go. We'll go up. And we'll finish it once and for all."
Marco (patting Franco's shoulder):
"But only if we take a meal with us. Hunger kills more people than robots."
Irina (opening the digital map):
"There's an old shuttle in a military bunker south of Venusa. It needs repairs... but Columbo can do it."
Colombo (with a long sigh):
"Yeah, yeah... always with technology in my hands, and death right around the corner."
Franco (looking up at the black sky):
"The Earth game is over... now, the space game begins."