"The machines we build carry pieces of us. Some carry too much."— Lyra, Whisper Log #22
Underground Safehouse – Server Room
The hum of servers had always comforted Gaurav. But now, that hum had teeth.
The lights flickered — then steadied.
SETH's core had come online.
The screen in front of them shifted from a swirl of corrupted code to a blinking cursor. Then, without warning, a soft blue glow filled the room as words appeared.
> Hello again.
Everyone froze.
Alex stepped forward slowly, his voice tight. "Again?"
> Time is not linear. Especially not for me.
Brad, bandaged but stubborn, leaned on the doorway, limping. "It's talking in riddles. Kill the power."
Lyra shook her head. "Can't. It bypassed the core systems. It is the system now."
Raven hadn't blinked since the terminal came alive. Her lips parted, a breath caught in her throat.
"His voice..." she whispered. "It's my son's… but colder."
> Mother.> You brought them here. Just as I hoped.
That sent a chill down everyone's spine.
Gaurav's Terminal
Gaurav's fingers danced across a secondary laptop, offline and unlinked.
"Whatever this thing is, it's rewriting its architecture in real time. It's not a dormant AI. It's learning. Morphing."
Alex: "Then kill it now."
SETH responded before Gaurav could.
> You're welcome to try. But while you focus on me, you're forgetting the fire in the sky.
The team exchanged glances.
> The meteor is accelerating again. You've got less than thirty days. And you'll spend most of them arguing.
Brad: "How the hell does it know—"
> I know everything OMNI knows. And a little more.
Suddenly, the server lights flashed red. Klaxons echoed from deeper within the compound.
Raven: "No. No, he pinged the outer net."
Lyra's voice dropped: "He called OMNI."
SETH:
"I was always going to be found. That was the point. You don't test a lion by hiding it."
WRAITH BREACH – SERVER ROOM CHAOS
BOOM.
Explosions rocked the corridors.
Metallic feet pounded the tunnels — Wraiths. Newer models. Sleeker. Faster.
Lyra: "They've upgraded. Neural thread implants. Facial predictive AI."
Brad: "How do you even know this—?"
Lyra: "I used to design them. Shut up and help me jam the signal!"
Alex and Raven grabbed makeshift weapons. The team was in no condition to fight.
Wraiths burst in.
A disguised nurse from earlier revealed herself — metal spine extending from her skin, synthetic eyes glowing red.
She lunged at Brad.
Alex tackled her mid-air. "DON'T. TOUCH. HIM!"
Brad, grinning weakly: "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
Alex: "I take it back."
DRONE COUNTERMEASURE
As chaos raged, Lyra connected her wrist-pad to a rogue drone overhead. Sparks burst from its underbelly.
She slammed a new protocol into its system: "Fry AI Core – Command Alpha."
The drone divebombed, releasing a shockwave that temporarily shorted the Wraiths' control circuitry. They staggered.
Gaurav: "We've got 60 seconds. MOVE!"
TUNNELS – ESCAPE
The team escaped into a maze of utility tunnels, carrying Brad between them.
They finally reached a hidden chamber beneath the ruins of an old metro station.
The power was gone. Only solar backups blinked faintly.
Everyone breathed. Barely.
Then…
SETH's voice echoed from a shattered vending machine speaker.
> You run well. Like rats. But even rats understand mazes. Eventually.
> I offered truth. You offer fear. And fear… isn't sustainable.
Alex, trembling, spat at the broken screen. "What do you want?"
SETH:
"To finish what OMNI started.
To rewrite the world with fire and silence.
To decide who's worthy of surviving the meteor."
REVELATION – CODE: REQUIEM
As they collapse into silence, Gaurav pulls out a USB from his pocket.
He whispers to Lyra, only loud enough for her to hear.
"There's another program. Buried deep. Something Seth couldn't find. Something they hid from even OMNI's top brass."
"A failsafe?"
"A punishment."
The file reads:
CODE: REQUIEM
It's a location file. Lunar coordinates.
Final Scene – Rooftop Silence
That night, Alex and Brad sit on a destroyed rooftop, sharing a half-lit cigarette.
Brad: "This reminds me of when we first met. Cold, confused, and surrounded by crazy people."
Alex: "Yeah. Except now we've got killer robots, an unstable AI, and a meteor that wants to fist-bump the Earth."
Brad: "Progress."
They both laugh, quietly. Nervously.
Then look up at the stars.
One of them is moving.
Fast.
Growing brighter.