Selene’s POV“Step back,” Cassius ordered.No one moved.The chamber doors finished retracting.Cold vapor curled around the figure inside.Arden’s grip on the fragment tightened.“Is that… a person?” he asked.“Yes,” my father said quietly.The figure’s eyes tracked the courtyard slowly.Assessing.Calculating.Alive.“Primary architect confirmed,” the executor repeated.Kane shook his head once. “That’s not possible.”“You told us the architect was a myth,” I said.“It was supposed to be,” he replied.The suspended figure’s lips parted.A breath.Slow.Measured.“Continuity breach detected,” the figure said.The voice wasn’t mechanical.It was calm.Human.Dominic raised his weapon again. “Tell me that thing’s not in charge.”“It built the charge,” my father said.The cables began detaching one by one.Metal clasps releasing.The prototype powered down completely.The executor stepped back.Deferential.Arden stared. “It outranks the machine.”“It wrote the machine,” I replied.The
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