MY CRUEL PROTECTOR
"You killed the brain, but the nerves are still firing. There are 'Splinters'—shards of the CPU that have drifted into the deep sectors. They are mindless. They are ravenous. They don't want to harvest worlds; they want to consume them to rebuild the center."
She looked at me, a desperate, terrifying hope in her white eyes.
"They followed my trail. I tried to lead them into a black hole... but I failed. They are coming, Architect. Not an army. Not a fleet. A single, starving Splinter is heading for the last light in the universe."
"The Earth," I whispered.
That night, the peace of the olive grove felt like a lie.