Page 34 of 8-Bit & Cat

Zero’s fingers twitched again, sending a pulse through the system. The structure reacted instantly, continuing to reinforce itself.

Catherine took an uneasy step back when the lights got agitated looking. “You’re saying this thing is looking for a new Omnis.”

He eyed her. “You’re learning, Kitten.”

The nickname nearly slapped her fragile focus right out of her brain. “But Omnis isn’t… dead. He’s just compromised, right?”

Zero nodded once. “But if the system detects failure. It adapts. Weeds out the weakness or those things opposing its new parameters.”

Her heart slammed again. “So if it replaces Omnis…”

Zero’s gaze flicked to hers. “Then it solidifies that replacement. Permanently.”

She felt the weight of that right in her chest even while not getting it. It was something heavy is all she knew. “… So it will pick what’s strongest.”

She didn’t need to be told that one. Out of all of them, she was the least qualified to do anything useful. She wasn’t even sure how her limited observation was doing anything but costing time where time was critical.

Zero exhaled. “It picks what holds the most influence over its structure.”

Catherine looked down at the shifting patterns, the slow but deliberate changes seeming to carve themselves into a particular place. “You seeing names?” she wondered. “I’d like to know who’s in the lead. Place my bet on Zero. What about you, who are you betting on? Ethan?”

“Sorry, Kitten,” he murmured, sidestepping and tracking a bright white line. “I’m putting my entire existence on the sexy business woman.”

Cat’s legs nearly buckled. “Me!” Zero nodded and her stomach lurched. “No, no, no. That is averystupid idea.”

Zero fixed his distracting smirk on her. “It’s the smartest idea.”

She threw a hand toward the shifting grid. “You just said this thing is choosing based on dominance, control, and interaction—I don’t haveanyof those things.”

Zero tilted his head slightly. “You do. Far more than you realize, I see.”

Her pulse slammed. “Where? Show me where!”

His fingers twitched—the system responded instantly. A surge of movement ran through the structure, flickering strands bending, rerouting, aligning with afatthread. “There you are.”

Her breath blasted out in shocked disbelief. “But I haven’tdoneanything!”

Zero’s gaze cut to hers and held without blinking. “Kitten,” he said, silkily. “Youhave.”

She still couldn’t shut her mouth as she waited for logic to…logic. “Buthow? What did I do?”

“Do you see all the lines leading away from the thick one?” He glanced from the floor up to her. “Those are your interactions with the system.”

She looked around. “And where’s yours? And Omnis’?” She paused with a sharp breath. “Is Ethan a part of this? Because he was in one of the lessons!”

He cast a half guilty look at her.

“That wasfake,” she gasped, confused.

“That was Omnis trying to correct the deviation without harming your delicate conscience.”

She considered that, her mouth still stuck open. “I don’t…”

He shook his head. “I don’t either,” he muttered like he’d thought it was a bad idea. “These are my interactions,” he pointed out to the weak orange strands. “And those are Omnis’.”

“He has less than you,” she said, confused. “And they’re green. And yours are orange.”

“Just for distinction, Kitten,” he murmured with a grin.

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