Page 19 of Human Reform
“You actually showed up,” he said, his deep voice sending shivers through my body.
“I said I would,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.“I keep my promises.”
Daxon guided me to his workstation with a light touch on my lower back that burned through my thin T-shirt.The rest of the security team pretended not to watch us, but I could feel their curious glances.
“I’ve created a workspace for you,” he said, pulling up a chair beside his own.“I thought you might prefer to work alongside me rather than in isolation.”
My heart skipped at the thought of spending hours next to him.“That’s… thoughtful of you.”
He gestured for me to sit, and as I did, I noticed the primary monitor was already displaying what appeared to be my original wartime code.I leaned forward, my programmer’s brain immediately engaging with the familiar syntax.
But as I examined it more closely, something caught my eye—an anomaly that didn’t make sense.
“Wait,” I said, setting my mug down.“This isn’t right.Another signature is embedded here.”
Daxon moved closer, his shoulder brushing mine.“What do you mean?”
I pointed to the part of the code that had been elegantly modified.“This isn’t my work.Someone’s added a malicious section to my original framework.”I traced the lines with my finger.“See this?It’s designed to infiltrate reprogramming efforts and slowly rewrite them over time.”
Daxon’s brow furrowed, his expression darkening.“That would explain why the glitches only just appeared after two years of stability.”
“Exactly.This is sabotage,” I said, a chill running through me as the implications became clear.“Someone modified my code to make it seem like it was failing on its own, but this was a deliberate attack.”
His jaw tightened, a violet tinge briefly illuminating his blue eyes.“Who would have access to modify your original code?”
I shook my head, my mind racing through possibilities.“It could be someone on Planet Alpha with high-level access, or…”
“CyberEvolution,” Daxon finished, his voice lowering to a near growl.
“I need a private setup,” I said suddenly.“A completely isolated system—offline, no network connection whatsoever.And I need unlimited access to examine the full codebase.”
Daxon’s expression grew guarded.“That’s a significant security risk.”
I reached out, placing my hand on his forearm.The contact sent electricity crackling through me.“Daxon, I know I’m asking for a lot of trust, especially after being here such a short time.But if someone is sabotaging your code, they could be monitoring my attempts to fix it.I need a sandbox where they can’t interfere.”
His eyes searched mine, and I could almost see the internal battle playing out—his security protocols warring with his instinct to trust me.
“Please,” I added softly.“You can trust me.”
After a long moment, he nodded.“I’ll have a dedicated system set up for you.No network access, encrypted storage, and biometric access tied only to you.”
Relief flooded through me.“Thank you, Daxon.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied, his voice pitched low so only I could hear.“If you betray that trust, there won’t be anywhere in this colony or back on Earth where you can hide from me.”
The threat should have frightened me, but instead, it sent a thrill of heat through my core.His possessive intensity was becoming dangerously addictive.
“I won’t betray you,” I promised, meaning it more deeply than I’d expected to.“Whatever’s happening here, we’ll figure it out together.”
EIGHT
DAXON
Together.The word resonated through me with surprising force.I felt a strange mixture of relief and unease wash over me.On one hand, having Alora commit to helping us fixed part of our immediate problem.On the other hand, the discovery of this malicious section of code raised far more troubling questions.
Someone had deliberately sabotaged our people.Someone wanted us to suffer, to lose control, and to revert to our war programming.Was it an insider?Or had CyberEvolution found a way to infiltrate our systems despite our isolation?
I glanced around the security center where Tegan was reviewing perimeter reports and Sage was analyzing system logs.Could one of them be responsible?The thought made my jaw clench.
