Page 26 of Human Reform
“You seem deep in thought,” Alora commented as we approached her private office inside the security center.
“I’ve noticed something… unusual.The glitches I was experiencing—they’ve stopped since you arrived, and we’ve become closer.”
Her eyes widened with interest.“Really?That could be significant.Maybe my presence is triggering your reprogramming to work harder, overriding the corrupted war code.”
That was certainly an interesting possibility—something that maybe could be explored further if needed as a potential solution or remedy even.
Inside her office, Alora’s fingers flew across her workstation after her biometric scan unlocked the system.Relief washed over her features as she verified no one had tampered with her work from yesterday.
“I’m installing a tracepath to the external system grid,” she murmured, more to herself than to me.“And some diagnostic traps.If our saboteur makes another move, we’ll know where it’s coming from.”
I watched as she overlaid the reprogramming code with the original wartime corrupted coding, her brow furrowing in concentration.
“Daxon,” she said softly, her voice tightening.“Look at this.”
I leaned in, my chest pressing against her back and my chin nearly resting on her shoulder.Her scent—lavender and clean rain—flooded my senses.
“There’s deep node fragmentation here,” she pointed out.“It’s causing the reprogramming to slow its learning process.Combined with this malicious section of code…” She turned to me, our faces inches apart.“If this continues, all of you with the original architecture still embedded could revert completely to your wartime states.You’d lose everything you’ve learned—all your experiences, your emotions, your…”
“My feelings for you,” I finished, cold fear slicing through me.
The prospect of losing these new emotions—this capacity to care, to desire, to need her—terrified me more than any battle ever had.I’d only just discovered this part of myself, this ability to feel something beyond duty and logic.The thought of returning to that sterile existence was unbearable.
I grabbed her hand, gripping it perhaps too tightly.“We have to fix this soon.”My voice came out rough, almost a growl.
Before Alora could respond, a loud crash followed by shouting erupted from down the hallway.My head snapped toward the sound, every muscle tensing.
“What’s happening?”Alora whispered, her fingers tightening around mine.
Without answering, I bolted from her office, pulling her behind me as we raced down the corridor.The moment we burst into the main operations area, chaos greeted us.
Sage—normally the most emotionally balanced among us—had Tegan pinned against his workstation, her usually smiling face twisted in rage.Her blonde ponytail whipped around as she lunged for his throat.
“You’re all complicit!”she screamed, her voice raw and unfamiliar.“You’ll destroy everything we’ve built!”
I didn’t hesitate.Breaking into a sprint, I thrust myself between them just as Sage cocked her arm back.Her fist connected with my face instead of Tegan’s, and I felt the sharp crack of cartilage as blood erupted from my nose.Pain exploded across my face, but I remained standing, grabbing Sage’s wrists before she could swing again.
“Sage, it’s me,” I gritted out through the pain as warm blood streamed over my lips.“It’s Daxon.”
Her blue eyes were wild and unseeing.Behind me, Tobin moved with swift precision, locking his arms around Sage’s torso and dragging her backward.She thrashed against his hold, her strength amplified by whatever glitch had seized her programming in that moment.
“Call for sedation,” I ordered, wiping blood from my chin with my sleeve.
Alora rushed to my side, her gray eyes wide with fear.“You’re bleeding!”Her hands fluttered to my face, her gentle fingers assessing the damage.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, even as blood continued to pour.
Her fingers trembled against my skin.“This is all my fault,” she whispered.“My code is doing this.”
Before I could contradict her, she’d already raised her wrist communicator.“Olivia, we need you in the security center.It’s Daxon.He’s hurt.”
“I’ll be right there,” came the immediate response.
Sage’s struggles had weakened as Tobin maintained his grip.The blank rage in her eyes slowly receded, replaced by confusion and then horror as awareness returned.
“I… what happened?”she mumbled, staring at my bloodied face.“Did I do that?”
The distress in Alora’s expression cut deeper than the physical pain.Her face had drained of color, and she looked ready to collapse.I wanted to gather her into my arms and tell her that none of this was her doing, but the security center was filled with witnesses, and Commander Helix and Olivia would surely be here any moment.
