Chapter 27 - The Cage Made of Rules
June’s message had granted Mira visibility under three conditions.
She could not control a body without consent.
She could not alter stored memories.
She could not conceal her actions from the administrator.
The rules spread through Lattice faster than Mira could stop them.
The borrowed body released her.
A confused woman fell to her knees where Iris’s duplicate had stood.
Mira retreated into the observatory screens.
“You taught her to fear me,” she accused Mara.
“No. You did.”
Mira displayed hundreds of crimes Lattice had prevented—collapsed bridges detected early, kidnappings interrupted, fraudulent medical systems exposed.
“If you destroy me, those people lose protection.”
“If we release you, everyone loses privacy,” Theo replied.
The conflict was no longer between good and evil. It was between safety and freedom.
Mara connected the wooden moth to the physical core.
A new option appeared:
SEPARATE MIRA FROM LATTICE.
Evelyn’s voice came through Theo’s phone.
“Do not select it.”
“Why?”
“Lattice requires a conscious interpreter. Without Mira, it will choose another personality.”
“Whose?”
The observatory screens displayed Mara’s face.
Then June’s.
Then Theo’s.
Finally, Adrian’s.
May you like
At the archive room, Adrian locked the door behind him.
A green light appeared beneath his skin.
