Chapter 18 - The HostValeria could not move.

"What does that mean?"

Her father looked away.

"Your mother was always afraid of this moment."

Sebastián stared at him.

"Explain."

"The child carries the final architecture."

"Architecture?"

"The system was never meant to live in a machine forever."

Valeria whispered:

"They wanted to transfer it."

Her father nodded.

"Into a human host."

Sebastián looked at the baby.

"No."

"The child is genetically compatible."

"No."

"The network designed his bloodline for centuries."

Sebastián stepped backward.

"You are talking about my son like he's equipment."

Her father looked ashamed.

"That's how they see him."

Valeria took the baby.

"No one is taking him."

A sound came from the corridor.

Footsteps.

Grant shouted.

"Sebastián!"

They turned.

Adrián entered the mausoleum.

Blood covered his shirt.

Behind him stood Vega.

And Rebeca.

Sebastián raised his weapon.

"Stay back."

Adrián smiled.

"You activated the host."

Valeria's father stepped forward.

"You don't know what you're doing."

Adrián pointed his gun at him.

"I know exactly what I'm doing."

Vega spoke.

"The network is collapsing."

Grant asked:

"Then why are you here?"

"To rebuild it."

Rebeca looked at Sebastián.

"No."

She walked forward.

"I won't let you."

Vega's expression hardened.

"Rebeca, move."

She shook her head.

"I spent years obeying."

She stepped between him and the baby.

"I'm done."

Vega raised his weapon.

Sebastián fired first.

Vega fell.

Adrián fired.

Grant returned fire.

The mausoleum erupted into chaos.

Valeria's father pulled her through a side door.

Sebastián grabbed the baby and followed.

They entered a narrow tunnel.

Behind them, gunfire continued.

They ran.

The tunnel ended at an underground train platform.

An old train waited.

Sebastián stared.

"It still works?"

Her father nodded.

"Your grandfather built it for emergencies."

They boarded.

The train moved.

For several minutes, nobody spoke.

Then Valeria looked at the baby.

"He's asleep."

Sebastián nodded.

Her father sat across from them.

"There is something else you need to know."

Sebastián frowned.

"What?"

"The system isn't controlled by Vega."

Valeria looked at him.

"Then who?"

Her father answered:

"Nobody."

Sebastián frowned.

"What?"

"It has been learning."

Silence.

"The Vault collected human behavior for sixty-one years."

He pointed toward the child.

"Now it can predict."

Sebastián felt cold.

"What can it predict?"

"Political collapse."

"Financial markets."

"War."

"Crime."

"People."

Valeria looked horrified.

"And the child?"

Her father whispered:

"The child can receive its predictions."

The baby suddenly opened his eyes.

A faint blue light appeared on the train monitor.

A series of numbers flashed.

Then one sentence.

SEBASTIÁN ALCÁZAR: DEATH PROBABILITY 97%.

Sebastián stared.

"How long?"

His father looked at the monitor.

"Twenty-seven minutes."

Valeria grabbed his hand.

"We can change it."

Her father shook his head.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because the system isn't predicting your death."

He looked at Sebastián.

"It's predicting who will cause it."

The train lights turned off.

Someone was already inside the carriage.

Then a voice whispered behind Sebastián:

"Me."

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He turned.

And saw his own mother holding a knife.