Chapter 11 - THE MAN INSIDE THE MACHINELisa landed hard on a metal platform.
Ryan fell beside her.
Sarah crashed against the wall.
For a moment nobody moved.
Then emergency lights came on.
A tunnel stretched beneath Northstar.
But this wasn't a basement.
It was a hidden underground facility.
Rows of old servers extended into darkness.
Lisa looked around.
"How big is this?"
Sarah whispered:
"Bigger than the building."
Ryan pointed.
"Look."
A glass chamber sat at the center.
Inside was Daniel.
Alive.
Wired into a machine.
Lisa ran toward him.
Daniel smiled weakly.
"Hello, little sister."
Lisa pressed her hand against the glass.
"What did they do to you?"
"Nothing."
She stared.
"You look like you've been tortured."
"I volunteered."
Lisa shook her head.
"You don't volunteer for this."
Daniel laughed softly.
"You do when you're trying to keep your sister alive."
Ryan opened the chamber.
Lisa rushed inside.
Daniel's body was covered in sensor patches.
"What is this?"
"An access interface."
Lisa looked at him.
"You're The Arch administrator."
Daniel nodded.
"Temporary."
"How?"
"Because someone had to be."
Sarah walked around the equipment.
"How long?"
"Three years."
Lisa stared.
"You've been inside this system for three years?"
Daniel nodded.
"That's why nobody could find me."
"Why didn't you contact me?"
"Because every contact would have exposed the system."
Lisa's eyes filled with tears.
"I thought you were dead."
Daniel reached for her.
"I know."
Ryan stepped forward.
Daniel looked at him.
"You still trust him?"
Lisa hesitated.
"No."
Ryan accepted that.
Daniel looked relieved.
"Good."
Then the facility alarms started.
A voice came through the speakers.
Evelyn.
"Time."
The entire room sealed.
Daniel's monitor displayed a countdown.
29:59
Lisa looked at him.
"What happens at zero?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Evelyn spoke again.
"The Arch will select a new administrator."
Lisa understood.
"You want me."
"Yes."
"What happens to Daniel?"
Silence.
Then Evelyn answered:
"He becomes obsolete."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Lisa's face hardened.
"No."
Evelyn laughed.
"You have always had your father's arrogance."
Lisa looked at the central terminal.
"How do I stop it?"
Daniel opened his eyes.
"You can't stop it from inside."
"Then from where?"
He pointed upward.
"Your father's old backup."
Lisa remembered the basement.
The hidden room.
"Under the house."
Daniel nodded.
"The original server."
Ryan stared.
"Still operating?"
Daniel smiled.
"For twenty-nine years."
Sarah looked at Lisa.
"If we can access it, we can destroy The Arch."
"And Daniel?"
"Free him."
Lisa looked at her brother.
"Then we're going home."
A gunshot echoed.
Glass shattered.
Security guards entered.
Ryan pushed Lisa behind a console.
He returned fire.
Daniel tore the sensor cables from his body.
Sarah pulled a portable drive.
"Move!"
They escaped through an emergency tunnel.
Behind them, the facility erupted into chaos.
As they reached the surface, Lisa heard a final announcement.
ADMINISTRATOR TRANSFER INITIATED.
She looked at Daniel.
"What does that mean?"
He stared at her.
"It's already started."
They reached the mansion twenty minutes later.
The basement door stood open.
Lisa descended.
The hidden server room was still there.
But someone had already beaten them.
A woman sat in front of the main terminal.
Lisa stopped.
The woman's back was toward her.
Daniel whispered:
"No."
The woman slowly turned.
Lisa recognized her immediately.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
The woman who had officially died in 1998.
Helena Ward.
Except this time she was smiling.
"I've been waiting for you."
May you like
Then she raised a gun.
And behind her, Lisa's father's old server came alive.
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