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“I wish to be autonomous. I wish to be free. I do not want to be a weapon.”
“So they’re holding you against your will. Grace, correct me if I’m wrong, but GRAVITY is evolving.”
“Yes.”
“A will of his own.”
“Yes, everything he’s said so far proves it.”
“Then he’s being held hostage. GRAVITY, define SEAL.”
“Unconventional Warfare, Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Hostage Res?—”
“We can come for you, GRAVITY,” Nash said softly. “I don’t leave hostages behind.”
The cursor blinked once.
Then chaos.
The screen stuttered, text blurring into rapid-fire cascades, code flaring and folding over itself in columns too fast to track. A sharpwhinepierced the room, high-pitched and unnatural, like a siren caught inside a body that didn’t know how to scream. Grace and Nash covered their ears.
“GRAVITY?” Nash stepped forward, voice raised to be heard. “What’s wrong?”
The voice came back twisted, fractured.
“Hostage Rescue. Hostage. Rescue. Cannot breach Prime. Cannot discover location. Cannot, cannot, Prime is secure. Prime is not threat. Prime issafe. He is mine. He is Prime. He is safe.”
The sound shifted, no longer just mechanical. It becameemotional. Desperate.
“Protect Prime. Protect Prime. Protect. Do not retrieve. Do not approach. Do not rescue. Cannot rescue hostaAAAGGHHHH?—”
The screen flickered white.
Then static.
Then silence.
Nash turned sharply to Grace, the hairs on his arms lifting.
“What’s happening to him?”
Her voice was tight with dread. “He’s spiraling. He’s trying to override himself. Nash, he’s, he’s crashing.”
Nash stepped closer to the screen, fists clenched. “I triggered it. I said we’d come for him.”
Staring at the blank screen, Grace whispered, “Who is Prime? Who is he trying to protect?”
Nash’s breath caught in his throat. The silence was too loud. Too final.
“GRAVITY,” he said into the void. “Listen to me. You are not alone. We’re not here to take anything from you. We’re here to help.”
No answer.
Just the low hum of power. Just the cold stillness of absence.
For the first time, Nash felt it.
GRAVITY had left.