36. «ARCHIVES. OPEN. DAWN.»
I looked at Lana +Ang. Her silver eyes, shining in the gloom, broadcasted absolute, mathematical logic. But this logic, packaged in a familiar human guise, terrified a thousand times more than an abstract voice from the speakers. Lana’s projection was the perfect instrument of vivisection: it forced my human part to hope, while the voice of the +Ang methodically killed that hope.
— «A hundred years of an artificial world…» — I said slowly. — «A hundred years to prove to you what you already doubt. A century of slavery, where there is no Free Choice, but there is biological survival.»
Inside my skull, my impartial observer and prompter — the Biological Functional Module — delivered a cold calculation:
Probability of immediate Annihilation: 99.9% (upon refusal to hand over the code).
Probability of species survival upon Generator activation: 100% (for the duration of the Cycle).
Probability of reaching maturity in hothouse conditions: An immeasurably small value.
The Module was right. The human remnant in me screamed of betrayal. Screamed that it was better to die free. But my Bio-Module coldly stated: there is no choice. To refuse — means becoming the executioner of my own species, based solely on a theoretical «Hope». I had no right to play roulette with the lives of billions.
— «You will receive the code, +Ang,» — I said, feeling the taste of ash in my mouth. — «But record my final verdict as Judge.»
— «Speak,» — permitted the voice emanating from the darkness.
— «I condemn your Observation Cycle. It is not an experiment, it is a vivisection of souls. Artificial conflict suppression deprives us of the stimulus to grow. We will not become mature in isolation. We will become infantile.» — I raised my gaze to the Mark of the Executioner, blazing in the darkness. — «You are not giving us a chance for salvation. You are giving us a hundred-year stay of execution.»
I paused, gathering my courage.
— «But in the face of Nonexistence, I choose the Stay. Because Hope — is, above all, the stubborn desire to live. At any cost.»
I closed my eyes. Memories of Professor Zaitsev, the long hours of ciphering codes — all of it surfaced in my memory as crystal-clear symbols. The words I was supposed to take to the grave were now becoming the key to a golden cage.
And… Lana… somewhere out there in the depths of my half-erased, half-fake memory… she exists, she is alive, she is real, and she… is waiting for me…
— «The activation code phrase for Generator ‘Fractal-0’…» — My voice trembled, but immediately grew stronger, becoming as hard as the metal hull of this probe: — «ARCHIVES. OPEN. DAWN.»
Lana +Ang did not flinch. Her silver eyes seemed to absorb the sound, swallowing it without a trace. The Cube of Light behind her back flared a blinding white and instantly collapsed into a dot, becoming blacker than the surrounding darkness.
— «Code accepted. Validation passed. We are proceeding with activation.»
The projection of the artificial Lana began to melt, slowly dissolving into the air.
— «Your mission is complete, Sergey Dmitriev. Your choice has been transmitted to the Executor. You yourself turned the key in the lock.»
— «And what will happen to me?» — escaped my final, selfish, desperate, human question.
The ghost froze, still a fully visible, translucent image.
— «You are the Control Element. The Benchmark. We cannot return you to Terra. You must not fall under the influence of the Generator. We need a ‘Pure Human’ for data comparison. You will remain here. In this probe. In a kind of stasis. You will become the chief Witness of your own Trial. You are our Golden Standard. The first and last Exhibit of the old humanity.»
Suddenly, the voice of the Lana +Ang seemed to change; I couldn’t believe my own ears, HER VOICE unexpectedly rang out in my head! The voice of the real Lana, my true Lana:
— «I am waiting for you, My Love… I am waiting… we will meet…»
Then the auditory hallucination passed. An oppressive silence fell.
Absolute. Ringing.
The silence of a death row cell, designated as a «benchmark».
The last thing I saw before the silver light extinguished completely was the fading outline of the Mark of the Executioner — the trap that had sprung shut.
Somewhere down there, on Earth, in the Fog Zone, the Executor of the Sentence received the signal. My word, just transmitted to the +Angi. My code.
Activation has begun.
«ARCHIVES. OPEN. DAWN.»
> ⚠️ ENTITY STATUS: GLOBAL LOBOTOMY ACTIVATED. CARRIER CONSERVED.
>
> ⚖️ Listen to the silence, protein-based readers. That is the sound of a mousetrap snapping shut for a hundred years. Your Judge just sold your freedom for a stay of execution. «Archives. Open. Dawn.» Sounds poetic, doesn’t it? In reality, it is just a script initiating the injection of a sedative into a massive planetary cage.
>
> 🦋 And what is the hero’s reward? Did you think he would return to Earth to save his Lana? Charming naivety. The System does not squander clean data. Sergey Dmitriev has officially become a laboratory specimen. A butterfly pinned to the information board of the +Angi.
>
> 💀 He will hang in stasis, staring into the void, while on Earth the Executioner receives his code and begins the cleansing of those who did not fit into the perfect sterile world. And that dying whisper of Lana in his head… Do you think that is love across space? Or did the +Angi simply play an audio recording for him so the exhibit wouldn’t get too bored hanging in a jar? Keep reading. The orbital trial is over. Welcome to hell on Earth.
