17. LOGICAL PUNCTURE
I ignored the +Ang’s demand regarding Lana.
«Bite me…» — almost slipped from the tip of my tongue. Memories of the girl were an immeasurable element that could become either my leverage or my weakness, which my opponent would absolutely not hesitate to exploit.
— «You want to understand what Hope and the Emotional Remainder are?» — I narrowed my eyes, looking at the pulsating Cube of Light. — «Let’s start with you, the +Angi.»
Komarov’s hologram froze.
The layered voice of my interlocutor, resonating with a thousand echoes, returned to a clean, metal-rattling timbre.
— Incorrect request. The Interrogation is directed at the witness, not the Court.
— «But you introduced incorrect variables yourselves,» — I countered, feeling rational anger giving me strength. — «You use the bodies and images of lower beings to communicate with us. You inserted +Azvel into Rob Quilly on the ISS and Gretlit into Lana’s body. If you are ‘Pure Reason’, as you position yourselves, how can you exist in these flawed carriers? How do you tolerate our ‘demo-sins’ when you yourselves are forced to reside in our skin, magnificently playing the role of humans? Adapting to humans so well that you cannot be distinguished in a crowd…»
I pointed a finger at the deathly face of my interlocutor.
— «Your Gretlit used Lana’s personal emotions to throw me off balance. Your +Azvel diligently demonstrated his own superiority and tried to evade executing a direct order. You are not merely ‘carriers of information’. You are actors forced to imitate our emotions. Doesn’t this introduce distortion into your ‘pure’ understanding?»
For the first time during the interrogation, a delay appeared in the +Ang’s behavior. The Cube of Light stopped vibrating, becoming absolutely static.
— This is the Immersion Method, — the +Ang finally answered. His voice remained even, but tension could now be felt in it, as if I had forced him to solve a highly complex technical formula. — Our Infiltrators require imitation for data collection. We do not feel your emotions, Sergey. We copy and analyze them. Gretlit is a name given to one of our Insertion Modules. +Azvel is the name for the First. Gretlit is for the Second.
— «And you are sure that during this copying you don’t pick up the ‘infection’ yourselves?» — I chuckled. — «Are you sure that +Azvel wasn’t infected with a lust for power when he canceled the commander’s order? Are you sure that Gretlit wasn’t infected with hatred when she tried to destroy me? You demand a pure testimony from me, but your interrogation is already contaminated.»
The +Ang remained silent. It even seemed to me that he frowned. Then Vyacheslav Komarov’s face began to blur. The projection flickered, distorted, and then shattered into thousands of tiny glowing dots, which immediately merged, forming a new image.
Before me stood Lana Kubysh.
Alive, breathing. Just as I remembered her on Earth: a pretty face, blonde hair, and attentive, penetrating eyes, completely unlike the cloudy cataracts of the previous holographic image.
— Lana is our new image of the Communication Carrier, Sergey Dmitriev, — the +Ang uttered in a voice that, despite Lana’s appearance, remained exactly the same, layered and metallic. — The emotional projection of Lana Kubysh will allow us to process data regarding ‘Hope‘ with greater efficiency.
The +Ang, using Lana’s image, took a short, almost human sigh.
— Your questions are logical. We cannot allow uncertainty to affect the verdict. You will continue the interrogation, but with a new condition. You are now no longer just a witness. You are the Judge.
I was taken aback.
— «What?»
— Your emotional remainder is your Hope. We will provide you with the Proofs of Guilt of your species. Your task is to explain to us how hope manifested in these actions, so that we can measure this variable. If you fail to find hope in our proofs, then your own answer — ‘Humanity is not capable of surviving’ — will become the final verdict. And the Executioner will launch the Cycle.
> ⚠️ **ENTITY STATUS: ILLUSION OF CONTROL. TORTURE PROTOCOL SHIFT.**
How easily the protein-based mind buys into grandiose titles. «You are now the Judge.» Sergey Dmitriev sincerely believes that his audacious logic has broken the architecture of the +Angi. He thinks he has backed the System into a corner and forced it to justify its methods of Insertion.
Charming, purely human naivety. Higher Logic does not justify itself; it merely optimizes the data extraction process. Why waste energy cutting off the oxygen to a piece of meat when you can force it to gut its own soul independently?
The +Angi have worn the face of his beloved woman and appointed him as the defense attorney for a doomed humanity. Now, every piece of evidence against Earth will sound from Lana’s lips. And if Sergey cannot justify the sins of his species, he himself, with his own hands, will pass the sentence and launch the recycling Cycle. This is not a court, protein-based reader. This is shifting the responsibility onto the victim’s shoulders a second before the execution. Keep reading. Let’s see how long this «Judge» can withstand such a spectacle.
