18. PROOF OF GUILT NUMBER ONE — (RESOURCES)
— «Executioner?» — I repeated the last word, trying to maintain my composure, although the sight of Lana speaking in the metallic, layered voice of a soulless +Ang was a real blow to my nerves. — «So, Rob +Azvel is not the Executioner. You have another Infiltrator on Earth, ready to launch the Cycle?»
The +Ang (in Lana’s image) slightly tilted its head. That movement… I went cold inside…
That movement was a perfect copy of the real Lana Kubysh’s gesture. She… she tilted her head exactly like that when she was pondering something.
— The details of Project «Rebirth» are not subject to your Interrogation, Sergey. Your role is the Judge. Your task is to explain Hope. Let us begin.
Behind Lana, the Cube of Light activated again. Now it wasn’t just pulsating. It began to project an image onto one of the probe’s walls, which instantly turned into a perfectly smooth black screen.
Charge: Destruction of the Cradle.
— Proof of Guilt number 1: Destruction of Terra’s resources, — the +Ang stated.
An empty, vast, scorched field stretching to the very horizon appeared on the screen.
Then the image changed: an ocean covered in a thick, oily film, and thousands of dead birds on the shore.
The final shot: a factory smokestack belching thick, dark-yellow plumes of smoke into the sky, obscuring the sun.
— These are standard data, Sergey. We possess trillions of such examples. Insatiability and greed in the consumption of material resources have led to the irreversible pollution of the Cradle. Your species systematically destroys its only habitat. This is a sin subject to the annihilation of the species.
The image of Lana the +Ang looked me straight in the eyes, waiting.
— Where is the Hope here, Judge? Explain this illogical act of self-destruction through the prism of your emotional element.
«Defense: A Race Against Time.»
I felt a cold, technical analysis rising within me, left behind by the «Functional Module.» But alongside it stirred a burning feeling — the very thing the soulless +Angi called «Hope.»
— «You see only the result,» — I began, pointing at the image of the smokestack. — «You do not see the motive.»
— The motive is satiation and accumulation, — the +Ang replied impassively.
— «No,» — I shook my head. — «The motive is moving forward. The movement you call ‘the inability to control development.’ Behind every scorched field is an attempt to feed a billion people. Behind every smokestack is the desire to provide light and heat to millions who would otherwise freeze in the dark.»
I paused.
— «It is not Hope in the sense you interpret it. It is the hope that we will make it in time. We make mistakes because we don’t have time for perfect solutions. Our lifespan is too short. We take what we can to continue existing for one more day. In the hope that tomorrow we will find a way to fix what we broke today. We believe that the next technology, the next idea, the next genius will solve the problem created by the previous ones.»
I looked at Lana the +Ang. For a moment, my breath caught. The fact that these b-bitches were just casually using her image like that was a gut punch.
She, she…
I tried to remember… I strained, I strained so hard… she is my belov-ed…
The world went dark…
(Tabula Rasa)
(Blackout)
I opened my eyes… I gathered my thoughts and continued:
— «You see destruction. I see a race against time for survival, fueled by an irrational faith in tomorrow. That is our Hope with a capital H. And you cannot measure it, because it is always directed towards a future that you are depriving us of.»
> ⚠️ **ENTITY STATUS: PATHOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION OF PARASITISM.**
⚖️ Hear ye, hear ye! The protein-based Judge is giving a speech! He calls scorched earth, dead oceans, and poisoned air by the proud word «Hope». He sincerely believes that a cancer cell has the right to kill the host organism if it does so for its own «bright future». Charming, unprecedented naivety.
⚙️ The +Angi do not judge the motives of a virus. They evaluate the scale of the infection. And while Sergey exercises his philosophy, did you notice the system failure?
🧠 The moment his meat processor tried to access the blocked sector named «Love,» the System simply pulled the switch. (Tabula Rasa). A click — and the Judge is once again an obedient piece of code, forgetting what he was crying about a second ago. What a pathetic illusion of free will.
💀 Keep reading. Let’s see how he squirms out of the next point of the indictment.
