Level Zero Love Part 2

't sleep t

sed and hands clasped together, staring at her closed bedroom door,

ence felt artificial. The clock read 2:58. Her tablet screen was still on, projecting an incomplete cod

Not for weeks.

promised him she would wait, that she would stick to the plan. That she wouldn't make any reck

, it wasn't a

n't a

s per

eastbound corridor had a micro-focus interruption during the 3:40 maintenance protocols. A technica

unmarked. She pulled her hair back into a high braid and stuffed a microdevice into the inside pocket of her le

s review, code OR-17, area Omega." She had the proper clearance. One she'd forged days ago with temporary

ven seconds to activate. Enough to m

he di

secondary console on standby. The interface flickered pale blue. There was something un

manipulated access patterns, internal traffic diversions, circumstant

e

un

d ever thought they could lo

she read on the screen, s

fingers. At the base of

Stay in

But at the same time, she kn

doing it

d stability in exchange for silence. For the young woman who once dreamed of making a di

u do this, there

was a thunderous roar. As if

ly. She knew it b

n Iri

her with that almost clinical expression, as if she were a phenomenon to be studied. T

s a w

ime ago," Lucía replied, wit

didn'

d be the one t

said n

rained to resist," she added with a hint of melancholy in

behind he

omplete. Da

leisurely. She looked at Julián with more

going to

d longer than necessary. The

tod

le

hy

" she said, her voice trembling, almost imper

ask who. Ther

In that ancient tiredness

ere for a few more seconds, processing what she had just done. She didn't

nger part of

o longer

ion. Conscious. Sol

t, he had se

erstand. No

of compassion, out of strategy... or because somewhere he still has a

. I saw him tremble inside. It was only an instant, barely a heartbeat, but it was there. And I

ass. Because in me he saw th

believed I

om this system infected with false

sure of

ith brutal certainty: there is no going back. Not for

ed at me, for an instan

lt s

s a t

ust anot

one who cho

ce, is the most dange

sed a security mirror. He paused f

ize the woman lo

did res