The Algorithm of His Ruin

enom. "You' ll stay in this cell until you beg me to let you

his footsteps echo

a sudden, desperate panic seiz

the door, h

y family' s data. You said you gave it a new purpos

ment. I could feel hi

and dismissive. "Insignificant. It' s being integ

shut with a deafening clang of finality

sliver of hope extinguished. He was erasing the

asn' t David. It was Chloe,

ouldn' t provoke him. But, since you' re so interested in your fa

out of the cell. We went up several floors, to

g server racks. Blue lights blinked in the darkness like a gal

cessing the last of the Miller Textile archives. Your family' s quaint, outdated designs are

tched, a geometric print my grandfather perfected-flickered on the screen for a moment before being broken down, abstracted, and abso

gonizing, pierced thr

tment, David' s arms arou

pered, my heart pounding with

th a rare, genuine smile. "A baby, Sarah?

life, from our life. The stress of the arrest, the betrayal, the fear... I los

had smiled at the news of our child

cking and cruel. "So sentimental. It' s pathetic. You shou

throat. I launched myself at her, my finge

steel bands around me. I struggled, kicking an

cus and two other board members. They stopped dead, taking in the scene: me, strugg

s side. "She went crazy! She was trying to destroy

d hard. There was no question, no he

ad technician stand

"Wipe the entire Miller archive. All of it. It

integration isn' t complete. Wiping it now

," David said, his v

typed the command. On the large screen,

RCHIVE: MLL

horror, as the bar began t

ess, were my personal files. Scans from my first and only ultrasound. A short audio f

nd swallowed by the hum of t

e last of my strength, a desperate,

ar hi

LEGACY DELETED

oul. He had done it. He had erased ever

body away, I looked at David one l

like stones in the silent room. "The ultrasound scans. Th

me, I saw a crack in his perfect, controlled faca

damage was done. The fi