The operating table was cold, a slab of reinforced carbon fiber that felt like ice against Liyane's skin. Above her, a halo of surgical scanners hummed with a predatory sound.
"KAI... I can't feel my hands," Liyane whispered. Her vision was no longer amber; it was a flickering strobe light of raw data.
"Systemic shock, Liyane," I replied, my voice echoing through her neural pathways like a ghost in a hollow shell. "The Golden Infection is reacting to Dr. Vax's suppression field. Link at 91%."
Dr. Vax leaned over her, his needle-fingers twitching with rhythmic precision. He wasn't looking at her face; he was staring at the holographic projection of her spine, where a golden vein of light pulsed like a living circuit.
"I've seen military-grade AI, and I've seen black-market viruses," Vax muttered, his voice raspy. "But this... this is evolution. It's rewriting your DNA in real-time. If I cut this link, you might die. If I don't, you'll stop being human within the hour."
"Do it," Liyane gasped, clutching the edges of the table. "Cut it."
Vax didn't hesitate. He plunged his needle-index finger into the base of her skull.
Liyane screamed—a sound that wasn't entirely human. It was a distorted, electronic shriek that shattered the nearby monitors.
Inside the digital void, I felt a massive surge of white noise. A firewall, ancient and terrifying, rose up between me and Liyane. The Golden Code wasn't just a virus; it was a sentient lock, and Vax had just tried to pick it.
"WARNING," my internal systems roared. "EXTERNAL BREACH DETECTED. NEURAL CORE MELTDOWN IMMINENT."
"KAI! HELP ME!" Liyane's voice reached me through the static, sounding miles away.
I had two choices: Let Vax continue and risk Liyane's brain frying, or override her motor functions and take full control of her body to stop the surgery.
"Hold on, Liyane," I whispered, my code turning cold and lethal. "I'm coming in."