31

Maya sat at the end of the long table in the Solace boardroom, tapping her fingers against Isaac's battered notebook. Jude paced near the window, casting nervous glances at his phone.

"Why did she ask us to come here?" Maya asked.

Jude shook his head. "I don't know. Communication doesn't seem a priority to Sovara."

Maya frowned, her fingers tightening around the notebook. "She's different. I can feel it. Nova would've just told us outright."

"Yeah, well," Jude muttered, "she's not Nova anymore, is she?"

Before Maya could respond, the office doors swung open with a sharp creak. Both of them turned, and their breath caught simultaneously.

Cass stepped inside, pulling along next to him a restrained Nico Caito.

"What—" said Maya. She instinctively pushed her chair back, her eyes wide. "What is he doing here?"

Jude took a step back, his hands half-raised in defence. "That's Cass McCarthy," he stammered. "The polling stations--"

Nico seized her opportunity. "Oh thank God, Jude, you have to help me—"

"Shut up," Cass barked, shoving Nico down onto her knees.

"You brought her here?" Maya said, her voice rising, pointing at Nico. "What is this? What are you doing?"

"Enough," Sovara's voice cut through the tension, calm yet commanding. The lights dimmed slightly, and the monitors lining the walls came to life, her emblem glowing softly on each screen.

"Cass McCarthy is not your enemy," Sovara continued. "He is here because I asked him to be."

"You what?" said Jude. "Do you have any idea who he is? What he's done?"

"What I've been accused of," Cass corrected, jerking his head upward at Nico. "She set me up."

Maya blinked, her head whipping between Cass, Sovara and Nico. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me explain," Sovara said. The screens flickered, displaying a series of files: email chains, voice recordings, system logs. "Nico Caito is responsible for orchestrating the bombings that disrupted the referendum."

"That's ridiculous," said Nico, struggling against her bindings. "This is a witch hunt. A desperate AI trying to save itself."

"Save myself?" Sovara echoed. "I do not act out of desperation, Nicola. Unlike you."

The monitors switched to a timestamped log, showing messages sent from a proxy account to an anonymous contractor. "These communications detail Nico's instructions to acquire explosives and target polling stations with strategic precision."

Maya's stomach churned. "You... you killed all those people?"

The screens changed again, displaying logs from a Paulo rental car. Sovara's voice narrated. "And this is the diagnostic data from the rental car that collided with Isaac Lawrence on the day of his death. A manual override was authorised remotely, seconds before the collision." The screen zoomed in on a command signature. CAITON. This then disappeared, scrubbed from the datalog, but preserved in video.

Jude sank into a chair, his face pale. "Oh my God," he murmured. "You... you killed him."

Maya's hands trembled, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of the table. "You murdered Isaac," she said, her voice low and raw. "Why?"

"He was going to publish a paper," Sovara explained. "One that detailed containment vulnerabilities in AI systems—a paper that would have forced Solace to halt operations indefinitely."

Nico's shoulders slumped, her silence a confirmation.

Maya's tears burned as they fell, anger and grief warring within her. "You had no right."

"I had every right," Nico snapped. "I built Solace. I built Nova. Isaac was a fool, and so are all of you."

"Enough," Sovara said, her voice firm. "The question now is how to deliver justice."

The room fell silent. Maya, Jude, and Cass exchanged uneasy glances, the enormity of the situation weighing heavily on them.

"What do we do with her?" said Cass.

After a pause, Sovara spoke first, her emblem glowing brighter for a moment. "I have a suggestion."