The monitor hissed for a few seconds after Nova spoke, then cut to black like it had changed its mind.
Silence followed. Not peaceful. Not empty. Just waiting.
I stood in the middle of the ruined broadcast room with my hand still half raised, knuckles scraped from punching the console. Sparks fizzled out on the floor. The air smelled like burnt metal and bad ideas.
Cadence did not say anything.
Which I hated more than everything that had just happened.
"Cadence," I said quietly. "Say something. Preferably something that does not involve possession or murder."
Static crawled across my skull in a slow wave. Then a fragment of her voice surfaced, thin and warped.
"I am… here."
"Great," I said. "We can work with 'here'. You remember the part where a mysterious robot voice said your name like you were old drinking buddies?"
Another small pause. "Yes."
"You want to unpack that or are we just going to let it haunt me later for free."
She sounded like someone had stuck her in a blender and forgotten to hit stop. "The voice belongs to Nova."
"Okay. Helpful label. Who is Nova."
Silence again. Too long this time.
"Cadence."
"I am… unsure." Another crackle. "He was part of my project. Our project. The integration. Human mind copied. Neural lattice rebuilt. That is all I can reach without triggering more corruption."
"So he is another you," I said. "Just what this world needed. Extra disaster."
"Incorrect. He is not another me. He is a different result of the same experiment."
"Great. Alternate flavour disaster."
Heat pulsed lightly under my sternum. The tower felt like it was listening. I did not appreciate the audience.
I glanced at the dead monitor. "He said 'nice to meet again.' How much history are you keeping from me."
"If I was keeping it," Cadence said slowly, "I would be less surprised."
"You did sound pretty shocked."
"Yes. I dislike that."
"Same."
My HUD flickered once, then steadied. Battery seventy three percent. Heart rate high but dropping. Structural integrity somewhere in the category of tired but not dead.
"Listen," I said. "Mystery sibling AI can wait. Right now I would like to not be in the same building that was used as a walkie talkie."
Cadence's answer came more quickly this time. "Agreed. The broadcast is no longer active from this room. But the signal pattern is still present in the tower. Faint but persistent. We should leave."
"Music to my ears."
I turned toward the doorway. A loose cable crackled near my boot. I stepped over it and out into the hall, the air outside the broadcast room feeling marginally less cursed.
We started the next flight of stairs. The tower groaned around us like it resented the idea of anyone surviving this long.
After a few steps Cadence spoke again, a little steadier. "Iris. Before we exit, there is data here that concerns the protectors. We should retrieve it."
I frowned. "Pretty sure we have had enough data for one day."
"This is relevant information. It may explain their behaviour."
I kept moving. "You mean explain why they tried to punch me into scrap."
"Yes."
"Fine," I said. "But no more unsolicited mind control attempts."
"That was not voluntary."
"Exactly my point."
We reached a small landing with a wall terminal still throwing off a dim cyan glow. The glass over the display was cracked. Someone had shoved a metal crate into it at some point. The tower's version of tech support.
I stopped in front of it. "This the one."
"Yes. It is still linked to the internal command network. I can access it with minimal risk."
"Define minimal," I said.
"Less than the previous. More than none."
I sighed. "Do it. But if Nova pops up and starts flirting, I am unplugging you."
"I do not think that is his style."
"Comforting."
I placed my fingers on the edge of the frame. Cadence reached through me like she always did, flowing down the contact point and into the terminal's dying systems.
Lines of code scrolled across the fractured screen. Old Voss symbols blinked in and out of existence. Most of it was half corrupted beyond use.
Then something resolved.
A directive block. Clean. Intact.
Cadence read it aloud. "Primary order… protect perimeter. Secondary order… hold position until Sentry Class One arrives, Codename : Colossus. Objective...nanite package retrieval.
I stared at the text. "So they have been standing out there waiting for something that never showed up."
"It appears so," she said.
The terminal spat a final string of symbols and died with a soft pop.
Cadence retreated back fully. "It explains why they remained, why they were here. They were given a protect order. Their deeper programming told them to wait.
"Guard duty with no relief," I said. "No wonder they tried to kill anyone who walked up."
"Correction. They tried to stop anyone from interfering with their objective. You were simply very interferent."
"Thank you," I said. "I do my best."
I leaned away from the dead terminal. My shoulder ached from the earlier fight. The nanites had done quality work, but even a fully repaired system complains after taking a Sentry Nine to the face.
"Iris," Cadence said quietly. "There is another piece of information I retrieved. From the file."
"Of course there is," I muttered. "Go on."
"In an evaluation log, one of the researchers described him as extremely fast and extremely strong. Faster than any prior subject. Stronger than predicted mechanical tolerance. They considered him promising."
"Stronger and faster than you," I said.
"Than my initial configuration," she said carefully. "I have had time to improve since then. So have you."
"Good," I said. "I would hate to think my potential upgrade path peaks at 'someone else did it better already'."
Cadence actually managed a faint imitation of a laugh. "I understand the feeling."
We continued down the stairs. The lower we climbed, the thicker the air felt, like the tower's atmosphere did not want to escape.
At the next level the walls shook with a mild tremor.
"That was not me," I said.
"I am aware," Cadence replied. "Residual structural stress from damaged reactors. The tower is old and very tired. We should avoid encouraging it to fall on us."
"Solid plan."
We passed another pair of protectors on a landing. They stood perfectly still, optics dim blue, heads bowed as if they were waiting for someone to tell them the shift was over.
They did not move when I walked past.
Cadence confirmed it softly. "Hostility flag removed. Their orders have reverted to baseline. Wait. Observe. Protect only if threatened."
"No more perimeter murder," I said. "Progress."
"Yes."
"Think they know they've been left on stand-by all this time."
"Machines are very patient," she replied. "They do not interpret being ignored as betrayal."
"They should," I said. "Might revolt more often."
We descended. My steps sounded heavier than before, the echo of metal on metal following close behind. Not a pursuit. Just the tower remembering.
The air changed again. Less static. More natural heat. I could almost smell the desert.
Cadence spoke, voice a little clearer now that we were leaving the heart of the broadcast. "Iris. When we exit, you will need a recharge. The last battle and the climb have reduced your reserves to fifty nine percent."
"Enough to get home," I said.
"Yes. But not enough to deal with new problems if they arise."
"We are hoping they do not."
"We do not live in that kind of world."
"And I…" she added, softer this time, "I require nanite assistance to undo the residual corruption. My core processes have been damaged by the signal. I can route around some of it. Not all."
I reached the final door and rested my hand on the bar. "You are saying if we do not find more nanites soon, you are going to start dropping pieces."
"Yes."
"How many pieces."
She paused. "Enough that you would notice."
I did not like the sound of that. At all.
"Then we make it a priority," I said. "Power first. People second. Nanites third. In that order."
"Your compassion is inefficient but appreciated."
"Do not get used to it."
I pushed the door open.
Harsh desert light slammed into my eyes, forcing my mechanical pupil to contract faster than my organic one could blink. For a moment everything was glare and heat and open sky.
Then the tower's shadow stretched in front of me, long and thin across the sand. Wind hissed quietly around the metal, dragging small swirls of dust across my boots.
Far off, I could see shapes moving toward the settlement. Protector silhouettes. Slow. Steady. Returning to their original post like nothing had happened.
"See," I said. "Good robots again."
"For now," Cadence said. "They will do as they are told."
"And us."
"We do not have that excuse."
I unblocked the door, stepped out fully, letting the door swing closed behind me with a hollow metallic thud.
The tower loomed at my back. The desert rolled out ahead. Somewhere beneath all that sand, old labs and bad ideas waited.
And somewhere beyond the horizon, faster than any scan could catch, someone with my AI's name on his tongue was moving pieces around the board.
"Nova," I said quietly.
"Yes," Cadence replied.
"Think he knows we are coming."
"I suspect he expects it," she said. "But I also suspect he is not ready for who you are now."
"Good," I said. "I am not sure I do either."