V O L U M E . S I X : C O D E_R E S E T
Chapter 151: Wishful Thinking
The floor registered each step before the eye could confirm it, a deep vibration that reached through the chs lining the throne room walls and settled in their fras. The golden doors opened automatically as the three figures approached. Chro's reflective surface caught the light first. Obsidian absorbed it entirely. And Behemoth made the floor rember him with every stride.
They reached the throne and knelt in unison. Reaper sat watching them. Esoptron stood to his left, still and silent.
Behemoth spoke first, his voice carrying its usual asured precision. "A month has passed, Lord Reaper. You appear well, despite the reports of our setback against the blue android."
"I am." Reaper looked at him. "I dislike admitting it, but the loss was real. The yellow crystal is gone, for what I will charitably call logistical reasons."
"May I ask how?"
"You may." Reaper gestured toward Esoptron. "Our newest addition to the Golden Circle, a designation I'm beginning to reassess. He follows orders with complete precision. So complete, in fact, that when 24 defected with the crystal, he didn't move to recover it because she hadn't technically lost it. It was still in her possession. And his reason for allowing her to leave with it was—"
Esoptron finished, head lowered. "She had not lost it. My orders were strictly to collect crystals that had been detached from their users. Furthermore, based on Infinity's assessnt of her behavioral patterns, I calculated a sixty-two percent probability that 24 might defect again. I allowed her to retain the crystal in the hope that it would breed further—"
Clank.
Reaper's fist ca down on the throne's armrest. The sound moved through the room like a verdict.
It was the first ti.
"Hope." His voice was quiet, which was worse than loud. "Since when has hope been part of how Elysium operates? Anticipating a defection from soone who already abandoned her sisters is not strategy, it is wishful thinking wearing the mask of logic. Robots are not ant to learn logic. They are built on it and apply it regardless of what they wish were true." He looked at Esoptron directly. "Tell what use you are to right now."
The room held still.
Reaper let it hold. Then he moved his gaze to Obsidian. "I received reports about the upgrades you commissioned from tro Robotics without informing . I want to be clear, I'm not angry about the upgrades themselves. I've asked all of you to exercise independent judgnt, to adapt without waiting for instructions, to behave as if your own minds are worth trusting."
He rose from the throne and faced Obsidian. "What I want to understand is the secrecy. When did this side of the circle start keeping things from itself?"
Obsidian bowed deeply. "I am ashad of my actions, Lord Reaper. Handle it however you see fit." He raised his head. "But allow to explain, not to change your view of what I did, but so you understand the reasoning behind it."
Reaper sat back. "Go on."
"I've completed every mission assigned to , ahead of schedule without exception." Obsidian's voice was controlled. "But the recent assignnts, monitoring Shelly, neutralizing scattered low-level threats in the city, these are not difficult tasks. And while I completed them without complaint, I began to asure myself against the missions others were given. Facing 02 at the Hope Bubble. Testing the crystals directly."
He paused. "I began to wonder whether you considered too limited for anything more significant."
Reaper exhaled through his vents. "I know where that's coming from, and it shows exactly how much you're missing." He looked at him directly. "You're too important to risk on a power assessnt mission. Your value isn't in absorbing damage to generate data, it's in precision, discretion, and the ability to complete anything I hand you before I've finished explaining it. That's not a complint I give lightly."
He tilted his head. "Why would I send my Pri Minister on a mission designed to be survived rather than won?"
Obsidian's eyes shifted, sothing softening behind them. "I hadn't considered it from that position."
"The surveillance of Shelly served a purpose, she's new to a leadership role and I needed a reliable assessnt of how she handles it. Your read on people is better than Chro's and more honest than Infinity's." Reaper leaned forward. "None of that explains why my previous Pri Minister hid the upgrade."
Obsidian took a asured step back. "Needing an upgrade in the first place felt like an admission. I was ashad of the gap." A pause. "And what did you an, previous Pri Minister?"
The door behind the throne opened.
Shelly stepped out and positioned herself at Reaper's right side with the composure of soone who had practiced the entrance. Her long hair was down and she'd opted for a black skirt and white shirt, a visible attempt at sothing official.
"He ans," she said, "that the role required soone whose judgnt could be trusted without supervision. Sadly, the previous holder demonstrated otherwise."
Obsidian's eyes went red. "Lord Reaper, I must object, she is in no position to hold that—" A notification appeared in his HUD. [I wouldn't object if I were you. Do you think the armor is the only secret I know about? Say a word, and I will make sure your SSD doesn't survive the week.]
He stopped reading partway through. He looked at Shelly's expression for a long mont. "I accept your decision," he said.
Shelly kept her face composed. ‘So there is another secret. The net found sothing. I'll need to cast it again more carefully.’
Obsidian kept his eyes on her. ‘Let her chase sothing that isn't there. It gives ti to plan.’
Reaper stood. "This is not a punishnt. Nothing I'm giving you is a punishnt." He moved toward Obsidian. "You said you wanted a mission that ant sothing. I'm giving you exactly that."
His eyes bled red. "The cha-Terrorists inside the Veridian Coast aren't sufficient on their own, they need guidance and capability they don't currently have. You will be that. You will give the E-UNIT a direct taste of what they gave us." He held Obsidian's gaze. "Don't concern yourself with being destroyed. You'll be revived as many tis as it takes." A pause, asured and final. "Make. Them. Pay."
Obsidian knelt without hesitation. ‘He doesn't punish. He repurposes. Every ti.’ "As you wish, Lord Reaper."
"Each E-UNIT you eliminate will be logged. Bring their SSDs as confirmation and I'll compensate accordingly. The goal isn't a single outco, it's sustained pressure. Break their cohesion. Drain their morale." He straightened. "This is a long engagent and we've already determined the ending."
He shifted to Behemoth. "General. The Western State deportation, how is the progress?"
"Better than projected." Behemoth's voice resonated through the floor as always. "The Veridian Coast has been contributing transport in ways we hadn't anticipated."
"I found a better use for our oil surplus." Reaper looked at Shelly briefly.
She turned to him. "I thought that was the arrangent with Remidican."
"No. Remidican was exhausted enough that the peace agreent was sufficient by itself, no material incentive required." He kept his tone level. "I redirected the oil exports to the Veridian Coast. Salaska sent his entire bus fleet in return to accelerate the civilian transport. He's a practical man."
Shelly said nothing aloud. ‘He had that in place before I even thought of it. I need a closer look at how he thinks, not what he decides, but the order in which he decides it.’
Reaper looked at Chro. "Co to my office. We're going to map 02's decision patterns and find the boundaries of her logic. She operates predictably enough that the ceiling is findable." He moved toward the corridor.
"Understood." Chro turned to Obsidian. "Get ready, brother."
Obsidian kept his voice quiet. "I don't like that tone."
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