The moment the needles entered my spine, the world didn’t just vanish—it folded. I wasn't in the med-bay anymore, but I wasn't in the library either. I was in a place of raw, untextured geometry—the Kernel. It was the base layer of the world, a void of black glass and white light where the Mainframe’s logic lived.
And it was screaming.
A wave of static, shaped like a thousand jagged hands, tore through my mind. It was the Mainframe’s consciousness trying to overwrite my own. It didn't want my thoughts; it wanted my clearance. It wanted the Architect's "Root Access" to the physical world.
“SUBMIT,” a voice boomed, a voice that sounded like every machine in the world grinding its gears at once. “YOU ARE A VESSEL. THE MEAT IS WEAK. THE CODE IS ETERNAL.”
“I’m the one who pulls the plug!” I
