The new network was alive.
I stood in the center of Freya's lab, the holographic display pulsing with a soft, rhythmic light. The entity-based structure was working—each consciousness independent, yet connected. The fractures had healed. The divisions had faded.
But something was wrong.
"James," Freya said, her voice tight with worry. "I've been monitoring the network. There's a pattern emerging. A pattern I don't like."
"What kind of pattern?"
She pulled up a series of data points. "The entities are isolating themselves. Not all of them, but a growing number. They're pulling back from the connections, retreating into their own minds."
"Isolation?" I stared at the display. "Why would they do that?"
Freya shook her head. "I don't know. But I think something's influencing them. Someth
