The network hummed with a new energy.
I stood in the center of Freya's lab, the holographic display pulsing with a soft, rhythmic light. The unified consciousness was whole. The fragments were integrated. The First Network was at peace. The Architects were safe. The Hunter was part of us now.
But something was missing.
"James," Freya said, appearing beside me. "I've been analyzing the network's energy patterns. There's something I don't understand."
"What is it?"
She pulled up a new display. The network was a web of light, but there was something on the edge—a faint pulse, barely visible, reaching out from the void.
"There's a signal," Freya said. "Fainter than the one from the Architects. More distant. But it's there."
"A signal from where?"
Freya shook her head. "I don't know. Bu
