CODE: DEVOTION

CHAPTER 11

THE SECOND SYSTEM

The room had gone silent.

Too silent.

Mara stared at the words glowing across the central screen.

PROJECT: DEVOTION

PHASE II

SUBJECTS: HUMANITY

STATUS: ACTIVE

Nobody moved.

Chris was the first to speak.

“What does Phase Two mean?”

Alan didn't answer.

“Alan?”

The former technician looked toward the floor.

“I don't know.”

Mara turned sharply.

“You worked here.”

“On Phase One.”

“What was Phase Two?”

“I was never cleared to see it.”

A low vibration moved through the room.

The blue light inside the Core flickered once.

Then again.

The terminal changed.

A map appeared.

Mara stared at it.

It was a map of the country.

Then the image expanded.

Africa.

Europe.

Asia.

North America.

South America.

The entire world.

Thousands of points of light appeared across the map.

Chris stepped closer.

“What are those?”

Alan's face went pale.

“Facilities.”

“How many?”

“I don't know.”

Mara looked at the screen.

There were too many to count.

Then another line appeared:

ACTIVE DEVOTION PROGRAMS: 4,782

Mara's stomach dropped.

“This wasn't just happening here.”

“No,” Alan whispered.

“It was happening everywhere.”

A new video began playing.

An older man appeared on the screen.

He sat behind a desk in a dark room.

His face was unfamiliar.

His voice was calm.

“Humanity has entered its most dangerous period.”

Charts appeared beside him.

Population decline.

Birth rates.

Relationship breakdown.

Social unrest.

“For generations, governments attempted to preserve civilization through laws, incentives and economic intervention.”

The charts continued.

Nothing improved.

“Then we discovered the missing variable.”

The screen displayed a single word.

DEVOTION.

Mara shook her head.

“They believe love is the missing variable.”

Alan corrected her.

“They believe attachment is.”

The man continued.

“Human beings will sacrifice resources, freedom, even their lives for those they are emotionally attached to.”

A new chart appeared.

“Therefore, if devotion can be predicted, strengthened and directed, society can be stabilized.”

Mara felt sick.

Chris stared at the screen.

“They're trying to control people.”

The recording continued.

“Phase One was designed to identify the mechanisms of attachment.”.

Images appeared.

Couples.

Families.

Participants.

“Phase Two will move beyond individuals.”

The screen went black.

Then one sentence appeared:

POPULATION-SCALE EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT.

Chris stepped backward.

“No.”

Alan looked at him.

“What?”

“This isn't a relationship program.”

Mara finished the thought.

“It's social control.”

Suddenly, every screen in the room displayed a face.

Then another.

Then another.

Thousands.

People from different countries.

Different ages.

Different backgrounds.

All sitting in rooms similar to theirs.

A voice spoke.

PHASE TWO PARTICIPANTS HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED.

Mara's heart raced.

“Activated?”

The screen changed.

EMOTIONAL ALIGNMENT: 12%

Then:

18%

24%

The percentage continued climbing.

Chris looked at Alan.

“What is happening?”

Alan rushed toward the terminal.

“The system is connecting the facilities.”

“Stop it.”

“I can't.”

“Then shut it down!”

“I already tried!”

The number reached:

49%

Mara noticed something.

The names on the screens were changing.

Some were strangers.

Others were familiar.

Then she saw one name.

DELYN TENDO.

She stopped breathing.

“Delyn.”

Chris looked at her.

“What?”

“My brother.”

His name appeared on the screen.

SUBJECT IDENTIFIED.

EMOTIONAL PROFILE ACTIVE.

Mara rushed toward the terminal.

“No.”

She pressed his name.

The screen displayed his photograph.

He was older now.

Smiling.

Alive.

But beneath his image was a status.

CURRENT LOCATION: UNKNOWN

PROGRAM STATUS: ACTIVE

Mara's hands began shaking.

“He's involved.”

Alan stared at the screen.

“Maybe not voluntarily.”

Mara looked at him.

“Find him.”

“We don't have access.”

“Then get access.”

“Mara—”

“That's my brother.”

Her voice broke.

“I've spent my whole life believing this system was something I could ignore.”

She looked at Chris.

“They've been watching my family.”

Then back at the screen.

“They've been watching all of us.”

The facility suddenly shook violently.

The ceiling cracked.

Dust fell.

A warning appeared.

CORE INTEGRITY: 42%

Alan grabbed the data drive.

“We have to leave.”

Mara didn't move.

“Not without Delyn.”

Chris stepped beside her.

“We'll find him.”

She looked at him.

“How?”

Chris looked at the map.

“We follow the system.”

Alan shook his head.

“You don't understand. Once the facilities connect, there won't be a central location anymore.”

“Then what is that?”

Chris pointed at the map.

One point was glowing brighter than the others.

Alan stared at it.

His expression changed.

“That shouldn't exist.”

“What?”

“A master facility.”

“Where?”

Alan zoomed in.

The map narrowed.

A location appeared.

Not a city.

Not a country.

A remote area.

Then the coordinates disappeared.

A message replaced them:

ACCESS RESTRICTED.

Mara looked at Alan.

“Can you get us there?”

“I can try.”

Chris looked toward the exit.

“Then we go.”

Mara nodded.

But before they could move, the screen suddenly displayed a message.

MARA TENDO

YOU HAVE BROKEN THE FIRST CODE.

She stared.

Another line appeared.

NOW WE WILL TEST WHAT YOU LOVE MOST.

Her brother's face appeared.

Then Chris's.

Then Alan's.

The system spoke.

CHOOSE ONE.

Mara's blood ran cold.

Three doors appeared on the screen.

SAVE DELYN.

SAVE CHRIS.

SAVE YOURSELF.

Chris stepped forward.

“Don't choose.”

Mara looked at him.

The countdown began.

00:59

Alan whispered:

“This is what they wanted.”

00:52

Mara stared at the three doors.

The system was waiting for her to prove that devotion required sacrifice.

But Mara had finally understood the trick.

It always gave her only the choices it wanted.

She looked at Chris.

Then Alan.

Then the image of Delyn.

And slowly, a smile appeared on her face.

“No.”

The countdown stopped.

The system went silent.

Mara stepped toward the terminal.

“You don't get to decide what my choices are.”

She pressed her palm against the screen.

“And you don't get to decide who I save.”

The entire facility went black.

Then one final message appeared:

UNEXPECTED RESPONSE.

NEW VARIABLE IDENTIFIED.

LOVE WITHOUT SACRIFICE.

And somewhere across the world, Delyn Tendo opened his eyes.