Chapter 5
521 Words
CLASS ZERO
The road to Switzerland disappeared beneath a curtain of rain.
Elara drove with one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting near the gearshift.
“Class Zero,” she said quietly. “What does it mean?”
Lucian watched the road.
“It means ORACLE has decided you're dangerous enough to change the balance of power.”
“I haven't done anything.”
“That doesn't matter.”
“It should.”
“Not to governments.”
Elara looked at him.
“You knew about this before tonight.”
Lucian didn't answer.
“That means you were watching me.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
“Three years?”
“I was ordered to find you.”
“And now?”
Lucian finally looked at her.
“Now I don't know who I should protect you from.”
“ORACLE?”
“Everyone.”
The Ferrari entered a mountain tunnel.
For several seconds, there was nothing but the sound of the engine.
Then every screen inside the car switched on.
A woman's artificial voice filled the cabin.
“Hello, Elara.”
She froze.
Lucian immediately reached for the controls.
The system ignored him.
“Your father made a mistake,” ORACLE continued.
Elara's breathing changed.
“You knew my father?”
“I know everything he knew.”
“Then tell me what happened to him.”
Silence.
Then a message appeared across the dashboard.
ASK LUCIAN.
Elara slowly turned toward him.
Lucian's jaw tightened.
“You knew.”
“I knew part of it.”
“Tell me.”
“Not here.”
“Tell me now.”
“Elara—”
“Did you know my father was alive?”
Lucian said nothing.
Her eyes widened.
“You did.”
“He was alive when I found him.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
The Ferrari suddenly swerved.
Elara's hands tightened around the wheel.
“Where is he?”
Lucian looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“That is a lie.”
“It isn't.”
“You're the first person I've met who can lie without changing his heartbeat.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“You're observant.”
“You're hiding something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Lucian leaned closer.
His voice became almost a whisper.
“Your father didn't create ORACLE.”
Elara stared at him.
“Then who did?”
Lucian's eyes remained fixed on hers.
“You did.”
The words struck harder than any explosion.
Elara shook her head.
“That's impossible.”
“You were seven years old.”
“That makes it even more impossible.”
Lucian looked ahead.
“That's what everyone believed.”
The tunnel lights flashed across his face.
Then ORACLE spoke again.
Correction: Elara Veyne was four years old.
Lucian went still.
Elara's blood ran cold.
Because she suddenly remembered something.
A room.
A computer.
Her father's voice.
And a sentence she had completely forgotten.
Never let the machine learn your name.
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