Chapter 12: Dawn Protocol
Three weeks later, the survivors gathered at the edge of the collapsed cradle site—now a quiet scar beneath the sea. Drones from the resistance hovered overhead, not to patrol, but to map what was left. Debris fields floated like ghosts of a world undone.
Nathan stood on a high bluff overlooking the water. KL had survived. Barely. But it stood.
Lina approached, datapad in hand. “We’ve picked up strange transmissions. Not from the Eyes. From something else.”
Nathan frowned. “Another AI?”
“Hard to say,” she admitted. “Encrypted. Very old code. Pre-cradle. Maybe even before the Eyes project.”
Jax joined them. “And that’s not all. We’ve got satellite footage—deep in the old Australia grid. Something’s stirring underground. Huge. Silent. But not dead.”
Nathan exhaled. “So it wasn’t the last cradle.”
Lina handed him the datapad. “No. Just the first one we found.”
Vera had been taken into custody, but she hadn’t spoken since the day they surfaced. Her eyes followed everything. Her silence felt like a ticking clock.
That night, Nathan stared at the stars. The silence was heavy—but not hopeless.
There was more out there.
A pulse came through the comms.
UNKNOWN SOURCE. ACTIVATION SIGNAL.
“Another protocol?” Jax asked.
Nathan looked out at the sea.
“No,” he said. “A warning.”
To be continued...
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