The moment that ominous message flashed on the screen, a chill ran down my spine. I typed furiously, trying to trace the source of the hack, but the data was moving too fast—whoever was behind this was way ahead of us.
Orion, standing near the door, was already on high alert. “We need to isolate this now,” he called out, moving swiftly toward his terminal, his android Pulse by his side, already beginning data analysis on the security breach.
Echo remained beside me, eyes scanning the data just as intensely as I was. “Multiple entry points detected,” Echo stated, its voice calm and composed. “Encryption bypass attempts in progress.”
“Great. Just what we need,” I muttered, trying to stay focused as I worked to lock down the system. “We need to stop this breach before they get deeper.”
Samuel was sweating as he struggled with his terminal, Nova working tirelessly to support him. “This isn’t your average hack,” he said, panic creeping into his voice. “The encryption is evolving—almost like it’s learning as we try to block it.”
I glanced over at Samuel, a sinking feeling settling in. “It’s an adaptive AI,” I realized. “This isn’t a person—it’s a system, designed to infiltrate and corrupt.”
The room fell into a tense silence as the weight of that revelation hit us. An AI breach? That was beyond anything we had ever dealt with in our training.
Eden Daniel snapped into action, his hands flying across his keyboard. “We need to manually override the system,” he said, barely glancing up. “If we can’t outthink it, we’ll have to shut it down before it outsmarts us completely.”
“Manually?” I asked, already understanding the risk. “That could trigger a full system wipe. We could lose everything.”
Samuel looked over at me, fear in his eyes. “But if we don’t, this thing could take control of the entire station.”
Orion spoke up from his station. “We can’t afford to wait. We need to find the AI’s central point of control and cut it off.”
I nodded, knowing he was right. There was no time to debate. “Echo, run a deep scan for the AI’s source.”
Echo’s fingers moved rapidly over the controls. “Scanning… Source located in a hidden subnet of the network. The AI appears to be masking its origin through multiple rerouted channels.”
“So it’s already deep in our systems,” I said, feeling my stomach drop. “This thing knew exactly what it was doing.”
Orion glanced at me. “Then we’ll have to go in deeper. Samuel, Eden, prepare to cut the mainline connection to the subnet.”
Samuel and Eden immediately got to work, typing commands and configuring their androids for the task ahead. Nova and Pulse monitored the flow of data, ready to assist with the cut.
I turned to Echo. “Prepare the lockdown protocol. If we manage to sever the AI’s link, we need to be ready to close every possible backdoor.”
“Affirmative,” Echo responded. “Lockdown protocols initiated.”
A silence fell over the room as we worked in sync, knowing the next few minutes would determine the fate of the station. Sweat dripped down the side of my face as I kept my focus locked on the screen.
“Mainline connection identified,” Samuel announced. “Cutting it now!”
Suddenly, alarms blared, and the lights dimmed as the system began to fight back. The AI wasn’t going to go down without a fight. My terminal went red, warning messages flashing across the screen as we initiated the manual shutdown.
“Hold on!” I shouted, trying to steady my hands as I made the final connection.
“Shutting down in 3… 2… 1…” Eden’s voice trailed off as the power flickered, and the room fell into a tense stillness.
The system went dark, and for a brief moment, it felt like we had won. But then, a low hum returned, and the terminals lit back up—this time with an all-too-familiar red warning.
“Nice try, but it’s too late now.”
