He walks across the room and hands me one of the cups.
“Thought you might need this.”
“Thank you.”
The warmth helps.
But the tension in my chest hasn’t faded.
Boone notices immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing.”
“That’s not convincing.”
I turn the laptop toward him.
“The observer node is still running.”
He studies the screen.
“Is that bad?”
“Maybe.”
“You say that a lot.”
“Because I’m not sure yet.”
I point to the scrolling code.
“The system is reorganizing itself.”
“Meaning?”
“It’s adapting to the changes we made.”
Boone frowns.
“Didn’t we want it to stabilize?”
“Yes.”
“But this isn’t stabilization.”
“What is it?”
“It’s… learning.”
Boone studies the screen again.
“Like artificial intelligence?”
“Not exactly.”
“But it’s definitely becoming more autonomous.”
