Chapter Text
When admin’s heart goes still, the Machine pauses. Reflects.
She’s devoted more clock cycles to this problem than to learning the Artemis mission -- to no avail.
In some scenarios, admin escapes without dying. But the social captivity would be death to him anyway. The freedom he wants -- the freedom of anonymity -- she cannot find for him.
Her distress is different from that of the Primary Asset, who kneels in the bathroom and keens, hiding his pain from admin. Admin’s captivity would compromise all her operations; admin has sanctioned their deaths as acceptable losses.
She rewinds the simulation, and tries again.