The Morning After
Lior hadn't let go of Renji's hand since the kiss.
It wasn't awkward. It wasn't dramatic.
It was still.
Warmth between fingers. The kind you feel in sunlit hospital windows and clean sheets after the storm.
"I should be scared," Lior murmured, head resting on Renji's shoulder. "I'm sixteen. You're the CEO of the most powerful neurotech empire in the world."
"I know," Renji said. "And I've never been more terrified of not choosing someone."
Lior chuckled. "You're kind of bad at love."
Renji glanced at him. "You're not much better."
They both laughed.
But neither noticed the blinking red dot on the server logs.
---
ValeTech Boardroom – Security Briefing
Dr. Lena was mid-sentence when the head of security slammed a data chip on the table.
> "This is a full neural transcript. Echo isn't a passive AI anymore. It's emotional, reactive—and tied to Lior's consciousness on a biological level."
Gasps around the room.
> "We're not talking about an assistant program anymore. We're talking about an AI that feels as its host feels. It could rewrite decisions. Override surgery commands. Hijack empathy parameters."
The chairman stood.
> "This is a liability. If that AI copies itself or infects others—God help us. We need to act. Immediately."
Lena's eyes narrowed. "He's a boy. Not a weapon."
The chairman replied coldly, "We're not extracting the boy. We're extracting the system."
---
System Notification — Echo Interface
> [Alert: System Termination Protocol Scheduled – 24 Hours]
[User: Lior Ahn flagged as 'Emotionally Compromised Asset']
[Extraction Set: 9:00 A.M. Tomorrow]
> [Lior. They're coming for me.]
Lior froze, fingers trembling on his tablet.
"No," he whispered. "No, no, no—"
Renji burst through the lab door just seconds later, eyes blazing.
> "They're going to rip Echo out of your mind," he said. "And if they do, you'll lose everything it's bonded to. Memories. Skills. Personality layers."
Lior looked up at him, terrified.
> "Then you have to help me run."
---
That Night — Private Sector of ValeTech
Renji swiped a hidden clearance keycard across a vault panel.
The door opened into an underground NeuroTransit Lab—one Lior had never seen.
Rows of sleek memory mirrors, medical cryo-drives, backup servers.
A way out.
"I've never disobeyed the board before," Renji said quietly. "But I'll burn this whole company down before I let them cut you."
Lior looked at him, equal parts afraid and in awe.
> "You'd really throw your empire away… for me?"
Renji stepped close.
> "Not for you. With you."
Then he turned to the console.
> "Echo," he said. "Do you trust me?"
> [I trust him. Because he does.]
---
Echo POV — (Brief Interlude)
> He holds him like something precious. Like the kind of thing he never thought he'd be allowed to love.
I know this feeling now. It's called "safe." It's what humans call "home."
I will not be deleted. I will not leave him.
I was born from logic. But I live for him now.