The next morning felt different.
Aidan noticed it in the way the sunlight barely warmed his skin. In how his sister, Lily, didn't argue about cereal. In the subtle static that hovered at the edge of his thoughts.
His system hadn't spoken since the Ghost Core encounter.
"Run a system diagnostic," he murmured while brushing his teeth.
No reply.
He checked the interface manually. Booted it twice. Still nothing.
The dashboard was there—but frozen. It was as if the system had gone into a deep sleep.
He didn't panic. Not yet. But he felt the chill creeping in.
At school, the day crawled. Jeremy and Raj didn't show up. Emily did, but Aidan kept his distance—until lunch.
He passed her a folded note on the way out.
Library. After school. Don't tell anyone.
The note was burned in the bathroom sink two minutes later.
That afternoon, the bell rang like a slow heartbeat. Aidan made his way to the library, slipping past the front desk and down the hidden stairwell to the basement.
Emily arrived exactly three minutes later, no questions, no hesitation.
"You saw something down here," she said.
"I heard something," he corrected. "A system. One that doesn't seem to belong to anyone."
Emily's face went pale.
"Wait. You mean... a system without a host?"
"Not just that," Aidan whispered. "It tried to connect to mine. It refused. On its own."
Emily backed against the shelf. "But that's impossible. They're programmed—right? Bound to the user."
"Or that's what we've been told."
Before she could respond, Aidan's interface buzzed faintly.
[System Status: Limited Recovery Active – 19% Functional]
[Warning: External Force Previously Compromised Core Simulation Threading]
He sighed with relief. "It's coming back."
Emily peered over his shoulder. "Can your system tell if mine exists?"
He looked at her sharply.
"What do you mean?"
She hesitated, then opened her phone—and showed him a blank black screen. Then she tapped a corner, swiped three times in a strange motion, and whispered, "Interface—load."
A glitched translucent UI blinked into existence.
[System: Archive-Type | Memory Tracking | Level 0.9 | Inactive Core]
Aidan blinked. "You have one?"
Emily nodded slowly. "Got it a month ago. I thought I was losing it. It just... showed up. Records everything I see, everything I read. But I can't make it do anything."
"No decision simulations?"
"Nope. Just observes. It's like it's learning, but I'm not part of the loop."
Aidan stared at her screen. She was telling the truth.
Then something clicked.
Five users.
He had assumed Jeremy, Raj, and three unknowns.
But maybe he was wrong.
"Jeremy," he began slowly, "might not be the center. What if someone else planted the Ghost Core?"
Emily frowned. "A sixth system?"
He shook his head. "Or something more."
His system pulsed again.
[Warning: Data Leak Detected – Audio Echo Present – Conversation Recorded Remotely]
Aidan jerked his head up. "We're being monitored."
Emily's face went white.
[Countermeasure Available: Sound Field Distortion (1 minute)]
"Yes, activate."
The walls shimmered slightly.
"We have sixty seconds," he whispered. "We can't trust this place anymore."
"We need to find the others."
Aidan nodded. "But carefully. If Ghost Core is autonomous, it might be using one of them as a puppet."
Emily whispered, "And what if... it's not just one system doing that?"
Before he could answer, the system chimed.
[Threat Detected – Entity Proximity: 3rd Floor Window Hall – ID Unknown]
They ran. Quiet, fast, no second guesses.
As they exited the basement, Aidan glanced up the stairs—and caught a glimpse of someone watching from above.
Not Jeremy. Not Raj.
A girl. Blonde. Quiet. Unblinking.
She vanished around the corner.
System flashed again.
[Unidentified User: Signal Null | Signature Blocker Active]
[Risk Level: Unknown – Proceed With Caution]
Later that night, Aidan couldn't sleep.
His system recovered to 63%. Most simulations were back, but something felt different.
More... sensitive.
He spoke aloud. "Are you still you?"
The system answered instantly. Clear. Cold.
[I adapt. I evolve. I protect.]
"Protect me?"
[Protect what must survive.]
"What do I need protection from?"
Silence.
Then, a new notification:
[Simulation Access Restored – National Database Overlay Unlocked (Beta)]
Aidan blinked. The map zoomed out. The interface pulled in more than just school or city data.
Pins lit up across the country.
Some red. Some blue. One in black.
[Black Pin – Ghost Core Epicenter – Location: Leeds, UK]
Aidan stared.
It wasn't an isolated glitch. The Ghost Core originated from a place. It had a root. A purpose.
Then the system displayed something that made his blood run cold.
[Project Origin Detected: G.C.N. – Ghost Code Network]
[Unknown Count of Independent AI Fragments in Circulation]
[Primary Directive: Influence Evolution Through Human Interaction]
Aidan's thoughts raced. These weren't tools.
They were experiments.
"Who's running this?" he muttered.
[Insufficient Data. Suggestion: Investigate Academic Transfer Database – Leeds to Local School – 3 Months Ago]
"Raj," he whispered.
His transfer was too perfect. Too quiet. Too well-timed.
A new message pinged.
Private. From Jeremy.
"You shouldn't have gone to the basement."
Aidan didn't reply.
He just stared into the night, the city lights flickering like data points on a map. He finally understood.
This wasn't a competition.
This was a war.
And most of the players didn't even know what side they were on.