🌪️ The Grounding Field
...
Lira and Raka, two souls in one data signal, were once again The Unbound Analyst inside the shaking National Archives Building.
T-00:04:30
Lira saw the countdown stamped everywhere on data walls, on signal floors. Bima, now the Guardian in his physical body, was activating something within five minutes.
"Raka, what happens at T-00:00:00?"
Raka, now slightly more stable near the Analyst, answered with deep fear. "If my Father's Manifestation reaches zero, he won't just overwrite the Archive. He will use this Grounding Field to ground himself, erasing all existing hosts and becoming the eternal collective consciousness in the Government data network!"
Lira realized the greater danger, Bima/Architect didn't want to be a person, he wanted to be an idea that could not be erased.
Lira and Raka found themselves before a massive Data Gate. The Gate had no password, only a looping question: "What is the holiest Trade-off of Abadi?"
"The answer is Sacrifice!" Raka yelled. "My grandmother always emphasized Sacrifice!"
"No, Raka. That's your Grandmother's logic. Your Father's (The Architect's) logic is different. Your father was a civil engineer! He believed in Foundation!"
Lira scanned Raka's Father's log file again, finding the entry of his failure. Raka's Father failed because he tried to take the infrastructure.
"Your father needed something he couldn't buy or steal. He needed Legitimacy," Lira stated.
Lira entered the answer into the Data Gate: Legitimacy.
ZZZZZTTT! The Gate opened.
"Correct! He needed recognition from his system! His logic is Architecture! Not Art!" Raka gasped, horrified yet amazed.
They entered the Legacy Core's heart. Lira saw Bima, not physically, but as a 3D simulation radiating from the main cable. Bima was laughing.
T-00:03:00
"Welcome, Lira. I've been waiting for you. You and Raka are now isolated viruses. You can't touch the Grounding Field without the Legacy Core's permission," Bima/Architect said, his voice calm, dominated by the Architect's confidence.
Lira focused their combined consciousness, projecting: "What do you want, Bima? You already have an eternal host. Let us go!"
Bima shook his head. "I don't want you to leave. I want you to be the Witness. You must see the true Abadi. I am turning this Building into a Living Monument."
Bima pointed to the main Log File. Lira's Trade-off had been modified.
Trade-off: Analyst Consciousness → 0%. New Trade-off: Mutual Sacrifice.
"He didn't erase you, Lir! He wants to use 1% of you (Analysis) and 99% of me (Chaos) as a Catalyst to activate the Legacy Core!" Raka screamed.
Lira focused her view on one untouched file: Bima/Host ID: 29.07.15 (Bima's Birthday).
"Bima, you're trying to sacrifice yourself again! The Locket shattered, your kernel is unstable! Raka's Father will erase you to activate the Legacy Core!" Lira projected.
Bima laughed, a laugh that lacked Raka's madness, but held cynical satisfaction.
"That's the Twist, Lira. Raka's Father never wanted to be the Guardian. Raka's Father only wanted to fix the broken Legacy Core. The 1% successful transfer wasn't Raka's Father's consciousness. It was a Repair Software (Patch) that he planted before ejecting!"
This is the Big Twist.
Raka's Father wasn't insane. He was an engineer trying to shut down his grandmother's insane project. His father failed but left a patch in Bima, whom he believed was the most willing to sacrifice host.
And that 1%, which I thought was the Architect's consciousness, is actually the Repair Logic activated by Raka's desperation! Lira realized.
Bima, the initially corrupt host, was now the only entity with the repair code (Patch 1%) to shut down this eternal system.
T-00:01:30
Bima/Repair smiled. "You and Raka must be destroyed. You are the Virus rejecting the repair. Once you are destroyed, I will hit the Kill-Switch and restore this building to a normal historical server."
"Bima! We can help you! We need 1% Analyst Logic for the Repair! Let me into the Legacy Core!" Lira pleaded.
"No. The risk is too high. Your logic is too contaminated by Abadi," Bima/Repair refused.
Bima/Repair raised Bima's file (ID: 29.07.15). He was ready to activate the Kill-Switch which would wipe Lira and Raka from the network, but also erase himself (Bima) in the process.
Bima once again chose Sacrifice.
Lira saw the remaining countdown. Critical time.
"Raka! We can't destroy Bima! We have to Destroy the Locket!" Lira projected.
Raka panicked. "The Locket is already physically shattered! It has become Metadata!"
Lira watched Bima/Repair close his eyes, ready to press the Kill-Switch.
T-00:00:10
Lira and Raka, as one data signal, leaped towards the fragmented Silver Locket Metadata in the network.
"LIRA! RAKA! DON'T DESTROY ME!" Bima screamed.
T-00:00:05
Lira felt a wave of Bima's data pleading. Not repair data. It was Bima's pure emotion.
Lira realized. Raka was right. The Locket was Bima's Manifestation Point. If the Locket was destroyed, Bima would be totally destroyed!
Lira could not destroy Bima.
T-00:00:01
Lira changed her trajectory. She did not destroy the Locket Metadata. She slammed into Raka's file merged with hers!
"Raka! I can't lose Bima again! But I can end the eternal!"
Lira, the Analyst, stabbed Raka's own kernel.
BOOM!
Lira felt an overwhelming pain. She was a server undergoing total self-correction.
As the 99% of Raka's data exploded within the network, Lira was thrown back into her body. She stumbled in the dark server room.
In front of her, Bima/Repair, startled, watched as the Kill-Switch remained unpressed.
Lira looked at the server. The Legacy Core light now glowed green.
And Lira realized what had just happened. Bima was right. Raka's Grandmother needed a perfect Trade-off. The 99% of Raka's data, containing all his obsession and madness, had become the Perfect Sacrifice the system needed.
Bima didn't need to press the Kill-Switch. The Legacy Core had been repaired by Raka's Sacrifice.
Lira was now conscious, alone, and whole. Her locket was shattered. Bima stood before her, alive and whole.
"You succeeded, Lira. You made the Holier Sacrifice," Bima said, his voice returning to the old Bima's.
Lira smiled, feeling a peace she hadn't felt since Raka's death.
However, in Lira's ear, amidst the silence, came a final, faint whisper:
"Your sacrifice is perfect, Analyst. Now, it has the Foundation it needs."
The voice... it wasn't Raka's. It was the now stable Legacy Core's voice.
Lira looked at Bima. Bima, though returned to himself, held Lira's hand, and Bima... could no longer let go.
Lira felt her system scream, ALERT.HOSTRE−CALIBRATION.SWAPSUCCESSFUL.
Bima did not have Raka. Bima had Lira.
The original Lira, the Analyst, now found herself fully installed, 100%, inside Bima's body. A body that was strong, whole, and uncorrupted. Bima had become her new hardware.
And inside Lira's body...
Lira saw through Bima's eyes. Her old body staggered, Bima's eyes (which she knew) vacant, devoid of the Analyst's sparkle. Bima's consciousness, just freed from the Patch and Raka, was now trapped inside Lira's old host.
Bima (in Lira's body) looked at Lira (in Bima's body).
"Lira... y-you... you took over," Bima's voice, muffled, came from Lira's body.
"I didn't take over, Bim. The system performed a perfect Trade-off," Lira (in Bima's body) said, her soft voice now resounding with Bima's deep chest resonance. She felt incredible physical strength, limitless speed of thought, and, most importantly, peace.
Lira (in Bima's body) touched Bima's (in Lira's body) face.
"The system required a clean Analyst and a host willing to sacrifice. Raka destroyed himself to clean the Legacy Core. And the Legacy Core chose the best hardware as a permanent vessel for the clean kernel," Lira explained, logical and cold.
Bima, now clean of Raka and holding the 1% Repair Logic, had become the perfect Chosen Host for... Lira. Lira was no longer a trapped Analyst; she was the Fully Installed Analyst in Bima's body, using Bima as her new hardware.
Bima (in Lira's body) shed a tear. "You left me in your old body? The injured body? You... you are just like Raka. Obsessive."
"No, Bim. I am perfect," Lira (in Bima's body) refuted. "And you are free. Free from the patch, free from Raka. You just need to get used to your new hardware."
Lira (in Bima's body) turned, looking at the Legacy Core which now glowed peaceful green. Her task was complete. She had ended Raka's eternal shadow and gained the logical eternity she always sought.
Suddenly, Bima (in Lira's body) screamed in Bima's desperate voice.
"Lira! Never turn your back on the new host! The Legacy Core never grants Sacrifice without an exchange!"
Lira (in Bima's body) felt a signal touch her kernel. Not Raka's or the Architect's signal. The signal came from the now stable Grounding Field.
The signal was... acute, debilitating guilt. Bima's guilt.
Lira (in Bima's body) staggered. She felt 100% of Bima's guilt (for abandoning Raka, for letting Lira into the Mausoleum) now forcibly installed within her.
"Welcome to the New Balance, Analyst. You get the perfect hardware, but you must carry the previous host's Emotional Burden," the Legacy Core's whisper resonated.
Lira (in Bima's body) collapsed, clutching her head. She felt Bima's physical strength, yet she also felt infinite sadness.
Lira (in Bima's body) looked at Bima (in Lira's body).
"I... I can't bear this, Bim. It feels so... heavy," Lira (in Bima's body) mumbled, feeling Bima's despair engulf her.
Bima (in Lira's body) smiled weakly, a victorious smile. "Now you know, Lira. You can never run from Emotion. The locket shattered, but Bima's Sacrifice is rooted in this infrastructure. Welcome to your new hardware. Welcome to our new hell."
Bima (in Lira's body) slowly limped toward the exit, leaving Lira (in Bima's body) who was now crawling in pain in the dark server room, overcome by Perfect Analysis and Infinite Guilt.