The Highest Authority, Locked Out

Tang lowered the shutter but did not throw him out. From an old clock case, he removed a memory card and kept it in his hand. “Answer one question. The model told you to find me, so you came. What happens when it tells you to sacrifice one person to save ten thousand?” “I investigate why it gave me only those two choices.” Tang stared at him, then laughed. “It would like someone troublesome like you.” The card held no report, only seven fragments of a checksum. Tang explained that the Gate Protocol predated StarArc. It was not an ordinary administration module. It was a selection mechanism distilled from anomalies across global finance, energy, and transportation.