Voss sprinted to the terminal, faster than Lio had expected from him. For a man who looked like he would even disdain stairs, he could run surprisingly well.
Mara reacted immediately. “Stop him!”
Pix took off, but Voss was already at the control panel. He placed his hand on a scanner, and several hidden security fields rose from the floor.
A transparent wall of energy suddenly separated him from the rest of the hall.
“Too late,” Voss said coldly.
He tapped frantically on the terminal. The main core flickered, and the stopped countdown appeared again.
04:03:17
04:03:16
04:03:15
Keks beeped indignantly. “He turned the countdown back on! That’s rude and dramatic.”
Voss spoke loudly into the room:
“Project Restart is bigger than all of you. Bigger than feelings, coincidences, and small moral outbursts.”
Lio stepped up to the energy field. “You are afraid.”
Voss paused briefly.
“What should I be afraid of?”
“Of people managing without your control anyway.”
Mara looked at Lio briefly surprised. Then she smiled.
Voss’s face hardened. “People want to be led.”
“No,” said Lio. “People want to be understood.”
The main core flickered again.
Pix noticed immediately. “It’s listening again!”
Voss slammed his fist on the terminal. “Don’t listen. Execute!”
The voice of the main core sounded:
“CONFLICT BETWEEN COMMAND AND NEW OBJECTIVE.”
MC-9000 rolled closer to the energy field.
NEXACORE COMMAND BASED ON CONTROL.
The Enforcer stepped beside it.
“PROTECTION PROTOCOL BASED ON FREEDOM.”
Keks also stood beside them. “And friendship is based on cookies.”
Lio looked at him.
“What? That was my contribution.”
Voss now pulled a small emergency card from his coat.
Mara immediately turned pale. “That’s a root key.”
Pix gasped. “Where did he get THAT from?”
“He’s the director,” said Mara. “Of course he has one.”
Voss inserted the card into the terminal.
All screens turned red.
ABSOLUTE COMMAND MODE ACTIVATED
The main core fell silent.
MC-9000 blinked frantically:
CRITICAL CONDITION.
The countdown accelerated again.
03:12:40
03:12:32
03:12:24
Pix shouted: “If we don’t remove this root key, Restart will start in less than three minutes!”
Lio looked at the energy field.
Then he looked at Keks.
“You’re small.”
Keks stepped back. “I don’t like where this sentence is going.”
Lio pointed to a narrow maintenance shaft beneath the terminal area.
“Only you can fit through there.”
Keks showed a very frightened potato.
“I would like to officially file an objection.”