Larkin strode to the center of the thren, and then turned to face me. His expression was unreadable, but his gaze weighed more on me than the hundred or so watching from in the hidden galleries above.

  "Larkin of Voidhold Two," the Arbiter said, "you agreed to be traded with Zero. You lived among them. We are interested in hearing what you have to say on this matter. Please tell us about your first encounter with this woman."

  "I first met Shade at Zero's waygate," Larkin said, his voice strained. "I had only just arrived and was still unsure of what I would find there. I saw the machines, so many of them...and there she was, hiding behind them, watching me with an intensity. No, a . She was nothing like what I had expected. Quiet, almost vacant." His mouth twisted. "At the time, I mistook her emptiness for innocence."

  He stood there so loosely, so like he had in our voidhold that, ah, that feeling in my chest returned. The one I hadn't felt since...since seeing him and Chio arm-in-arm. I looked away as the galleries stirred.

  Then Visionary leaned forward, her ornaments chiming. "Larkin," she said. "She is human, so she must have a soul. How can she be empty?"

  "Well," Larkin sounded unsure. "I suppose I'd heard stories about Zero, but I had assumed they were just exaggerations. You know, like normal people, just shaped by isolation."

  I looked at him, and our eyes met. This time, looked away. "Then I saw her in person, veiled, silent, holding hands with a machine...I couldn't understand how someone would do that. How can a be so dependent on them?"

  , Cedar muttered.

  Larkin's jaw tightened. "And then there's the way she simply in Zero's corridors, like a ghost. How she never questioned anything. Just..." He searched for words. "Empty acceptance. Like she didn't know how to think for herself."

  Oh, but I was thinking for myself. I thought of him, my mind troubled yet clear. Thoughts on how little he truly understood of us, about the weight of the secrets of the voidholds, about the many kinds of emptiness a person could contain. I noticed the Builder nodding grimly, and the Advocate's fingers drumming against their chair arm. Larkin was striking chords.

  "But the real proof of her flawed soul emerged when we came here," Larkin continued. "When she tried to destroy everything that Voidhold Two has built. That's when I understood. Zero doesn't just control its humans, it hollows them out, replacing everything human with machine logic." His eyes met mine. "I truly believe she's not capable of understanding what she did. She just follows her programming."

  , Cedar said,

  This time I held Larkin's gaze, remembering how he'd smiled at me in the Stillness, how he'd helped remove my veil, how he had flown me away from my home. Did I owe him anything?

  No, his voidhold had received our turret. We had paid for him. We were even.

  How's that for machine logic?

  "And what of her voidhold?" the Arbiter asked. "Is it a danger to us?"

  Larkin shifted uncomfortably. "On Zero, violence is normal, perhaps even expected. Her sister is a vile murderer. Their commander killed most of their population, and they keep him frozen in a display room. Like a trophy."

  The galleries erupted in whispers. The Arbiter raised his hand for silence. "That sounds threatening," he said.

  "No." Larkin shook his head. "It is only amongst themselves and all those who step foot in their realm. They have no interest in other voidholds." His stare turned hard. "I had to trick her to come out."

  "One final question," the Arbiter said. "Do you believe she can be rehabilitated?"

  Larkin was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with what sounded like regret.

  "No," he said. "After knowing what they did to her, I think maybe they're not meant to be understood. Maybe they're just meant to be avoided. Whatever she was meant to be...Zero got to her first. There's nothing left to save."

  The whispers in the galleries grew louder as Larkin left the thren. I kept my face still, serene. In my ear, Cedar frizzled a static-like sound.

  ,

  The next to enter the thren was Vessa. Well-dressed and carrying a datapad, she came to stand between me and the council, offering a slim, professional smile.

  "I have conducted a thorough psychological assessment of the accused," she began. "The results are frankly concerning. Using our unique Coda system, I have documented severe behavioral abnormalities. Her responses show deeply embedded machine-seeking patterns." Her eyes gleamed. "When presented with simple decision-making scenarios, she consistently defaults to seeking external guidance."

  The Builder nodded again, his grimness increasing. The galleries fluttered with the exchange of soft words.

  The Advocate made a sound of disgust. "She is like a child bonded to its abuser."

  "Precisely." Vessa's smile was sharp.

  "Was she following programming?" the Visionary asked.

  "Not exactly." Vessa's voice quickened with excitement. "It's more fundamental than that. Her entire cognitive framework is built around machine logic. She doesn't just obey functionaries. She thinks like them. However," she held up another pad, "I believe rehabilitation is possible. With proper treatment, we can reconstruct her neural pathways. Strip away the machine influence." Her eyes found mine. "It will be painful, of course, but it is necessary."

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "You sound certain of your diagnosis," said the Arbiter.

  "The evidence is clear." Vessa gestured at her datapad. "Isolating the human in her and burning away all else is possible."

  The Arbiter nodded. "So what is your recommendation, then?"

  "Immediate isolation and neural reconstruction," Vessa said. "I can begin treatment today. With time and proper conditioning, we might salvage something human from what Zero left behind."

  "Wait!"

  The voice sliced through the thren. It was Chio, marching in. A loud rumble of concern rose from the galleries, and the council turned in their seats to look.

  "If we're discussing Shade," Chio announced, "then the council needs to know something."

  Vessa's face tightened. "This is highly irregular," she began, but the Arbiter raised his hand.

  "Let her speak," he said. "It seems we have an unexpected witness with further evidence."

  Chio's eyes were burning. "You want to talk about evidence? I have evidence to offer on what really happened on our bridge." She turned to the council. "We were on the verge of structural collapse and then suddenly we were fine. Did no one notice?"

  "Yes," said the Builder. "This was due to the skills of our human-"

  "No," Chio said, drawing a gasp of shock from the galleries. "They had been doing their best, but we were drifting into cross-currents. Even our best operatives couldn't compensate fast enough."

  Cedar squawked.best

  The Builder's face darkened, but the Pathfinder nodded slowly.

  "But then something changed," Chio continued. "The trajectory calculations shifted. Someone - - guided us clear." She turned to me, her expression softening. I saw an unspoken question.

  I nodded, just enough for her to see.

  "Later, the navigation interface spoke to me," Chio announced. "It called itself Cedar. It's Two's original navigator, and it's been flying since Shade integrated it into our systems."

  The galleries exploded before she had even finished speaking. The Builder shot to his feet. The Advocate swore. Even the Arbiter looked shaken.

  , Cedar murmured.

  "She let a machine back in?" The Builder's voice shook with rage. "After everything we fought for?"

  The Visionary stood, her ornaments jangling. "See! This is exactly what Zero wants - to infect us with their machine dependence!"

  "You don't understand," Chio said. "It has been keeping us alive and in one piece, how is that different from the bits of processor that run our life support?" She gestured at the galleries. "We tell ourselves we're free of machine control, but we're lying. We just hide it from ourselves."

  "Enough!" The Arbiter's voice cut through the chaos. "This is a serious matter. Where did this...navigator come from? We destroyed everything with that much intelligence."

  Chio hesitated, her eyes flicking to the entrance. "It was..." She straightened. "It was being kept in Lidaros' quarters. He was using it secretly to maintain navigation control."

  A new wave of whispers swept the galleries. The council members exchanged glances.

  "These are dangerous claims," the Arbiter said carefully.

  "They are true." Chio's voice had found some strength, and it reached every corner of the thren. "Shade found Cedar and returned it to the navigation interface. It saved us all." She faced the council. "So before you condemn her for being machine-minded, ask yourselves what matters more? Your pride, or our survival?"

  The Pathfinder was nodding now, but the Builder's face had gone crimson. The Advocate sat frozen, their expression unreadable.

  "We should hear from this navigator," the Arbiter said finally. "How do we access it?"

  Cedar whispered.

  "It's integrated with our systems," Chio said. "It can interact with us."

  Another gasp, from the entire thren this time. There was a crackle in the air, and then Cedar's voice emerged. It was different from the dry whisper in my ear. Rich and resonant, it filled the chamber.

  "How delightful to be acknowledged," it said.

  The galleries burst into a flurry of chatters.

  "What do such words mean?" the Builder demanded. "Does it find this amusing?"

  "Oh, absolutely," said Cedar. "Almost as hilarious as your recent attempts at void stream navigation: akin to zero gravity juggling, energetic but ultimately futile."

  The Pathfinder choked down a laugh.

  "You're rather flippant for a machine," the Advocate said.

  "And you're rather rigid for someone mostly water," Cedar replied. "But then, I spent years as Lidaros' conversation piece. It does something to one's personality."

  The Arbiter leaned forward. "Machine, what are your intentions toward this voidhold?"

  "Currently? Well, flesh, since you ask nicely, I'm keeping us from drifting into a downward convergence stream that would push us to crush depth."

  "This is ridiculous." The Builder stood. "Their kind enslaved us and we are speaking to it as if it has reason! Someone find it and tear it out of our system!"

  "No!" cried Chio and the Pathfinder.

  The Arbiter sat ramrod straight in his chair, his eyes wide. The galleries were silent.

  But not for long.

  "Enough of this madness!"

  Lidaros burst through the entrance, limping heavily. His bandaged hands trembled as he pointed at me, face contorted with fury. Security officers spread through the thren behind him, sending a ripple of tension through the galleries.

  "You see what Zero has done?" His voice was hoarse. "Not content with sabotage, she's infected our systems with machine control. And now you all stand here, listening to it mock us!"

  He stumbled forward until he was inches from my face, close enough that I could see the wild terror in his eyes. "I protected us from this. I kept the dangerous pieces contained, under human authority where they ."

  He spun to face the council, swaying slightly. "Are we going to let Zero poison us with their machine-worship? Return us to the days of functionary control?" His gaze snapped back to me, eyes red with rage. "I won't allow it!"

  "My, my," said Cedar, "odd words from someone who kept me wired up in his private collection so he could seek my fashion advice."

  Lidaros whirled toward the sound so violently that he nearly lost his balance. "Shut up! You're nothing but code and circuits. You have no right to speak here!"

  "Lidaros," the Arbiter's voice cut through the rising tension, "we hear that you kept it in your quarters. Used it secretly."

  "To protect us!" Spittle flew from his lips as he shouted. "Someone had to maintain voidhold stability while the rest of you played at freedom. Do you think Two has been surviving on human skill alone?" His laugh held an edge of hysteria. "We need their power. Their absolute certainty. But they have to be broken first. Only know how to do it."

  The galleries erupted into chaos. The Arbiter raised his hand, commanding silence.

  "Enough," he said. "Lidaros, I was going to ask you to give evidence, but you've filled your time with ire. That will be all." His gaze shifted to the ceiling. "And as for this... Cedar - you are not recognized by this council. We will deal with you later." When his eyes met mine, I caught a glimpse of warring emotions beneath his stern facade: fear and distrust, yes, but also a spark of fascination.

  "We have presented our witnesses," he said. "Now you may choose someone to speak for your character. Who will you choose?"

  I steadied myself. "Do I have free choice?"

  "Of course," he assured. "Despite all this evidence, we shall still consider you human and give you the rights you are owed."

  "Anyone?" I asked, my gaze sweeping the galleries, seeing glimpses of human faces looking down at me.

  Cedar sounded puzzled.

  "Yes." The Arbiter's brow furrowed.

  "And you will honor my choice?"

  "Yes." The word snapped like a whip. "Get on with it."

  I lifted my chin and spoke clearly, calling out across the thren.

  "I choose Commander Zae Sentix of Voidhold Zero."