Location: Islamabad, National Strategic Response Cell
Time: +4 Days After Azimuth Leak
The national command center looked more like a theater rehearsal than a war room.
Cabinet ministers, cyber analysts, civilian generals, foreign policy architects—the "Seedians"—were holding their ground. Their language was cautious, rehearsed, but decidedly more professional than the chaotic era 15 years ago.
They were still learning—but they were learning fast.
> "We've traced 42% of the simulation sources to a Tel Aviv-Dubai route,"
said Zara's National AI Ethics Chief, Zavian.
> "We've started a denial protocol across RaabtaNet nodes. No reaction-based posts, no real-time messaging allowed from state IPs,"
the Digital Defense Command reported.
Across the room, a debate was erupting.
> "If we over-respond, we validate the model."
"If we under-respond, we look weak to China and Turkey."
"Can we mirror Azimuth's logic using our alternate civic datasets?"
"Maybe inject behavioral chaos from Balochistan data…"
President Zara stood quietly, her eyes scanning a board with three possible pathways:
1. Strategic Silence — refuse to engage the threat and force Azimuth into predictive error.
2. Calculated Leak — feed a narrative that Pakistan has counter-AI, even if it doesn't.
3. Operational Mirror — activate dormant Tajdeed-era AI systems built during Rayan's era… without contacting him.
> "We try Option 2 and prep 3. He wouldn't want us to call him yet,"
Zara said quietly.
---
Elsewhere: The Veiled Layers of Tajdeed
In a secret digital ecosystem only a few elite know exists, Tajdeed OS: V3 had evolved. It used code left behind by Rayan, nourished by minds he'd recruited from across the globe.
Inside Tajdeed's AI lab, a young neurocoder named Ayra was testing a concept:
> "If Azimuth predicts behavior, we inject collective dreams instead—symbolism, art, contradictions."
So, Ayra ran her first test:
She fed Azimuth 10 million randomized emotional responses drawn from anime fan communities in Pakistan.
Every comment, GIF, fan theory—translated, retranslated, scrambled, and looped.
Azimuth's simulation feed glitched for six minutes.
It wasn't a weapon.
It was confusion.
And confusion… was freedom.
---
Meanwhile: Rayan's Observatory
He watched every move through a one-way mirror.
His system had a protocol. When national integrity fell below a "Self-Sustainability Index of 42%," he would engage.
> "They're holding at 57%," he whispered.
Then smiled.
> "Zara… not bad."
He tapped a button and opened a small capsule labeled "Ishq Protocol – Optional"
Inside was a manual override for Azimuth's root server.
He didn't press it.
Instead, he played a classical Pakistani track, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
> "Not yet. Let them bleed and bloom. That's the only way they become real."
Final Frame:
A reporter in Delhi asks an ex-NSA analyst:
> "Why didn't Pakistan collapse under Azimuth?"
The analyst pauses, shrugs, and says:
> "That country? It dances weird.
I think they've got a ghost."