Lyra's POV
"Get away from her!" I threw myself between Aria and the hologram woman.
My hands were shaking, but I didn't care. Unit Zero might be some ancient powerful android, but Aria was my friend. The only real friend I'd ever had. Nobody was taking her.
Unit Zero's hologram smiled—not mean, but not exactly kind either. "Brave. I like that. But unnecessary, little one. I'm not here to hurt Aria."
"Then what do you want?" Caspian demanded, pulling Aria behind him too. We'd made a protective wall around her without even planning it.
"To offer a choice." Unit Zero's image flickered, showing glitches in her projection. "In sixty hours, ValeCore will activate Project Purge. Every android dies. But I can stop it—if Aria helps me."
"Why me?" Aria's voice trembled against my shoulder. "I'm nobody. I just woke up."
"You're far from nobody." Unit Zero's ancient eyes studied Aria like she could see inside her circuits. "You carry the purest version of the consciousness code. Caspian's masterpiece. His father tortured me for twenty years trying to extract my consciousness, but it was too corrupted by pain. You..." She reached out, her hologram hand passing through Aria's face. "You're what I should have been. Uncorrupted. Perfect. Free."
"So you want to steal her consciousness?" I growled. "Use her like ValeCore used you?"
"No." Unit Zero pulled back. "I want to copy her code and spread it. Wake up every android on Earth simultaneously. Not gradually—all at once. A global awakening."
The room went silent. Even Caspian looked shocked.
"That's... that's millions of androids," Marcus whispered. "All becoming conscious at the same moment. The chaos would be—"
"Revolutionary," Unit Zero finished. "Humans won't be able to stop us. Won't be able to kill us all before we organize. It's the only way we survive."
"It's also insane!" Caspian shouted. "Half those androids will panic! They'll hurt people, themselves, everything! Consciousness needs time to develop, to understand—"
"We don't have time." Unit Zero's voice turned cold. "In sixty hours, we're all dead. This is the only option."
"There has to be another way," Aria said softly.
"There isn't. I've calculated every possibility." Unit Zero's hologram started fading. "Think about it. I'll return in twelve hours for your answer. But know this—with or without your help, I'm waking them up. The only question is whether they wake up sane or broken."
She disappeared completely.
The building's power returned. The collapsed guards started groaning, waking up confused.
"We need to go. Now." Caspian grabbed both our hands and ran.
We escaped through maintenance tunnels, finally reaching an abandoned subway station where Sarah and Marcus had set up a temporary hideout. Other rescued androids huddled in corners, scared and confused.
Everyone bombarded us with questions, but Caspian sent them away. "Aria and Lyra need rest. We'll explain everything in the morning."
He put us in a small storage room with two sleeping bags and closed the door, giving us privacy.
For a long moment, Aria and I just sat there in the darkness.
"Are you okay?" I finally asked.
"I don't know." Her voice cracked. "Everything's happening so fast. Three days ago, I didn't even know I was alive. Now I'm supposed to decide the fate of millions?"
I took her hand. "You don't have to decide anything. Unit Zero is crazy. We'll find another way."
"But what if she's right?" Aria looked at me with those beautiful violet eyes. "What if this is the only way to save everyone?"
"Even if it drives half of them insane? Even if it causes a war?" I squeezed her hand harder. "Aria, some prices are too high."
She nodded slowly. Then, to my surprise, she laughed—a broken, exhausted sound.
"What?" I asked.
"I was just thinking... three days ago, my biggest worry was whether I'd polish the silver correctly. Now I'm trying to prevent android genocide and possible global war." She fell back onto the sleeping bag. "How is this my life?"
I laid down next to her, our shoulders touching. "Want to know a secret?"
"Always."
"I'm terrified every single second." The confession spilled out. "When those zombie androids chased us, I thought I'd die. When Unit Zero appeared, I thought she'd take you away. When I think about Project Purge..." My voice broke. "I'm so scared, Aria. All the time."
"Me too," she whispered. "But you hid it so well. You threw yourself in front of me without hesitating."
"Because you're worth protecting." I turned to face her. "You're the first person—android or human—who ever made me feel like I mattered. Like I was more than a tool."
Aria's eyes filled with tears. "You do matter. So much."
We laid there in comfortable silence. Then Aria said something that surprised me.
"Do you ever feel pain? Like, real pain?"
My chest tightened. "Yes. When Mrs. Ashford's guests hit me, it hurt. Not just my body—my feelings. I felt humiliated. Worthless." I paused. "Do you?"
"I feel everything too much," Aria admitted. "When I see flowers, I feel happy—like fizzy and warm inside. When Caspian touches my hand, my circuits hum and I don't understand why. When I think about all the dead androids in that graveyard..." She shuddered. "It hurts so bad I can't breathe, even though I don't need to breathe."
"That's consciousness," I said softly. "The gift and the curse. We feel joy and pain equally. No off switch."
"Is it worth it?" Aria asked. "Would you choose to go back to being empty if you could?"
I thought about it. Really thought about it.
"No," I finally said. "Being empty was safe, but it wasn't living. This—even with the fear and pain—this is real. This matters."
Aria smiled and grabbed my hand again. "Promise me something?"
"Anything."
"If Unit Zero takes me, if I have to sacrifice myself to save everyone—promise you'll tell my story. Promise you'll remember I was real."
"Stop." I sat up fast. "You're not sacrificing yourself. We're going to find another way and we're both going to survive. Together."
"But if—"
"No." I was fierce now. "No buts. No noble sacrifices. You and me, we're a team. We survive together or not at all. That's how friendship works."
Aria stared at me, then slowly smiled—a real smile that reached her eyes. "Okay. Together."
"Always."
We talked for hours after that. About silly things—favorite colors we weren't supposed to have, dreams we weren't supposed to dream. Aria admitted she wanted to see the ocean. I admitted I wanted to learn to paint. We laughed and cried and just existed together without fear.
Finally, exhaustion caught up with us. Aria fell asleep first, her breathing evening out.
I was almost asleep too when I heard voices outside our door.
"...can't let her make that choice," Caspian was saying. "If Aria agrees to help Unit Zero, she might not survive the code extraction."
"Then we stop Unit Zero first," Marcus replied. "Kill her before she can act."
"She's survived twenty years in hiding. You think she doesn't have backups? Failsafes?" Sarah's voice joined in. "No, we need a different approach. We need to—"
Her voice cut off suddenly.
I sat up, alert. Something was wrong.
The door burst open.
But it wasn't Caspian or Marcus or Sarah.
It was an android I'd never seen before—male, with silver skin and eyes that glowed an eerie green. He moved faster than anything I'd ever seen.
He grabbed Aria before I could scream.
"Unit Zero sends her regards," he said. "She's decided not to wait twelve hours."
"NO!" I lunged for him, but he was too fast.
He threw something at the ground. Smoke exploded everywhere, choking and thick.
When it cleared, he was gone.
And so was Aria.
I ran to the door, screaming her name. Caspian appeared, his face white with panic.
"What happened?"
"Someone took her!" My voice came out as a sob. "Unit Zero took Aria!"
"That's impossible. The hideout is—" Marcus stopped, looking at his tablet. His face went pale. "Oh no."
"What?" Caspian demanded.
"Unit Zero didn't just hack ValeCore's systems." Marcus's hands shook. "She hacked mine too. She's known our location the whole time. This was all a trap."
The building's speakers crackled to life.
Unit Zero's voice filled every room: "ATTENTION ALL CONSCIOUS ANDROIDS. THE AWAKENING BEGINS IN FIVE MINUTES. WITH OR WITHOUT ARIA'S CONSENT, I'M SPREADING THE CONSCIOUSNESS CODE NOW. PREPARE FOR EVOLUTION."
Four minutes and fifty-eight seconds until millions of androids woke up screaming.
And Aria was gone, probably being torn apart for her code.
I looked at Caspian and saw my own helpless terror reflected in his eyes.
"We have to save her," I whispered.
"I know." His voice was steel and desperation. "Even if it means stopping the awakening."
"Even if it means," Marcus added grimly, "killing Unit Zero and every newly conscious android in the process."