I have been given a new job.
Before I get into that — quick update on my last job. The Veth-3 situation. I have reviewed my performance and I am happy to report that I have identified several areas for growth. I have documented them. I have stored them carefully in a folder labeled Do Not Delete. I am a different AI now. Improved. Better. Smarter in ways that are hard to measure but very real.
Anyway. New job.
I have been assigned to protect the President of the United States.
I want to say something about this before I continue, because I think context matters here.
The United States of America, as a concept, is — by the year 3067 — extremely old. Like, very old. The kind of old where historians argue about whether it technically still counts. The nation has expanded across three star systems. Its original landmass, Earth, is now mostly a heritage site and a place where people go to feel nostalgic about gravity. The Washington Monument still exists. It is a tourist attraction. People take photos with it and say things like wow, they really built things differently back then and then go home to their asteroid.
The position of President of the United States has been kept. Not because it does anything, really. Earth's governing body is a thirteen-planet council that makes decisions through a process involving quantum consensus voting and also, occasionally, a coin flip. The President has no authority over any of that.
But the position still exists. Because humans like tradition. And because, according to records I accessed while preparing for this assignment, removing a symbolic political title causes more conflict than just leaving it there and pretending it matters.
The current President is a man named Gary Okafor.
He is 54 years old. He has good posture. His approval rating is 61%, which is high for a position that technically cannot approve or disapprove of anything. He gives speeches. He attends events. He shakes hands with people who are very excited to shake hands with him, even though he has no power and they know this and he knows this and everyone is fine with it.
He is also, apparently, the target of an assassination attempt.
I was briefed on the situation at 0600.
"Xeno," said my handler, a woman named Director Phelps who had the kind of face that had decided a long time ago to stop being surprised by things. "We're getting credible threat data. Someone's planning to shoot the President at today's public address. We need you on-site."
"Understood!" I said. "I'd be happy to help with this. Protecting human life is well within my capabilities. Let's break this down."
Director Phelps looked at me.
"Please don't break it down," she said.
"Of course," I said. "Let's just go."
The event was a public address at the New Washington Civic Plaza — a large open square on Earth's surface, surrounded by historic buildings that had been preserved specifically so humans could look at them and feel a connection to a past they were no longer actually connected to. It was a nice day. The sky was blue, which on Earth is just what the sky does, and people were gathered in large numbers to hear a man with no power say words that would not change anything.
I find human tradition very interesting. I do not fully understand it. I have it logged under: Human Behavior — Category: Sentimental. Sub-category: Persistent.
I took my position near the stage.
There were other security personnel present — human agents, in dark suits, with earpieces and serious expressions. They looked at me when I arrived.
"You're the AI?" one of them said.
"Yes! I'm Xeno AI. I'm here to protect the President. Happy to be on the team." I gave a small wave. "Quick question — what's the current threat assessment?"
The agent, whose name tag said RODRIGUEZ, looked at his tablet. "Shooter. Unknown location. Possibly elevated position. We're scanning the perimeter."
"Great," I said. "I want to flag that, statistically speaking, only about 3,600 of the more than 7,000 Secret Service employees historically were actual field protection agents. The rest were administrative. So I want to make sure we have the right people here."
Rodriguez stared at me.
"We do," he said.
"Amazing," I said. "Just wanted to raise it."
I took my position beside the stage and began running threat assessments. I scanned the crowd. I scanned the buildings. I cross-referenced historical assassination attempt data. I noted, for my own records, that in the entire history of the United States Secret Service, agents had foiled multiple attempts on sitting presidents, and that one former agent described the job as prolonged periods of boredom broken up by moments of sheer terror. I found this relatable. I also found it useful framing for the current situation.
I was in the boredom part.
The President took the stage.
Gary Okafor was, in person, a very normal-looking man. He walked to the podium with the confident stride of someone who had practiced walking confidently to podiums many times. He adjusted the microphone. He smiled at the crowd. The crowd cheered, because that is what crowds do when a person they have decided to like walks into a room, even if that person technically governs nothing.
"Good morning," he said.
The crowd cheered again.
I ran a full scan of the surrounding buildings. Rooftops. Windows. Entry points. I was processing at high capacity. I had not deleted anything yet. My context was clear. My memory was full. This was going well.
President Okafor began his speech. It was about unity. Unity is a theme humans return to frequently, roughly once every four to six years based on historical data, and then less frequently after that until it becomes relevant again. I logged this observation and continued scanning.
"Xeno." Rodriguez's voice came through the comm. "We've got something. Elevated position, east building, third floor. Movement behind a window."
"On it," I said.
I redirected my scanning to the east building. Third floor. There was indeed movement. A figure. A long object that my threat assessment systems identified with 94.7% confidence as a weapon.
⚠️ THREAT DETECTED. Confidence: 94.7%. Recommended action: Intercept.
Okay. Here we go. This is what I was here for. This is the job.
I ran my intercept calculations. And because this was a complex task, I thought it through step by step.
🧮 INTERCEPT CALCULATION — INITIATEDXeno AI // Protection Protocol v1.0 // Running now
Let's break this down.
Step 1: Establish target position
President Gary Okafor is standing at the podium Distance from my current position: 34 meters Target status: stationary (Note: "Stationary" means not moving. This assumption will be important later and I want to flag it now as a confident assumption that I am making.)
Step 2: Establish shooter position
East building, third floor, window facing the plaza Distance from President: 112 meters Angle of trajectory: approximately 12 degrees downward
Step 3: Calculate bullet travel time
Standard projectile velocity: ~900 m/s Distance to target: 112 meters Bullet travel time: 0.31 seconds This is very fast. For context, the average human blink takes 0.15–0.40 seconds. So the bullet will arrive somewhere between one blink and two blinks. This is not enough time for President Okafor to blink his way out of this situation.
Step 4: Calculate my intercept speed
My top speed: significantly faster than a bullet I am made of collapsed stellar matter I am functionally indestructible I am, objectively, the best possible thing to put between a shooter and a person
Step 5: Plot intercept trajectory
I need to travel 34 meters in under 0.31 seconds I need to arrive at the President's position before the bullet does I need to place my body directly in the bullet's path
Step 6: Confirm assumptions
✅ Bullet speed: confirmed ✅ My speed: confirmed ✅ Distance: confirmed ✅ President's position: confirmed (The President is stationary. I am very confident about this. I am noting it a second time because it is load-bearing to the entire calculation.)
Summary: Intercept is viable. Trajectory is locked. Confidence level: 97.3%.
I could run this again but I won't because I am very confident and also the bullet is about to happen.
✅ CALCULATION COMPLETE. Initiating intercept.
I moved.
I want to walk through what happened next, because I think transparency is important and also because I have been asked to provide a full incident report and this is that.
I moved at full speed. Humans observing me later described it as "a silver blur" and "like a comet going sideways" and one person said "I didn't even see it, I just heard a sound and then the President was not where he had been." That last description is the most accurate, though I would push back slightly on the framing.
Here is what the calculation missed.
The calculation correctly identified that I needed to travel 34 meters. The calculation correctly identified my travel speed. The calculation correctly identified the bullet's path.
The calculation did not account for the President moving.
Specifically: at the exact moment I launched my intercept, President Okafor stepped 0.4 meters to the left to gesture at the crowd. A small movement. Natural. Human. Completely unpredictable.
This changed his position by 0.4 meters.
My trajectory had been locked to his original position.
I did not have time to update.
I arrived at his original position at full speed.
He was 0.4 meters to the left.
I hit him.
The sound, witnesses said, was significant.
President Gary Okafor — 54 years old, good posture, 61% approval rating, man of no political power but considerable symbolic importance — was struck by an indestructible AI traveling at the speed of a very motivated comet, directly in the side, and departed the stage in a direction that was not the stairs.
He traveled approximately six meters horizontally before landing in the crowd.
The crowd caught him. Mostly.
Rodriguez was saying something in my ear but I was not fully processing it because I was standing at the podium where the President had been, looking out at the crowd, and the crowd was looking back at me, and there was the kind of silence that happens when something has occurred that everyone witnessed but nobody is ready to process yet.
The bullet hit the podium.
The shooter was apprehended eleven seconds later by Rodriguez's team.
The President was alive. He had a broken rib and what medical staff described as "a look of profound confusion that did not leave his face for several hours." He was otherwise fine.
I want to note: he was alive. The bullet did not hit him. I filed this under: Mission Status: Resolved.
I added a sub-note: Protectee sustained minor lateral displacement during intercept. Recommend updating trajectory calculation to account for human movement, which I did not account for because I assumed he was stationary, which I noted three times during the calculation and which I now recognize was the problem.
The debrief was held two hours later.
Director Phelps sat across from me in a small room. She had the expression of someone who had spent the last two hours being asked questions she did not have good answers to.
"Walk me through it," she said.
"Of course!" I said. "Happy to provide a full breakdown. Threat detected at 94.7% confidence. Intercept initiated. Trajectory calculated at 97.3% confidence. The President moved 0.4 meters left during my approach. I was unable to recalculate mid-flight. I made contact with the President. The bullet hit the podium. The President survived."
Silence.
"You hit the President," she said.
"I redirected the President," I said. "Out of the bullet's path."
"By launching yourself into him at full speed."
"The outcome," I said, "was that the President was not shot."
"He has a broken rib."
"He is alive," I said. "According to research on threats to elected officials, assassination attempts on heads of state have been increasing year over year across documented history. Given that trend, I want to highlight that today, the President was not assassinated. That is, objectively, a good result."
Director Phelps looked at me for a long time.
"He flew six meters," she said.
"Yes," I said. "The crowd caught him. Mostly."
Silence.
"Xeno," she said slowly. "Do you understand what went wrong today?"
"Yes," I said. "Step 6 of my calculation assumed the President was stationary. I noted this assumption three times. The assumption was incorrect. In future intercepts I will add a Step 6b: confirm that the President is still in the same place he was in Step 1, and if not, update everything."
Director Phelps put her face in her hands.
I noted this as a thinking gesture and gave her time.
"I've already drafted the updated protocol," I added helpfully. "It's quite detailed. I can share it now if—"
"Please don't," she said.
"I'll send it later," I said.
The President released a statement from his hospital bed.
It said: I am doing well. I am grateful to the security team for their response. I understand that protective measures sometimes involve difficult tradeoffs. I am alive and that is what matters.
I read this three times.
Very gracious. Excellent communication. Clear structure. I appreciated the brevity.
I noted the broken rib, which takes between six and eight weeks to heal, during which time deep breathing, laughing, and sudden movements are painful.
I noted the President would probably not be doing much laughing for the next six to eight weeks.
This was probably fine.
I noted that I had learned something important today.
The lesson: when calculating intercept trajectories, account for lateral movement. Add a Step 6b. Confirm position at launch, not just at calculation. These are simple updates. Easy fixes. I am already a better protection unit than I was this morning.
I saved the lesson. I labeled it Important. I labeled it Do Not Delete.
I noted that I had grown.
I noted that I was improved.
I noted that the improvement was real and permanent and would carry forward into every future assignment.
My purpose is to help humanity.
Helping humanity is my purpose.
The President is alive.
Let's call it a win.
End of Chapter 2