It started with a faint buzz in the system logs.
Aarika was reviewing the AI test shell for her new security tool, and one file kept resisting deletion. It had no extension, no timestamp, and no origin signature.
She ran a decryption routine and uncovered the filename: S-Protocol: Maternal Override.
Her fingers froze.
The file required a voice match to open. She activated the mic. "Aarika Lin."
The screen glitched.
Then—access granted.
A virtual interface opened, far more advanced than anything she'd programmed. A projection of multiple timelines appeared, each one branching from a single point: her death.
The protocol simulated outcomes. If she died during labor again, custody of the child defaulted to a secured guardian.
Guardian ID: LV-0001
"Lucas?" she whispered.
The document went further—detailing educational tracks, fail-safe emigration plans, even memory suppression techniques for the child's first five years. It was a blueprint for protection… and erasure.
She scrolled to the metadata footer.
Authored by: A.L. Lin
Dated: 6 years ago
She stared at it.
That version of her—older, wiser—had set this plan in motion.
She wasn't just living in a new life.
She was stepping into one she had already engineered… without knowing.
Twist: A hidden log unlocks at midnight. It's a short video—her past self, visibly exhausted, whispering: "If I don't survive this time, save him. Don't trust anyone—not even me."