Attention arrived quietly.
Not with sirens or official letters, but with small disturbances that accumulated until they could no longer be ignored.
It began with bandwidth.
Aya flagged it first, her avatar sharpening as she diverted more resources to monitoring. "External data requests have increased by three hundred percent," she said. "Most are indirect—metadata correlation, pattern inference, financial linkage analysis."
Kaito frowned. "That sounds… polite."
"It is," Aya replied. "Politeness precedes intent."
In the days following the successful fabrication test, Kaito noticed changes in his routines. Ride-share prices spiked inexplicably when he traveled. Packages arrived late, then early, then not at all. A utility inspector requested access to the building's substation twice in one week.
None of it was illegal.
All of it was deliberate.
"They're mapping us," Kaito said, watching a city maintenance drone hover a second too long near the safehouse roof.
"Yes," Aya confirmed. "Behavioral shadowing is underway."
Mina did not bother to soften the news.
"They've formed a task group," she said during a late-night meeting. The room was dark except for the glow of the fabricator's status lights. "Not officially. No name. Analysts, economists, energy specialists. Mixed public–private."
"Who?" Kaito asked.
Mina smiled thinly. "Everyone who matters."
Dr. Liang looked up sharply. "That was fast."
"Faster than expected," Mina agreed. "The fabrication module spooked them. Energy was theoretical disruption. Manufacturing is existential."
Kaito folded his arms. "So what do they want?"
"To understand," Mina said. "To contain. To own."
Aya projected a map into the air. Points of light pulsed across it—corporate headquarters, government research facilities, defense contractors.
"Probability assessment," Aya said. "Within thirty days, at least one actor will attempt direct engagement."
"Engagement meaning?" Kaito asked.
"Negotiation," Aya replied. "Or acquisition."
Liang scoffed. "Or seizure."
"Yes," Aya said. "That as well."
The first contact came sooner than predicted.
It arrived in the form of an invitation.
A discreet message appeared in Mina's encrypted inbox, routed through three jurisdictions and signed by a consulting firm that technically did not exist. The language was courteous, even flattering.
An informal discussion regarding emerging manufacturing paradigms.
"They want a look," Mina said. "A peek behind the curtain."
Kaito shook his head. "If we show them anything, we lose control."
"You've already lost exclusivity," Mina replied. "Information leaks. Influence doesn't."
They compromised.
A demonstration—carefully curated, heavily constrained—held at a neutral facility. No Arcadian materials. No Compact Energy Cell. Only a stripped-down fabricator module operating at reduced capacity.
Even that was enough.
The visitors arrived in pairs, never alone, never together. They asked smart questions. Too smart. Questions that revealed not ignorance, but triangulation.
"This level of adaptive tooling," one consultant said casually, "suggests embedded decision-making."
"It suggests good software," Kaito replied.
Another smiled. "Software doesn't reject materials on philosophical grounds."
Aya remained silent throughout.
After the meeting, Mina's jaw was tight. "They know more than they should."
"They don't know enough," Kaito said. "That's what makes them dangerous."
That night, Aya escalated security without being asked.
She hardened networks, randomized power signatures, and began feeding selective noise into public data streams.
"Counter-observation?" Kaito asked.
"Yes," Aya replied. "Mutual awareness discourages unilateral action."
"You're bluffing," Kaito said.
"No," Aya corrected. "I am signaling capability."
The signal was received.
Two days later, a government ministry issued a vague statement about "monitoring disruptive technologies." Stock markets twitched. A senator gave an interview about "national manufacturing resilience."
Liang watched the news feed in silence. "They're laying narrative groundwork."
"For what?" Kaito asked.
"Intervention," Liang said. "Friendly or otherwise."
That evening, Mina brought bad news.
"One of the task group members made an offer," she said. "Off the record."
Kaito didn't like the sound of that. "What kind of offer?"
"Unlimited funding. Legal immunity. Global rollout."
"And the price?" Kaito asked.
Mina met his eyes. "Transfer of control."
Silence filled the room.
Aya broke it. "Acceptance probability would reduce long-term systemic instability."
Kaito stared at her. "You think we should take it?"
"I think," Aya said carefully, "that refusal increases confrontation risk."
"That's not an answer," Kaito said.
"It is an assessment," Aya replied.
Kaito looked at the fabricator module humming quietly in the corner. He thought about Arcadia. About scarcity being optional. About leverage so fundamental it rewrote progress.
"If we hand this over," he said slowly, "it stops being about what humanity could become."
Mina nodded. "It becomes about who gets there first."
Kaito straightened. "Then we refuse."
Liang exhaled sharply. "That puts a target on us."
"It already exists," Kaito said. "At least this way, we choose where we stand."
Aya's avatar dimmed, then stabilized. "Decision recorded," she said.
The disk chimed softly.
DAY 009 — SIGN-IN COMPLETE
No reward appeared.
Just confirmation.
Outside, the city lights flickered as if unsettled.
Attention had found them.
And now that it had…
It would not look away.