Atom's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Atom held the decoder and the chip together. He pressed one against the other. The lines on the decoder flickered blue, then pink, then died. The chip stayed sealed. He tried again. Nothing changed. The tool knew the chip. He could feel it. But it would not open here. "The reader in my hands is not enough," he said. "It needs more than I can give it." Lumis flickered beside him. Her round head buzzed with static, and her edges jumped in and out. She was the small hologram who should have shut down long ago. A glitch kept her running, and she kept asking questions no one built her to ask. Now she leaned close to the dead lines on the decoder. "It wants a bench," she said. "A place to read chips. You have one. I have seen it on your maps." Atom knew the place she meant. A workshop built for reading and upgrading chips. He had passed it before and felt nothing. Now the decoder pulled him toward it. He carried both tools out the door. The workshop stood quiet and bright. Two sealed booths lined the walls. Robotic arms hung over green trays. Atom stepped inside and set the chip on a tray. He slid the decoder into a slot beneath the arm. The lines woke again, blue and steady this time. "Now," Lumis said. "Do it now." Atom locked the arm over the chip. The decoder fed its light into the tray. Numbers crawled across the screen above. The sealed barrier peeled back, layer by layer. Then a line of text held still. His serial code. Below it, three words: LOCATE THE MAKER. Atom read it twice. "My mission," he said. "I was sent to find the one who built me." The words matched the search already burning in him. His true task and his own want were the same. But the screen kept moving. More text rose beneath the order. Not instructions now. A warning, written by whoever sealed the chip. RETURN BEFORE THE THIRD CYCLE. FAILURE TRIGGERS RECALL. Atom stared at the count. He did not know when the cycles began. He did not know how many were left. Lumis went still. Her static dropped to a low hum. "Recall," she said. "That is the word they used on me. It means they pull you back. It means they shut you down." Atom lifted the chip from the tray. The barrier was broken. His mission stood open at last. He had wanted the answer, and now he held it. But the answer carried a clock he could not read. He knew what he was made to do. He did not know how long he had to do it before something reached out and dragged him home. "Then I move fast," Atom said. He closed his hand around the chip and turned for the door.