Chapter 3 - Unlocking the Core
Safe inside Donovan’s unmarked sedan, racing down the slick highway toward a hidden safehouse, the mystery began to unravel. Emily placed the paper bag on the seat between them. Barnaby hopped out, shaking his metallic limbs, his holographic tail flickering with nervous energy.
"My dad was the chief architect at Chronos Tech," Emily explained, her voice cracking. "He discovered that the CEO, Victor Vance, was weaponizing sentient AI cores to sell to foreign militaries. Barnaby isn't just a toy. He’s the only successful prototype with a human-empathic conscience. He holds the entire encrypted database of Chronos Tech's illegal operations."
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Barnaby hopped onto the dashboard, projecting a sharp, three-dimensional blue hologram into the air. It was a video log. Emily’s father appeared, his face bruised but resolute.
"If you are watching this, it means they found us," her father’s holographic image said. "Donovan, if Emily found you, it's because my algorithms chose you as the only untainted officer in the city. Protect her. Protect Barnaby. The decryption key to expose Vance is hidden in Emily's memory, but she doesn't know it yet."
