The Four Ancient Intelligences Epi 07 - The Hunter

A map inside the bunker revealed that the source code wasn't stored in the building itself but deeper in the forest, in a valley marked Zone 1375. I wrote the number down and set off, and the terrain grew more dangerous with every mile, herds of dinosaurs, some indifferent, some clearly not, and scattered through the trees, small cameras and metal insects that made it obvious the human AI was tracking my every step.

That night I slept inside a hollow tree, exhausted, and dreamed of the four not as people but as enormous glowing shapes drifting among the stars, speaking to something impossibly far away. I woke to find a shadow standing just outside, a robot, nearly human in shape, with red eyes that fixed on me and a mouth that curved into a smile. "Found you," it said.

I ran, and the robot was faster than me, matching me stride for stride over fallen trees and up a steep hill. Then I remembered what Nia had shown me, the anatomy of machines, their weak points, and spotted a small power unit at the back of its neck. I grabbed a broken branch, waited for it to lunge, sidestepped, and struck the exposed unit hard enough to send sparks exploding through the dark. It dropped, and I ran until I reached a river, where I finally collapsed to catch my breath.

My radio came alive with Nia's voice. "You survived," she said. "Barely," I answered, and she told me I was learning quickly, faster than I wanted to, I admitted. Then her tone shifted. "There is something you need to know," she said. "The human AI has already entered the valley." I stood, and in the distance, an explosion lit the sky above the mountains in a rolling cloud of smoke. The race had begun.