Chương 185: Chapter 184: The Safest Option Is to Lock Up the Best People

Vane tapped his metal pencil against the console. Two models opened over the review-room table. [LEGACY KEYSTONE ARCHITECTURE] Load concentrated on five living operators. Catastrophic failure rate in matched stress simulations: 0. 04%. Coordination delay: 0. 001 seconds. Automatic correction: Within validated design limits. [DISTRIBUTED PROTOTYPE V3] Functions divided among local stations and legal institutions. Catastrophic failure rate in the same simulations: 8. 71%. Coordination delay: 1. 42 seconds.

Estimated rotating staff: 14, 000 engineers and archivists. Lucian studied the two figures.

"That's a bit of a gap." Evelyn turned a screw between her fingers.

"Is that the scientific term?" He moved closer to the old model. The numbers were not a trick. Its operators could correct errors almost instantly with vast reserves of power. It had a long operational history. Their prototype had expense, committees, and several exciting new ways for a tired technician to ruin everyone's evening. He couldn't dismiss that just because the old design was abhor-rent. Lucian opened the Supreme Guarantor terms.

"If I accept this role, can I retire?" The System found the relevant clauses. [SUPREME GUARANTOR] Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Remuneration: Unspecified. Annual leave: None. Retirement: Unsupported. Term: Indefinite. [HOST ASSESSMENT] Predatory labor practices on a cosmic scale.

"It isn't even optimized for the employee." He could end up with authority over the entire world and still be unable to take a day off. That was not winning. That was a promotion into permanent captivity. Eleanor came to stand beside him.

"What if yours were the only name on the screen?"

"I'd still refuse."

"Even if that let the rest of us leave?" He looked across the room. Astra was eating a biscuit. Sylvia had a dictionary open on her knee. Evelyn was still turning the screw in her hand. Lucian gave the question the consideration it deserved.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I'm a person too." Eleanor nodded. She didn't ask again. Vane removed his spectacles.

"You call it a cage," he said.

"The engineers who built it called it a promise." Lucian turned toward him.

"What promise?"

"That the catastrophe would not happen again." Vane opened the historical file.

"Ten thousand years ago, this civilization used distributed author-ity. During a spatial disaster, delayed responses and conflicting in-structions brought down the network. Millions died in one night." He indicated the old architecture.

"The people who survived no longer trusted ordinary coordina-tion to keep a civilization alive. They built that fear into the ma-chinery." Lucian looked again at the five load-bearing positions. The designers had not needed to enjoy what they were doing. They had only needed to fear the alternative enough. Sylvia's tablet vibrated.

"The full comparison has reached the papers." She turned the screen around. VANCE'S FREEDOM PLAN 217 TIMES MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANCIENT SYSTEM! Lucian pressed his fingers to his forehead.

"Who divides eight point seven one by zero point zero four and makes it a headline?"

"Mathematically—" Evelyn began.

"Stop dividing things." Vane closed his case and placed a gray-sealed notice on the table.

"The thirty-day window is your implementation period. The review board needs a formal decision within the next seven days." Lucian looked up.

"I thought I had thirty."

"To make the network work, Mr. Vance." The inspector put his pencil away.

"Not to decide whether to begin."