Ashes to Empress

It didn't take long for the novelty to wear off.

The first five minutes of moving with a full personal protection unit were irritating. The next ten were excruciating. They were everywhere—shadows glued to my flanks. If I reached for my phone, someone shifted. If I paused at a corner, someone murmured into a headset. I couldn't breathe without one of them stepping on my metaphorical toes. Or literal ones.

The moment we landed in Frankfurt and the car door opened, I longed for my old life—my apartment, my silence, my control.

Inside again, I felt the walls close in differently. Security wasn't the same as safety. Not when it came with watchful eyes, scripted movements, and a silent implication that I was now too valuable to be left alone.

Back inside, SOPHIA immediately began prepping the USB stick. SecureFix, the full version—the one the committee had paid for—would be loaded onto it.

SOPHIA: Encryption layers are active. Copy protection installed. Tamper detection engaged. Uploading randomized structure.

I watched the progress bar crawl forward.

"Will they ever be able to understand it?"

SOPHIA: Unlikely. The codebase has been written in an entirely new programming language, one based on abstracted logic symbols. Even if they manage to decode the structure, every function block has been anonymized and randomized—intentionally misdirecting its true purpose.

I arched an eyebrow. "So it's not just obfuscated, it's... nonsense."

SOPHIA: Correct. Function A may perform three unrelated subroutines in parallel. Execution paths change each run. It's deterministic chaos. The more they test it, the more confused they'll become.

I chuckled. "And the copy protection?"

SOPHIA: The USB device has firmware-level anti-cloning routines. Any attempt to duplicate it—digitally or physically—will result in zeroed data.

"Good. Let's hand it over."

The agent waiting outside took the stick without comment. I made sure to add, "This is the only version. As per the agreement. The contract never specified additional copies."

He gave a sharp nod and left. No smile. No thanks.

POV: Langley, CIA Headquarters

"The NATO transfer is complete. They've received SecureFix."

A voice in the back of the room snapped: "Then why the hell are we still flying blind?"

Another screen lit up with error logs, scrolling like a broken slot machine.

"What do you mean it can't be copied?"

"Every attempt to duplicate the software fails. Bitwise, firmware, emulation—nothing sticks. The USB itself wipes attempts mid-process."

"And the code? What's the damn code say?"

"That's the thing. Our cryptanalysis team confirms it's real source code. But it doesn't make sense. It changes on execution. Entire subsystems rewrite themselves."

"So it's junk?"

"No. That's the terrifying part. It works. It executes. But it doesn't behave consistently. We can't predict its behavior or replicate its function."

The room fell into heavy silence.

"Then we keep her alive. I don't care what it takes. If she can build this, she's worth more than all our labs combined."

POV: Max – Later that night

Back in my room, I curled up on the edge of the bed with my notebook open, staring at the KP balance.

701 KP.

A ridiculous amount.

I'd just spent 140 KP on Tier 1 AR/VR tech and another 332 on Neural Mapping. My head still throbbed faintly from the download.

"SOPHIA, are the materials ready?"

SOPHIA: All requested equipment has been delivered to the secondary warehouse. Entry is secured. Surveillance blocked. No external metadata.

"Then we begin. Help me plan my exit."

SOPHIA: Household surveillance has been fully neutralized. Audio bugs disrupted via ultrasonic interference. Optical feeds disabled. As per the protection detail contract, they are not permitted entry into your residence.

"Then I just need to slip past them."

SOPHIA: I have scheduled a fake call to your team's lead agent in ten minutes. Simultaneously, two unrelated deliveries will trigger confusion at the perimeter. Estimated window: 37 seconds.

"Perfect."

Three days later, under cover of night and digital smoke, I slipped out of my own apartment like a ghost. SOPHIA walked me through every step. Doors unlocked on cue. Distractions flared. Footsteps moved the wrong direction.

By the time I arrived at the warehouse, my heart was pounding—but I was free.

Inside, everything was already laid out: components, tools, power supply, thermal regulation. SOPHIA had even arranged a mattress, blankets, and a stocked minifridge. Thoughtful as ever.

I worked through the night.

Using the new knowledge on AR/VR and Neural Mapping, I began constructing the interface helmet. It looked unassuming—like something from a hobbyist VR lab—but inside, it was a marvel. Signal threads lined the interior. Micro-sensors calibrated to fractional voltages. Redundant thermal shielding ensured no feedback loops. The surface was matte black, the lining memory foam. Designed for comfort and precision.

"Ready for test."

SOPHIA: Begin scan when comfortable.

I slipped the helmet over my head and braced myself.

For thirty minutes, I sat still as SOPHIA scanned the entire neurological topology of my brain—synaptic weights, temporal firing patterns, chemical marker positions, even anomaly zones.

When it ended, I was dizzy. But I smiled.

"Results?"

SOPHIA: Full mapping successful. Cognitive index archived. Latent processing signatures recognized. Real-time modeling calibrated.

"Good."

I opened the shop again.

"Buy Physics Tier 1."

10 KP vanished.

My vision flickered slightly.

Darkness.

A few minutes later, I blinked my eyes open.

My whole body ached, like I'd spent the night lifting weights and solving calculus equations at the same time. A strange mix of muscle fatigue and mental expansion.

"SOPHIA...?"

SOPHIA: I'm here. You passed out after the knowledge transfer. Neural stabilizers are recalibrating.

"Did it work?"

SOPHIA: Confirmed. Physics Tier 1 has been successfully integrated. Your foundational understanding of physical systems has expanded significantly. You are now capable of modeling thermodynamics, motion vectors, and electrical field interactions at a high level.

I smiled.

We scanned again to lock the knowledge in place. The new neural configurations glowed in SOPHIA's diagnostic overlay. Everything stable. Everything aligned.

And then I laughed. Because the next project was already obvious.

"Let's go home."

SOPHIA: Preparing stealth reentry path. Window opens in twelve minutes. Welcome back, Mistress.

I pulled the hoodie over my head, tucked the helmet into a padded case, and vanished into the night.

No one saw me return.