Episode 3: Zoe

A cold wave of panic washed over him.

Outside, the bell rang again.

A loud, impatient knock on the door followed.

Kael moved slowly, his heart hammering in his chest. He didn’t know what to expect. He only knew that if the person on the other side was a cybersecurity officer, his life was over.

Taking one last, deep breath, he reached for the handle and unlocked the door.

Yesterday.

A woman walked through the busy morning streets of Cygnus City.

Around her, tall buildings with impossible designs pierced the sky. Flying electric cars moved in dense, quiet streams. Huge holographic screens attached to the buildings displayed a constant river of ads.

Many of them covered the same news: Nexus Corp’s new AI technology was growing faster than anyone imagined.

On one giant screen, an interviewer was speaking to Nexus Corp’s CEO, a man named Marcus.

“Your company was a revolution for robotic technology, and now you’ve launched a new one,” the interviewer said. “My question is, why did you name your new custom AI showroom ‘The Genus Store’?”

Marcus smiled warmly, a perfect corporate smile. “Because ‘Genus’ is a biological classification, ranking just below ‘Family.’ The name implies that Nexus Corp is creating a new class of life, a new kind of being just for you.”

He spread his hands. “We are creating a new family member, designed just the way you like. That’s why we named it that.”

The interviewer beamed. “And now, a short break.”

An ad immediately filled the screen, showing a happy family laughing as they interacted with their custom AIs.

The tagline read:

Create your own custom AI now at your nearby Nexus Corp Genus Store.

The woman, Zoe, kept walking, not even looking at the ads.

A small holographic screen popped up in front of her. It was her company-given AI assistant.

You are already late, Zoe. Move fast.

“You’re my assistant, okay?” she said, her voice laced with annoyance. “Just because you’re from the company I work for, it doesn’t mean I work for you. Don’t act like my boss.”

The assistant’s holographic face remained perfectly calm.

Okay, Zoe. But you are late.

“You are so annoying,” she replied with frustration. “Just go offline. I know what to do.”

She made a quick turn and entered a massive building with a familiar, shining logo.

NEXUS CORP.

Inside, she got into the lift. A moment later, her friend Lyra stepped in.

“Hi, Zoe. Late again?” Lyra said with a tired smile.

“I don’t have a vehicle, and the company’s salary is only enough for a taxi every day,” Zoe replied.

“Yeah,” Lyra sighed. “Even though we work in the main branch, they haven’t increased our salaries to match our work for six months. But Zoe, you’re in User Systems Analytics. You’ve got a better salary than me.”

“Don’t think like that,” Zoe replied, looking away.

“What work do you have today?” Zoe asked.

A holographic screen flickered to life in the air in front of Lyra.

It showed a long list of names and email templates. She let out a small sigh.

"Sending emails to everyone who attended interviews last week," she explained, her fingers tapping commands on the screen.

"How many are rejected?" Zoe asked, glancing at the list.

Lyra's expression was tired. "Fifty people."

"And how many were selected?"

"Five," she replied.

She swiped the screen away, the light vanishing from the lift. She turned back to Zoe.

"What about you?" Lyra asked.

“As a Database analyst. Same boring work as every day.”

The lift chimed. “Looks like my department is here. Bye, Zoe,” Lyra said as the doors opened and she stepped out.

Alone in the lift, Zoe sighed, with frustration. “How much more time will this take?”

That Night. 10:30 p.m.

The long, tedious day had stretched into an even longer night.

Zoe was the only one left in her department. Drained and bored, she began clicking through files randomly, looking for anything to distract her from the mountain of work she still had to do.

Suddenly, she saw a file name that stood out.

THE ZERO-DAY PROTOCOL.

Her curiosity took over. She opened it.

The screen filled with data.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her hands, which had been resting on the desk, began to tremble.

It was data about every user who had ever customized their own AI at a Genus Store.

Every single detail about them.

Bank details.

Personal information.

Passwords. Secrets. Hopes. Fears.

She realized with sickening certainty that there was no privacy for anyone who used the company's AI. Not even for the employees. Her own company-given AI wasn’t just guiding her; it was watching her. Collecting data on her.

As she scrolled through the horrifying data, she heard a faint sound down the empty hallway.

The low, quiet whir of a maintenance robot.

The soft, deliberate tread of a security guard’s boots.

They were slowly approaching her department.

Just as the sounds were getting closer, an alert popped up on her holographic screen.

Intrusion Alert: Unauthorized access initiated by external resource. Querying corporate database. System ID: Solus. Protocol: 19.

On one side, a guard and a robot were getting closer.

On the other, a digital intruder was breaking in.

In a single moment of pure panic and quick thinking, Zoe acted. With a few frantic commands, she sent the entire horrifying file to the unknown intruder. Then, she executed a rapid firewall command, severing the connection and locking the intruder out of the Nexus database.

Note: Thanks for reading! I'm still learning and growing as a writer, and your feedback is incredibly valuable. If you have any thoughts on the characters or the story so far, please leave a comment! It would mean the world to me.