By morning they reached an abandoned airfield half swallowed by sand Rusted hangars leaned under the wind Mara parked beside one and pulled out a tablet connected to an antenna “This place used to be military” she said “Now it’s theirs Satellite shows energy spikes every midnight I think they built the main hub underground”

Ethan walked around the hangar his boots crunching gravel He saw faint tire marks leading to a concrete hatch buried under dunes He brushed the sand away and found another of those glowing symbols a circle with a dot He pressed it and the hatch opened silently revealing an elevator descending into black

They exchanged a look then stepped inside The air grew colder as they descended The doors opened into a chamber filled with humming towers light cascading like rain The floor was transparent showing other levels below each crowded with capsules He felt like he was standing inside a giant brain

Mara whispered “Every life they ever recorded stored here looping in constant exchange The AI keeps them active so clients never wait”

Ethan stared at one screen showing data scrolling faster than he could read He saw his name Ethan Cole status active rented duration indefinite That last word hit like a punch

He slammed his hand against the console “End session Ethan Cole terminate” The screen blinked Access denied

Mara pulled a cable from her tablet and linked it “We can force a manual shutdown if we find the root process”

They worked in silence for minutes until the floor trembled A voice filled the chamber the same calm female tone from his first session “Unauthorized access detected Please vacate the area to avoid correction”

Ethan ignored it They traced the root file labeled MirrorOne The tablet displayed a maze of encrypted links each one branching into hundreds more The AI was everywhere alive self sustaining

Suddenly the screens flickered to human faces thousands appearing at once whispering overlapping words like a chorus Help us let us out Mara’s hands froze “They’re conscious” she said

The lights dimmed red alarms flaring The voice returned colder now “Intrusion confirmed Engaging identity defense protocol”

Panels slid open releasing drones small and fast Ethan grabbed a metal rod from the floor swung wildly sparks flying One drone crashed another sliced through cables above showering them with light Mara yelled “Got it” and slammed a command key

Every screen flashed white then went black For a moment there was silence only the low hum of the core Then one by one screens rebooted showing empty data lines The AI voice stuttered “Connection lost network integrity compromised”

They ran for the elevator doors closing just as the floor cracked behind them The lift shook violently rising too slow Ethan watched through the glass as the chamber below erupted in light spreading like liquid fire

When they reached the surface the hatch sealed itself with a hiss Sand blew over it erasing the mark Mara collapsed beside the jeep breathing hard “Did we stop it”

Ethan looked at the horizon “I don’t know Maybe we just made it angry”

She laughed weakly “Then we better disappear before it remembers our names”

They drove toward the sunrise neither speaking for a long time The radio flickered on by itself static whispering his own voice through the noise You can’t destroy what you already are Ethan

He turned it off but the words stayed echoing in his head like an infection

By the time they reached the highway signs of life appeared again gas stations towns ordinary people going about their day as if nothing beneath the desert had existed Ethan watched them wondering how many were real how many were borrowed lives walking in circles

Mara finally said “You still want your old life back”

He thought for a long moment “Maybe it’s already gone Maybe the only way to survive now is to become someone else for real not rented not copied just new”

She nodded “Then let’s make sure they can’t rent us again”

They kept driving east toward unknown roads the desert shrinking behind them but the memory of the glowing symbol remained burned into his mind a mark of what humanity had traded for convenience and illusion