He’s not bluffing, Kade projects, his mental voice grim. The charges are tied to a dead man's switch. If his heart stops, or if he releases the trigger, the mountain collapses.
I lower my rifle slightly, keeping it trained on his center of mass. "Councilor Vance," I say, my physical voice steady, carrying the quiet, unshakeable authority of the Luna. "It’s over. The biological army is destroyed. The micro-slag is neutralized. You have nothing left."
"I have the future!" Vance screams, his thumb trembling on the trigger. "You think you’ve won, Luna? You think you’ve saved the world? You’ve just doomed us! The Architects are gone, but their technology remains. If we don't weaponize it, someone else will. I am protecting humanity from obsolescence!"
"You’re protecting your own power," I re
