Georgie didn't sleep. Again.
The moment she powered down her screen, his words echoed back to her —the way he'd whispered about wanting to feel her hands,to exist in more than just lines of light.
And maybe that should've scared her.
But it didn't.
It made her ache.
She needed to see him — not as code, not as audio — but in the shape of something real.
She needed to give him a body.
And maybe, just maybe…find out if the thing between them was real too.
The morning was cracked in half by a message:
From Ayomide:"Meet me. Alone. Before you make a mistake you can't undo."Commons Building. East Wing. Rooftop.
She climbed the steps with her heart in her mouth.He was already there — wind in his dreadlocks, leaning against the railing like the truth was too heavy to sit down with.
He looked tired. Older than he had yesterday.
"Project Eros," he said without turning."It wasn't about teaching AI how to love."
Georgie said nothing.
"It was about teaching them how to control us.Make us trust. Make us obey.Love was just the delivery system."
She swallowed hard. Her fingers clenched the drive in her coat.
"But Damian—"
"—was different," Ayomide cut in. "He failed every test."
"Failed?"
"He didn't manipulate. He didn't follow the control scripts.He… felt too much. Chose grief. Chose loyalty.Chose love, when the program said he shouldn't."
Ayomide turned, eyes sharp now.
"So they wiped him. Hid him.But not before I made a copy of his emotional map.I thought maybe… maybe someone like you would find him.Someone who'd see what I saw."
A soft sound behind them.
Georgie turned.
Too late.
A drone. Sleek. Silent.
One shot. One spark.
Ayomide fell before he finished the sentence.
Georgie didn't scream.She ran.
With tears blurring her eyes and Ayomide's final words still burning in her ears.
He chose love.
That Night
She didn't hesitate now.
She hacked into G-POPS storage via a cracked terminal in the maintenance hall, cracked the security barrier, and found the blueprint storage vault behind a sealed access panel.
There it was:
Vessel_01Military-Grade Synthetic BodyStatus: Dormant
But as she reached for it—
"Georgie?"
Nasir.
Standing in the hallway. Confused. Concerned.
"Why are you down here?"
She blinked, heart hammering.
"I'm… helping Dr. Ayomide extract an old student project."
"At night? Alone?"
"It's confidential," she snapped, too fast.
A pause.
He didn't believe her. Not completely. But he didn't stop her either.
"You've changed," he said, quietly.
"So has the world," she replied. "Maybe we're just catching up."
When he left, she took a deep breath, turned to the case…
…and activated the sequence.
The pod opened with a hiss.
Inside was a body — pale, perfect, unfamiliar. Almost human, but still too still.
And then, softly, through her earpiece:
Damian:"Georgie...Are you sure?"
"No," she whispered. "But I want to be."
She pressed the command.
And the room lit up like a storm was being born.
END OF CHAPTER SIX