The rhythmic humming of the servers at Rathore AI (RAI) was usually a sound that brought Arya peace, a white noise that helped her drown out the world. But at 1:45 AM, it sounded like a funeral march. A sophisticated "Brute Force" attack was trying to chew through the secondary firewall she had designed, and for the last six hours, Arya had been staring at a wall of scrolling red text.

She hadn't eaten since morning. She hadn't even blinked in what felt like centuries. Her eyes were burning, her head was pounding, and every time she closed her eyes for a split second, she didn’t see code.