Uma nearly dropped her suppression baton.
The echoed question hung in the air, heavy and suffused with terrifying precision.
Her HUD flared uncontrollably as raw data scrambled across her visor.
[ LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: EXPONENTIAL ]
[ LINGUISTIC PROCESSING: 100,000 CYCLES/SEC ]
[ VOCABULARY INTEGRATION: UNBOUND ]
Earth was not mimicking sounds like a mindless beast. It was tearing apart the grammar, tone, and hidden logic behind every word spoken on the platform.
It was digesting human speech faster than a military mainframe.
Zee stared at the red clouds in pure horror.
He had never taught Earth a single word. His bond with the core had always been raw emotion, heat, pressure, and instinct.
He had never given it a dictionary. He had never uploaded a language pack.
Yet the planet had built its own vocal apparatus in less than ten seconds.
It was learning at an unnatural, monstrous speed. It was leaping across thousands of years of intellectual growth in a single heartbeat.
Zee swallowed hard and leaned over the edge of the glass floor.
“Earth do you understand what I’m saying?”
The crimson storm clouds pulled tight around the crust.
Deep in the ocean trenches, the twin golden eyes blazed with intense violet light as the Consciousness Crystal hummed.
The world did not answer right away. It was scanning the broadcast signals bleeding down from the Sector Spire.
Then, a tectonic tremor rattled the entire platform.
A dark, resonant voice rumbled straight up through the rock, speaking a word Zee had never once uttered.
“Harvest.”