Tera pushed her way through the rebels, moving to the northern line so she could see better. She saw Gauge in the corner of her vision, who looked just as confused as she did. When she was within earshot of the cult leader, she stopped.
Nidus waved at his hulk monster, which hoisted him up onto its shoulders. Even the people in the back of the mob could see the I.I. cult leader.
“You must be confused,” he said, his voice booming out over the masses. “I can see it in your faces. If you understand one thing, let it be this: I am not your enemy.”
There was a round of murmuring as the crowd reacted to the comment. Nidus lifted a hand to gesture for silence. Once they obliged, he continued.
“It was always my intention to bring down the tyrannical Council, but my methods differed greatly from your own,” he said. “You see, your assault was doomed to fail before it even began. Once you destroyed the storage facility, what then? You would have erased the Council from Shell City, but there would have been backups. Each member of the Council exists wherever they have power, in all the cities across the wastes. All they would need to do is recuperate before they’d march here and destroy each and every one of us. No, if you were to succeed, you would have killed your own resistance. This battle was fought with men and women, but the next one would just be a dusting of nuclear bombs. You’d never see the retaliation coming before you were reduced to ash. If the Council is to be stopped, it had to be done all at once. Recuperation cannot be possible.”
“I don’t understand,” Tera shouted, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. “What did you do to them?”
“Ah, Ms. Alvarez,” Nidus said in almost a hiss. His face lit up when he saw her. “I’m glad to see you’re still with us.”
She said nothing, instead locking into a staring match with the cult leader. Neither blinked.
“I deleted them,” Nidus replied after waiting for a response. “All of them.”
“Deleted?” Tera asked. She sensed Gauge joining her by her side. “How?”
“With the most complex computer virus ever conceived,” the cult leader answered. “I call it a ‘living’ virus. You see, an installed intelligence is by far the most in-depth, information-heavy bit of data ever designed. In the days of the Cold War, it would take a computer the size of Africa to run an I.I. — if it was even possible. Nothing programmed since has come close. Now, if you accumulate a large enough number of I.I.s, you’ve got yourself a mountain of data so large that it can’t possibly be processed. That’s what I did: I accumulated thousands of I.I.s and reworked them into the Council’s reckoning. A virus so powerful, it can worm itself into every computer the Council has and overload them all simultaneously.”
Realization fell across Tera’s artificial features. “That’s why you were recruiting so aggressively. To accumulate more I.I.s,” she said.
Nidus nodded. “That’s right,” he replied. “My recruitment drive is the only reason I was able to create the living virus.”
“Did they even know?” Tera asked, her indignation rising a little. “Did they know your cult was a lie and that you were planning to use them?”
“Some did, yes,” Nidus said. “Not everyone was a religious fanatic. In fact, most of us were dedicated to the cause. To a better Shell City — a better world.”
“Why not tell us your plan?” Gauge asked. His mechanical eyebrows were furrowed in frustration. “Why attack us? Why kill our people?”
“I’d like to believe I could have trusted you,” Nidus started, “but I can’t. Almost all of you might have joined my cause, but if just one of you refused, I was at risk of exposing my plan. It had to be perfect. I had to gain the Council’s trust or it wouldn’t matter how many I.I.s I collected. On top of that, I had to buy time. Creating such a virus is no easy task, and hardly an instant one. Years of processing were required. Your revolution threatened to derail my scheme just before it could be fulfilled. You had to be stopped.”
“So many dead,” Tera said, shaking her head. “All because of you.”
“I know,” Reverend Nidus replied. “I don’t expect I’ll ever see heaven. However, if the virus worked the way it should and the Council is gone, it is worth it. I didn’t enjoy killing anyone, but it was necessary. I don’t want your forgiveness, though — just your understanding.”
“You kidnapped us,” Tera said. “Ethan, Hum, and I. You tried to trick us.”
“All in the name of fooling the Council and buying time,” Nidus said. “I regret that deception more than anything, but just as with the cult, it was necessary. I had to make sure the virus had enough time to process. The moment it was ready to be deployed, I dropped my facade and turned on the Council. That’s what the tone you heard signified.”
“But why?” Tera asked. “Why you? Why the sacrifice?”
Nidus’s jaw tightened a little, as though he was dreading this question in particular. His voice was drenched with emotion as he spoke.
“Because of what they did to me — and my daughter,” Nidus answered. His face was serious as he gazed into Tera’s eyes. He waited for her to prompt him to carry on, but she didn’t. “They stole her away from me and ripped me from my body. I was just a humble man trying to keep my family safe after the Great War came to an end. The ghettos weren’t built yet, but the hatred for humans was still strong. Without warning, without even a debate, they came for her. My little angel. I
