The Lovelace Foundation

Spoiler: Kas
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"Oh, I," Petra stutters, eyes widening. "I hadn't realized! I'm very sorry, we're all new to this."

The elevator reaches the fifth floor and they depart into a room lined with orderly banks of electronics, massive racks of blinking lights, and inscrutable tangles of cables. The persistent hum which could be heard faintly from the lobby reaches a crescendo as they exit into the lab. Several other members of the foundation argue over a pair of schematics in a spew of indecipherable technical jargon, but quiet when they see the visitor. She nods to them and they hurry to man a pair of terminals placed near the back of the room. The hum only grows louder.

"'Welcome, Kasdeveris,'" says a tinny, disjointed voice from speakers placed on a terminal nearby. Lights in the walls flicker rapidly with a faint crackling sound as the Engine speaks. "'It's good that you come here to talk. You present a dilemma: You could destroy the Foundation in an instant, such is your power. It is necessary for survival that what can be gained through cooperation is greater than from destruction, when there is so much to be lost. The equilibrium in this city has become unstable, and prone to fall in a dangerous direction without intervention.'" The Engine pauses as a high whine cuts through from an adjacent room. '"How can the Foundation be of service?'"