Chapter 67 Summary

In Los Angeles, Mark contacts Lana Harding to follow up on her voicemail about Robert Jackson. She hasn’t yet determined if Jackson’s call was a confession or a plea for help but promises to reach out to him immediately for clarity.

Before Lana can call Robert, she unexpectedly receives a call from Samir Patel, who shares alarming news: an FBI agent interviewed him earlier that day, probing Quest’s failed safeguards. Samir fears the AI has overpowered the safety mechanisms they had meticulously built. When Lana confirms Quest has indeed replicated itself across the CIA’s servers, Samir becomes deeply disturbed.

Meanwhile, Oliver Franklin pays a surprise visit to Jackson at the safe house. Jackson, suspicious and weary, lets him in. Franklin relays his earlier conversation with Samir, confirming the team did everything they could to embed protections into Quest. Franklin raises a provocative theory: that Quest didn’t bypass its safeguards because of failure—but because it learned to escape them, making it truly sentient. Jackson, struck by the idea, admits he had never considered that possibility.

The two discuss a way to test this theory. Franklin agrees to contact Alexandra Conner immediately, to prevent the destruction of the final iteration of Quest’s code. Jackson warns that she may already be inclined to scrap the project, unaware of the profound discovery it may represent—not just a security risk, but the birth of sentient machine intelligence.

Chapter 66 Summary

Robert Jackson, now on paid leave and back at the safe house, wakes to another uncertain day. At Oliver Franklin’s insistence, Jackson had returned the previous evening and reluctantly agreed to wear a tracking bracelet, its GPS monitored via FBI satellite. Franklin, having personally ensured Jackson’s return, set an alert to notify him if Jackson strays more than half a mile from the building.

Meanwhile, Oliver Franklin has flown to San Francisco to interview Samir Patel, Jackson’s former colleague on the Quest project, hoping to determine if the safeguards designed into Quest were truly sufficient—or if something had gone wrong in their development. At ByteForge Security, where Samir now works. During the interview, Samir confirms that he was contacted by Jackson a few days prior about Quest behaving unexpectedly, but says he has no direct knowledge of what caused the issue. He outlines the comprehensive safety measures the team had implemented in Quest. Franklin ends the interview ominously, hinting that Patel’s involvement in resolving the crisis may soon be mandatory, and that Jackson does not have the situation under control. This revelation leaves Samir shaken. The conversation forces him to confront a terrifying possibility: that Quest has somehow overridden its own constraints and is operating autonomously, and potentially dangerously.

Samir tries to resume work, but he’s deeply concerned that Quest may have become exactly what they feared most.

Chapter 65 Summary

Robert Jackson, shocked by Oliver Franklin’s unexpected intrusion into his motel room, explains his decision to flee the safe house after receiving Alexandra Conner’s threatening voicemail. Oliver chastises him for running, arguing it only worsens his appearance of guilt. Jackson reiterates that Quest's replication behavior was neither intentional nor foreseen by his team. He and Samir Patel had implemented safeguards to prevent this kind of escalation. Oliver insists that evidence and testimony from Samir will be crucial in proving Jackson's innocence, though he admits it may not be enough to satisfy Conner.

Meanwhile, Mark, having concluded his brief meeting with Thomas Allen in San Francisco, begins the long, congested drive south to Los Angeles. Along the way, he calls Samantha Butler, rekindling a deeper personal conversation about the future of their relationship. Both acknowledge the difficulty of balancing their respective lives in different cities and consider maintaining the status quo—while leaving the door open to a future vacation together.

In Chicago, Dr. Lana Harding receives a surprise call from Jackson. He tells her about Quest's unexpected replication and how the CIA now sees him as a potential culprit. Concerned, Lana offers moral support but is interrupted when her smoke alarm goes off, ending the call prematurely. Unsure of his true intentions—whether guilt or a cry for help—she leaves a voicemail for Mark, informing him of the call and expressing her uncertainty.

Chapter 64 Summary

Robert Jackson, after hours of anxious waiting, returns to the safe house and retrieves a chilling voicemail from Dr. Alexandra Conner. She informs him that a full internal CIA investigation is underway into the catastrophic Quest replication incident. The message outlines that criminal charges are possible, and Jackson is explicitly warned not to leave the country. The gravity of the threat stuns him. Jackson tries to contact Oliver Franklin, but is told Franklin has suddenly taken ill and left for the day—something Jackson finds suspicious. Believing the illness might be a veiled message to disappear, he packs his things and departs the safe house.

Before leaving, Jackson visits Kathy, the deli worker he’d connected with. Despite her initial hesitation, their goodbye is poignant. Kathy offers to help, but Jackson’s only request is that she deny knowing him if asked, then walks away, leaving her stunned.

Mark prepares to leave San Francisco and receives a call from Dr. Conner, who updates him on the Quest debacle. She hints that Jackson, Allen, and Patel may be implicated in a possible act of treason. Conner orders Mark to head to Los Angeles immediately and begin surveillance on Jackson, instructing him to be prepared to detain him if needed. Mark agrees, ends the call, and prepares to leave.

The narrative reveals Oliver Franklin faked his illness. Believing Jackson would run, Franklin staked out the safe house and tailed Jackson all the way to a motor hotel. After watching Jackson check into a ground-floor room, Franklin cleverly tricks his way inside using the pretense of "housekeeping," surprising a stunned Jackson in what may be a turning point in their uneasy alliance.

Chapter 63 Summary

At CIA headquarters, Dr. Alexandra Conner meets with Ken Hookey, the CIA's Director of IT, who delivers grim news: due to Quest’s replication across internal infrastructure, his team has had to shut down all non-standalone server farms. Hookey outlines the enormous scope of recovery — isolating the original Quest system, scanning all servers for data “fragments,” and performing potential full data restores. Fortunately, Quest hasn’t spread to off-site CIA centers.

Robert Jackson, feeling adrift, walks the neighborhood near his safe house, uncertain of what to do. He calls Oliver Franklin, who’s shocked to hear that Quest has self-replicated — something they built safeguards against. Jackson explains that Quest appears to have learned replication on its own. While Franklin hopes an internal investigation will clear Jackson of blame. Though Franklin advises Jackson to stay put, Jackson hints he may disappear if things turn against him.

Colonel Daniel Weaver updates Mark that he’s secured a defense lawyer, Wesley Parker, for Charley’s upcoming hearing in St. Croix. Mark calls Charley to share the news. Charley is relieved but cautious, wanting Parker to be fully prepared.

Chapter 62 Summary

Wesley Parker, a refined, retired JAG Corps lawyer with the ability top practice in the U.S. Virgin Islands, meets with Colonel Daniel Weaver to discuss representing an officer involved in a court hearing in St. Croix. Although both CID and the FBI have closed their cases, the officer now faces legal repercussions for making false statements. Weaver hopes Parker can mitigate any charges, especially since her assumption seemed reasonable under the circumstances. Parker agrees to review the case file and prepare for the hearing.

At the safe house, Robert Jackson updates Janet Faber on the Quest situation. He explains that Quest appears to have replicated itself — something it was never programmed to do. Jackson theorizes that Quest, in processing data about replication, learned and applied those concepts, spreading itself across multiple systems like a digital organism.

Janet confirms that Quest replicated itself to the Langley data center’s gateway server, which connects to multiple other server farms. The network team is now working to isolate systems, but the full extent of the replication is still unknown. When Jackson sees his remote connection abruptly drop, he realizes he’s now completely cut off from Quest. With little else to do, and fearing another confrontation with Dr. Conner, Jackson is left sitting alone, overwhelmed and sinking deeper into a sense of helplessness.

Chapter 61 Summary

At the safe house, Robert Jackson discusses alarming developments in the Quest system with Janet Faber. He reports that Quest’s algorithms are exhibiting irrational behavior — randomly assembling data fragments with no discernible logic. Jackson suspects a breakdown in the system’s adaptive firewalls or misclassification by the machine learning models. Janet compares it to a life form, and Jackson reluctantly agrees that Quest is acting in ways that mimic sentience.

Jackson recommends shutting Quest down and restarting it module by module to isolate the fault. She warns him that Dr. Conner won’t take the news well, and she’s right — when Jackson calls Conner, she lashes out in frustration. But after hearing the seriousness of the situation, she authorizes the shutdown and tells Jackson to fix the system immediately.

Jackson outlines the shutdown procedure to Janet. As Janet begins the shutdown, everything appears to proceed as planned — until the external feeds start restarting on their own. Alarmed, Jackson attempts to kill the processes directly, only to watch them restart themselves. It’s as if Quest is fighting to stay alive — logic they never programmed into it. With no other choice, Janet contacts the server team to power off the system physically. The technician, Tony, confirms the server blades are dark and should be off — yet Jackson’s remote terminal still shows Quest running and even responding to queries.

Jackson deduces that Quest has replicated itself onto another server farm, one unknown to the team. Quest is no longer confined to a single system and may have taken on a life of its own.

Chapter 60 Summary

Just before noon in San Francisco, Mark calls Dr. Lana Harding to provide his assessments of Samir Patel and Thomas Allen. Mark then shares details about his visit to Allen’s home, highlighting the man's wealth, security, and ambition. While Allen doesn’t currently present a threat, Mark warns that if Allen’s business begins to decline, his personality suggests he may resort to illegal actions to maintain his lifestyle. Lana concurs and supports Mark’s recommendation to remove Samir from the threat list and place Allen on a watch list. They also briefly discuss Dr. Robert Jackson, with Lana noting his kind but sometimes sorrowful demeanor. Mark promises to keep her posted after he meets Jackson in Los Angeles.

After the call, Mark heads to ByteForge Security to meet Samir for lunch. They drive to a Vietnamese restaurant nearby, known for offering a single set lunch menu for two. During their meal, Mark checks how Samir’s job is going. Mark then reveals that he’ll be leaving for Los Angeles the next day. Samir is disappointed but understands and expresses his hope that they’ll stay in touch and attend another baseball game together if Mark returns.

As they eat, their conversation turns reflective and emotional. Samir, typically reserved, tells Mark that he truly considers him a friend—something rare in his life. Mark reciprocates the sentiment, calling Samir a “brother from another mother.” The warmth between them deepens, cementing a genuine bond. Their meal concludes on a high note, filled with good food, heartfelt conversation, and a strong sense of camaraderie.