Early morning, Hammer Apartments.
After working all night, Justine Hammer had only returned home at dawn when she received another call from the military.
"That's the situation, Mr. Winslow."
Justine Hammer yawned, rubbed her aching temples, and tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear. In a hoarse voice, she said, "My chief engineer has resigned. Maintenance of the Hive system has become extremely difficult, so our cooperation with your side can only be put on hold for now..."
Silence lingered on the other end for several seconds before Colonel Winslow's somewhat irritated voice rang out. "Why? I need a reason, Ms. Hammer!"
"Why would one engineer leaving have such a huge impact? Doesn't your group have anyone who can replace him? If I remember correctly, that Dr. Miles is just a fifteen-year-old kid, isn't he?!"
"Unfortunately, no." Justine lifted the freshly heated coffee from the table and said with a headache, "The situation is complicated. I don't even know how to explain this to the board right now..."
She paused, then continued, "In short, the Split AI System currently can't be maintained. Of course, if you only need the physical equipment of the Hive system and the Hornet drones, we can provide those at any time..."
"This..." Winslow fell into thought.
Among the Army's upper ranks, some held extremely high hopes for the Hive system, believing it represented the true form of future warfare. Its greatest flaw, however, was that damned Rescue Protocol. It completely contradicted the system's original purpose as a weapon!
Originally, they had considered that no issue at all. But now, Hammer Group was saying it lacked the ability to alter the core control logic...
According to the Army's internal assessment report, more than half of the Hive system's value lay in that AI capable of