"Alpha," a voice buzzed faintly, cloaked in static.
A moment passed. Then another. Finally, a line clicked open.
"Beta," Alpha responded, the tone low and tired. "You do realize what hour you're dragging me into, right?"
"I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't urgent."
Alpha's side of the channel remained silent for several seconds. When the voice returned, it was sharper, more lucid. "Go ahead."
"The source code has been tampered with."
A slow inhale. "Where?"
"Lines 1372937 to 163993 in the third vault of the Genesis Ark. It started mutating last night, like, we just found out about it just now."
Alpha leaned forward, a shiver crawling up their spine. "Tampered, is what you're insinuating then. You're certain?"
"The overrides are embedded beneath the recognition lattice. Heh, whoever did it, they weren't sloppy."
"Then we're going to see anomalies if that's the case." Alpha's tone dropped lower. "Has there been any preliminary testing done while you're there?"
