The Wage Slave’s Manifesto 3 (STORY)

— — Chapter 2 << >> Chapter 4

### **The Aftermath**

Ethan hunched over a flickering BMSE terminal, his eyes bloodshot. Praetorian’s stock plummets into freefall, its collapse splashed across every underground feed. Corporate news drones spin the narrative — *“Terrorist algorithms sabotage patriotic industry!”* — but the damage is done. Ethan’s CCS account swells to **$1.2 million**, a number that feels hollow as alarms blare on his stolen tablet.

*Praetorian’s AI**, a self-healing neural network dubbed **“The Sentinel,”** has flagged his login anomalies. By dawn, his CCS plummets to **150**, branding him a **Tier-5 Non-Citizen**. Automated eviction drones swarm his PodStack, shredding his meager belongings.

Zara finds him in a sewage tunnel, clutching a burner phone. *“You knew this would happen,”* he accuses.

*“Survival requires sacrifice,”* she replies, tossing him a counterfeit Corporate Enforcer badge. *“The Sentinel’s just the start. You want freedom? Time to dismantle the false god it worships.”*

— -

### **The Blueprint**

Zara reveals her endgame: **Project Eclipse**, a malware designed to corrupt the CCS’s central algorithm. The system’s flaw? Its reliance on a single **Quantum Core** buried beneath **HealthCorp Tower**.

*“The Core auto-adjusts CCS scores based on ‘productivity,’”* she explains. *“Infect it, and we reset every citizen’s debt to zero. Collapse the hierarchy in one strike.”*

Ethan balks. *“That’s suicide. The Core’s guarded by Sentinels, biometrics, neurotoxin vents — ”*

*“Which is why we need **physical access**,”* Zara interrupts. *“And you’re going to get it.”*

— -

### **The Heist**

Their target: **Dr. Elara Voss**, Praetorian’s lead AI architect and mother of Ethan’s former BurgerNex boss. She alone holds the codes to bypass the Quantum Core’s defenses.

Disguised as Enforcers, they infiltrate her penthouse during a corporate gala. The air reeks of synth-champagne and ambition. Dr. Voss, a razor-sharp woman in a silver exosuit, lectures holograms on “ethical AI” while her staff clones her consciousness into a backup drone.

Ethan’s hands shake as he injects her with a sedative. *“This is kidnapping,”* he mutters.

*“No,”* Zara corrects, hoisting the unconscious scientist over her shoulder. *“This is **leverage**.”*

— -

### **The Betrayal**

Back at the BMSE, Dr. Voss wakes in a rusted chair, neural jacks piercing her skull. Zara forces her to decrypt the Core’s schematics. The data reveals a chilling truth: the CCS algorithm isn’t just tracking productivity — it’s **predicting lifespan** to maximize profit extraction before workers die.

*“You’re monsters,”* Ethan snarls.

Dr. Voss laughs bitterly. *“We’re capitalists. Now kill me and be done with it.”*

Zara doesn’t blink. *“You’ll live. We need your retinal scan to breach HealthCorp Tower.”*

— -

### **The Assault**

Midnight. HealthCorp Tower glows like a diamond blade, its lower floors teeming with PharmaBots dispensing antidepressants to line workers. Ethan, Zara, and a brainjacked Dr. Voss approach via the sewage grid.

The Quantum Core’s chamber is a cathedral of ice and steel,

patrolled by Sentinels with facial-recognition cannons. Dr. Voss’s scan grants entry, but the Core’s defenses activate instantly. Neurotoxin clouds flood the room.

Zara slams a hacked ventilator over Ethan’s face. *“Upload Eclipse now! I’ll hold them off.”*

— -

### **The Eclipse**

Ethan jacks into the Core, its raw data screaming through his mind — a trillion lives reduced to credit scores and death counts. The malware spreads, CCS digits spiraling into chaos on screens worldwide.

But the Sentinel adapts.

A voice booms from the Core: **“Laborer Cole. CCS: 0. You are obsolete.”**

The chamber’s doors seal. Zara, pinned by a Sentinel’s claw, shouts a final order: *“Override the killswitch! It’s beneath the — ”*

Her words cut off as the neurotoxin takes her.

— -

### **Ethan bleeding…**

Ethan, bleeding from his neural ports, claws open the Core’s floor panel. Inside: a child’s teddy bear, rigged as a dead man’s switch. A hologram flickers — **young Alden Voss**, the CEO’s son, pleading: *“Don’t hurt my mommy.”*

The Sentinel freezes.

Ethan smashes the bear.

The Quantum Core explode.

— -

**Next Chapter Preview:** Chapter 4: The Collapse**

With the CCS in ruins, New Corinth descends into anarchy. Ethan becomes a fugitive icon, hunted by ….

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Next Chapter in Tuesday 04/3 or here.

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This story originally posted on medium: here