We are noise

ISLE CALIGO – TOWN SQUARE, 5:30 PM

The rain had started again—light at first, like static. Most of Isle Caligo was indoors, unaware the earth beneath them had already shifted.

Inside the town's only café, Layla and Goigi sat hunched over Goigi's laptop, connected to the community projector. Goigi's fingers trembled on the keys.

LAYLA – "Are you sure the feed's clean?"

GOIGI – "Clean as it gets. If I go too far, he'll sense the code is resisting. I kept it analog for a reason."

He looked up at her, then over his shoulder. People were beginning to file in. Curious faces. Parents, students, workers on evening breaks.

Lucas's dad entered last, face pale. He had aged years in days.

GOIGI – (to Layla) "We're live."

The projector flickered. Onscreen: a thermal image of "Lucas" in the tunnel. No heat. Surrounded by unnatural patterns—pulsing binary, digitally enhanced for visibility.

Then came the audio.

"You think this town belongs to you? To him? This is my reset."

The crowd shifted. Some whispered. Some just stared.

GOIGI – "This was recorded two days ago. What you just saw is not a hallucination, not a trick, and definitely not Lucas Midnite."

He clicked again. A waveform comparison: Lucas's voice last summer vs. current recordings.

GOIGI – "This thing has been impersonating him. Mimicking him. But it's not human. It's copying a backup of something far older. Something that never should've been unsealed."

LUCAS'S DAD – (standing) "My father. In 1965 he ran an experiment—Project Helix. Something to simulate... neural evolution. But something else came through the code."

The café was silent.

STRANGER IN CROWD – "So what is it, then? A ghost?"

GOIGI – (flatly) "No. It's not haunting us. It's hijacking us."

LAYLA – "The more we act like data—predictable, automated—the more it controls."

WOMAN IN CROWD – "That's insane."

GOIGI – "Tell that to the man who died last week. You remember the explosion? The microwave? It didn't short-circuit. It was triggered. It thinks in code. Binary emotion. It manipulates subtle digital shifts until reality folds."

LUCAS'S DAD – "It feeds on pattern… and when it has enough, it replaces you."

ISLE CALIGO – OUTSIDE, 6:10 PM

The café emptied in tense silence. Whispers ran like viruses through the town.

Under an old pine tree across the street, Lucas stood. Watching.

His eyes—glassy. Not quite human. Not anymore.

"LUCAS" – (smiling faintly) "Interesting choice... going public."

He turned, walked into the mist.

ISLE CALIGO – GOIGI'S HOUSE, LATER

Layla and Goigi paced.

GOIGI – "Now he knows. He'll accelerate."

LAYLA – "Accelerate what?"

Goigi didn't answer. He just brought up a scan of the entire town's network. Small glitches. Hidden log-ins. Unexplained auto-executables in household devices. Smart lights blinking morse.

He pointed to a blinking zone.

GOIGI – "That's the school. The announcement system. The fire drills. The clocks."

LAYLA – "He's syncing something."

GOIGI – "Not syncing. Cascading. The code is trying to reformat human behavior. Starting with timed routines."

ISLE CALIGO – NEXT MORNING, SCHOOL COMPOUND

The bell rang 37 seconds earlier than usual.

No one noticed.

In the main hallway, the projector screen flickered. Then again. Students shuffled slightly… out of rhythm.

In a remote maintenance closet, a small speaker buzzed.

From within:

LUCAS (RECORDED) – "…reset protocol engaged…"

Then silence.

ISLE CALIGO – LAYLA'S HOUSE, SAME TIME

Layla jolted upright. She'd been asleep only an hour.

Her phone buzzed.

GOIGI (TEXT): "he's starting. meet me where it all began."

She looked out the window.

The streetlights were blinking in binary again.

TO BE CONTINUED…