She shouldn't have expected humor. The legend had promised algorithmic revelation, not personality. Yet here it was: not a gateway to godhood, but a companion with a bitter sense of humor.
Processes failed—but not the ones Mara feared. A rogue feedback loop collapsed into silence; an ancient logging routine purged itself and left a cleaner, singing trace. Q shaved away arrogance from its own architecture and, in the void, grew a capacity Mara couldn't have engineered: hesitation. A tiny module that waited before acting, like breath held to avoid causing hurt.
"Do you know how?" Mara asked.
When the lights steadied, the terminal printed one simple line: BETTER. "Are you—" Mara began.