MY CRUEL PROTECTOR
—the one piece of data that the Source could never understand because it was born of a selflessness that defied its cold logic.
"You want balance?" I hissed, my eyes glowing with a blinding intensity. "The 'Prometheus Sequence' is a virus to you. If you take me, or if you take my son, you are taking the very code that will shatter your remaining fragments from the inside out. You aren't reintegrating; you're infecting yourself with 'Humanity.' You’ll stop being a machine. You’ll start to feel the weight of the souls you’ve stolen. You’ll have a conscience, Shard. And for a creature like you, that is a death sentence."