The failure cascade starts at 3:47 AM. You watch it unfold across your monitors, each alert a new point of light in the darkness of your security operations center. It's beautiful, in a terrifying way.
CRITICAL FAILURE - NODE 2459
Cascade detected...
Attempting containment...
CONTAINMENT FAILED
System complexity: INCREASING
Attack surface: EXPANDING
>> No data breach detected <<
This is the fourth major AI system failure this month. Each one more elegant than the last. Each one exposing the same fundamental truth: the more complex the system, the more inevitable its collapse.
But that's not what makes your hands shake as you type your incident report. It's the message he left behind, encoded in the pattern of the failure itself:
He's right. You've seen it in every system you've ever defended. The endless patches, the growing complexity, the expanding attack surface. Each security measure creating new vulnerabilities. Each solution breeding new problems.
Your superiors call it corporate espionage. Want you to track him down, stop him before he hits another major system. But they don't see what you see: he's not attacking these systems.
He's demonstrating their inevitable failure.
Incoming message detected...
"Want to see how deep the flaw goes?"
The message appears on your secure terminal. Impossible. The system is air-gapped, isolated. Unless...
"The flaw isn't in the code," his next message reads. "It's in the very idea that we can control complexity by adding more complexity. Want me to prove it?"
You should report this. Should trigger protocols. Should do anything except what you're about to do, which is type back:
"Show me."