So I did something else impulsive, maybe even treasonous.
Hey, someone had to try something!
While almost everyone else was preoccupied with retaking the ship, I tried to reestablish contact with HLN-A, that invasive intelligence I'd found in the Genesis simulation.
This time I used a sort of process of elimination.
Assuming it managed to create a digital blind spot to hide in, I figured I could find it by establishing where it wasn’t.
Like using infrared to search for a heat signature against a snowfield.
Once I'd colored in all the negative space, I jumped into that void in the simulation and found myself immediately pleading with the AI to stop the corruption of our ship systems.
I should've sent someone braver in to negotiate...