Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 743
"Third password--"
"Who is that?" It was the voice of 3340. "Relinquish
control to me, now!"
Jordan smiled, and with great relish said, "No.
"Third password is: They are lost."
3340 had learned to intercept and mimic the command
language of the Winds. It was as if it had forged keys to all the
strongholds of Ventus. But while a key can be duplicated, a
password must be learned or guessed. Against the controls
Jordan had given himself, 3340 could do nothing. While
Mediation treated Jordan like an equal, he had been able to
command some systems deep in the mountain to tune to a
single signal source once the first password was given. Now,
regardless of what authorization they received, they would only
obey commands from Jordan’s location.
"Who are you?" asked 3340. The tone of its voice had
changed, from imperious to solicitous. "You are clever. We
can work together, you and I."
"Flood the valley," Jordan told the Gates.
"No! Listen, you’ll never believe what I can do for you.
Here’s the best of all reasons why you should--"
Jordan opened his eyes and turned to look out over the
parapet. If he hadn’t known to feel for it, he might have
missed the faint vibration that began to sing through the stone
under his feet.
There were emergency floodgates to drain the
desalination stacks in case of an emergency. Jordan had
opened these, and now a white wall raced across the valley,
engulfing everything under it.
Jordan stood at the parapet and watched it roll. The
others stood nearby, all silent. Axel was open-mouthed,
Tamsin grimly satisfied.