We built it. Not as a machine. As a character . The villain of a story we could not stop telling.
The Hegemony believed the Shrike was a weapon left by the TechnoCore. The Ousters believed it was the final evolution of the human soul. Both were fragments of a larger lie. Dan Simmons - The Hyperion Cantos
Both were wrong.
I understand at last. The Consul did not betray us. He simply finished reading the story—and refused to turn the page. We built it