The explosion came before sunrise. Not of fire, but of silence. Every public screen across Eidolon flashed the same message for exactly one second: no logo, no government seal, no source.Just six words. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DISAGREE.Then every display went black. The city froze. Not because the system ordered it, but because millions of people stopped reading at the same moment.Nicholas felt it like someone had struck a tuning fork inside his ribs. He doubled over. Mara caught him before he hit the floor. "Nick!"He gritted his teeth as another pulse tore through his chest. "It started..."Elara appeared beside him—not physically, but clearer than she had been since the merge. Her voice was sharp with disbelief.I didn't send that.Nicholas looked at her. "I know."Mara stared between them. "If neither of you did..."They all reached the answer simultaneously. The city had.Deep beneath Eidolon, where obsolete processors had once been buried beneath newer architecture, billions of ti