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CHAPTER 156: THE LUXURY OF LETTING GO
The Commons thinned at dawn.Not emptied. Thinned.Those who remained did so deliberately. They spoke less now. Watched more.Raymond sat on the edge of a long table, untouched cup cooling beside him. Lira paced slowly, counting faces without making it obvious.“Third rotation did not show,” she said quietly.Raymond nodded. “They will.”“You sound certain.”“They always do. After sleep or after fear. Sometimes both.”A systems coordinator rubbed her eyes. “We need to formalize the rotation schedule before people start assuming permanence.”A dock worker replied, “Permanence creeps. It does not announce itself.”The System’s interface glowed faintly, passive.A young analyst spoke toward it. “Can you track role duration publicly.”The System responded.Yes.“Then display it,” the analyst said.The screen shifted. Names. Roles. Time active. No judgment. Just exposure.A woman exhaled. “That is uncomfortable.”Raymond said, “Good.”Director Kessler leaned against a pillar, watching. “Yo
CHAPTER 155: THE WEIGHT OF STAYING AWAKE
The Commons did not celebrate.That was the first sign something had changed.After the revocation, there was no release, no laughter clinging too long to relief. People stayed seated. Voices remained low. The room carried a tension that did not want to leave.Raymond noticed the way eyes kept drifting back to the screens.Not to the feeds.To the logs.Lira leaned against the table beside him. “They are reading between the lines now.”Raymond nodded. “They learned what the lines can hide.”A systems auditor spoke into the open space. “We need to talk about safeguards.”A dock worker replied, “We just did.”The auditor shook his head. “No. We reacted. Safeguards come before the next attempt.”A medic added, “There will be a next attempt.”No one argued.Director Kessler stood slowly, joints stiff. “You are exhausting yourselves.”A woman shot back, “So did compliance.”Kessler sighed. “You cannot stay in a constant state of suspicion.”Raymond answered calmly, “We cannot afford amnesi
CHAPTER 154: THE FIRST ABUSE OF TRUST
The message did not arrive loudly.No alarms. No flashing red priority tag.It slipped into the Commons feed like any other request.Resource reallocation proposal submitted. District Twelve.Raymond noticed it only because the room changed.The murmur shifted pitch. Conversations slowed, then leaned inward. Lira straightened beside him.“That one feels wrong,” she said.Raymond nodded. “Because it is precise.”The proposal expanded on the central screen.Temporary consolidation of medical supply nodes to improve efficiency. Voluntary compliance requested.A logistics analyst frowned. “They want to centralize again.”A medic replied, “Temporarily.”Another voice cut in. “That word is doing too much work.”Raymond stayed silent.The System highlighted projected outcomes. Clean graphs. Familiar shapes. Comforting curves.Efficiency gain projected at twelve percent.A man scoffed. “That is old language.”A woman answered, “But still tempting.”Director Kessler watched from the side, arms
CHAPTER 153 - THE COST OF CHOOSING WRONG
The Commons chamber no longer echoed.It breathed.Voices clustered in pockets, some seated on the floor, others standing near live feeds. The air hummed with layered debate, not shouting, not calm. Something in between that kept shifting.Raymond stood near the rear now, back against a pillar scarred with old corporate insignia. He had not spoken in twenty minutes.Lira noticed.“You are doing it again,” she said quietly.Raymond replied, “Letting it run.”A man at the center snapped his fingers. “We are circling the same problem.”A woman shot back, “Because you keep pretending it is simple.”“It is simple,” the man insisted. “We reroute the drones and lock the grid.”“And who authorizes that,” another voice asked.The man exhaled sharply. “We do. Right now.”A medic shook her head. “You do not speak for the south wards.”“They are offline.”“They are cautious.”“They are hoarding power.”The System’s interface pulsed faintly, inactive but listening.Raymond closed his eyes for a mo
CHAPTER 152 - WHEN EVERYONE SPEAKS AT ONCE
The Commons did not adjourn.It fractured.Not violently. Not dramatically. It simply refused to stay in one shape.Raymond stood near the exit as clusters formed across the hall, voices overlapping, priorities colliding. No gavel struck. No one called for order. The noise swelled, dipped, shifted direction like weather.Lira exhaled. “This is the part they warned us about.”Raymond watched a group of medics argue with infrastructure engineers near the left wall. “This is the part they never let happen.”A raised voice cut through the din. “If transport fails, clinics fail.”Another snapped back. “If power fails, transport does not matter.”A third added, “If trust fails, all of you are guessing.”Raymond moved toward them.“Say that again,” he said.The third speaker, a young systems analyst, stiffened. “Trust is the hidden dependency.”The medic frowned. “Trust does not move blood units.”The analyst replied, “But mistrust freezes decisions.”Raymond nodded. “Then build trust where
CHAPTER 151 - VOICES WITHOUT A SCRIPT
The emergency hall was louder than it had ever been.Not alarms. Not directives.People.Raymond stood near the center, hands loose at his sides, surrounded by overlapping conversations that refused to organize themselves. Screens lined the walls, blank except for a single line.Open Consultation Active.Lira leaned close. “They are not waiting for permission.”Raymond said, “Good.”A man pointed at the screen. “Who is moderating this.”A woman answered before Raymond could. “Why does it need one.”Another voice snapped back. “Because chaos kills.”Raymond stepped forward. “So does silence.”The room quieted, not fully, but enough.A council representative spoke sharply. “You cannot just dissolve governance overnight.”Raymond replied, “We did not dissolve it. We exposed it.”A medic raised her hand. “I need clarity. Who authorizes emergency triage now.”Raymond answered, “Whoever is there and capable.”Murmurs rippled.“That is reckless,” someone said.Raymond nodded. “So is pretendin
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