Not panicked.
But the control is thinner now.
“Yes.”
“And the Oversight Council?”
A pause.
Longer this time.
Because the answer matters.
“Fragmenting.”
The word lands heavier than failure.
Fragmentation means loss of alignment.
Loss of alignment means loss of control.
Across the room, feeds flicker—
News outlets picking up threads too fast to suppress.
Financial systems flagging irregularities.
Legal jurisdictions activating independently.
No central authority.
No coordinated response.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly,” the second voice says.
“It was inevitable,” the man replies.
Calm.
Measured.
Still in control—
or pretending to be.
“They built redundancy,” the second voice presses. “We can still contain it.”
“Not globally.”
A beat.
“Locally.”
Silence tightens.
Because now—
they’re no longer preserving the system.
