Force is not a failure of control.
It is the confession that control no longer exists.
⸻
The decision is made somewhere quiet.
No chamber.
No speech.
Just a signature applied with too much pressure.
Jason feels it before the notice reaches him, the same way a storm announces itself before the sky changes color.
“The validation teams are standing down,” he says slowly. “All of them.”
Zane stiffens at the gate, the heir secured against his chest, the child’s presence folded deep and calm, unaware of how close the world has come to deciding something irreversible.
“That’s not retreat,” Zane says.
Jason swallows.
“No,” he agrees. “That’s replacement.”
⸻
The replacement is called Stability Enforcement.
The name arrives first.
Then the language sharpens.
UNAUTHORIZED EXISTENCE U
