Choice is only precious
when it can be taken.
⸻
The shift is subtle enough that no one names it at first.
There is no surge.
No breach.
No voice in the lattice.
Just a narrowing.
Jason feels it as a loss of options rather than force. He stares at the arrays, frowning, running the same projection three times and getting the same answer every time.
“That’s not right,” he murmurs.
Zane looks up from where he’s rocking the heir, who has grown uncharacteristically quiet.
“What.”
Jason swallows.
“The system is still responsive,” he says slowly. “But every corrective path that involves… refusal…”
He trails off.
Zane’s spine stiffens.
“…doesn’t exist anymore,” Jason finishes.
⸻
They test it immediately.
A minor fault line tremor in the south. Normally, there are six viable respo
