The air inside HON headquarters reeked of antiseptic and simmering lentils, a warm, familiar smell that attested to Anna's determination to keep them all grounded and fed. Slumped over his laptop, Reuben cross-checked sanitation reports from the industrial docks against the System's omnipresent Societal Stability Index. The 'Truth Cascade' investment was quiet but effective; a recent smear campaign in a Crane-biased newspaper had crashed with unexpected force, its arguments met with skepticism and intense community-driven counter-arguments on the web forums. It was a small triumph, but it indicated the new module proved worthwhile.
Suddenly, a warning flared on the rim of his eye, not with the vivid, flame red of an instant danger, but with a dim, evil orange. It was a color he had never
