Jessica's mouth went dry.
Identity collection.
Displacement containment.
Micah.
The holes in his life.
She flipped another page.
A diagram __ simple, terrifying.
ANOMALY PATHWAY:
MISSED TERMINATION --> FRACTURE
FRACTURE --> SYSTEM LOAD INCREASE
LOAD --> DEFERRAL OR TRANSFER
DEFERRAL --> AWARENESS RETENTION
AWARENESS RETENTION --> INTERFERENCE COMPULSION
INTERFERENCE COMPULSION --> CASCADE RISK
CASCADE RISK --> COLLECTOR DEPLOYMENT
Jessica stared.
It was a loop.
A trap designed to turn her into an engine of instability, then punish her for
producing it.
A perfect cruelty.
Her vision blurred.
She forced herself to keep reading.
The minute would end.
She needed one thing __ one lever.
One vulnerability.
Her eyes caught on a phrase in the margins
