The hearing room was full.
Not with spectators—
With stakeholders.
A Different Battlefield
Policy officials.
Medical administrators.
Legal advisors.
No uniforms.
No sirens.
Just quiet pressure.
Lin Chen stood alone at the center table.
The Opening Question
"Who authorized your system to make evacuation-level decisions?"
The question was calm.
Calculated.
Lin Chen answered just as calmly.
"The same authority that trusted the existing system," he said.
"Results."
Controlled Tension
Murmurs followed.
Someone tapped a screen, pulling up the bridge footage.
"You bypassed protocol."
"I followed outcome-based priority," Lin Chen replied.
"The protocol failed to adapt."
System Record Displayed
He didn't argue.
He showed.
Timelines.
Decision trees.
Comparative outcomes.
Before the system.
After the system.
The difference was undeniable.
The Real Fear
A senior official leaned forward.
"What happens when you're not there?"
The room stilled.
That was the real question.
Lin Chen's Answer
"Then the system continues," he said.
"Because it was never designed to depend on me alone."
Not entirely true.
But closer than before.
System Confirmation
[Secondary Core: Stable.]
[Human Oversight: Optional — Recommended.]
The words hung in the air.
Optional.
A Shift
No one spoke for several seconds.
Control wasn't being taken from them.
It was being outgrown.
Closing Thought
Power didn't always announce itself.
Sometimes—
It simply proved it belonged.
End of Chapter 78