The system pushed harder.
News feeds began mentioning Mara more frequently. Analysts cited her past cases, her infallibility, her importance to public trust.
It felt like flattery.
It felt like positioning.
One morning, she arrived at work to find her schedule altered—new cases slotted in without her approval. High-visibility Echoes. Symbolic ones.
The system wanted her visible.
Predictable.
Contained within her role.
During one playback, the Echo glitched—not with a gap, but with repetition. A sentence looped twice before correcting itself.
Mara froze.
That hadn't happened before.
The narrative was struggling.
She exited the chamber and leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
It's rewriting around me, she thought.
For the first time, fear crept in—not of the truth, but of what would happen if she kept pushing.
Because systems designed to maintain stability did not tolerate anomalies for long.