Mara read the subject line three times.
*PATTERN K-L: POST-AUDIT RISK REVIEW.*
The words sat in her inbox like a small, neat bomb.
She checked the corridor cameras out of habit.
Empty.
In the open-plan office, most analysts had switched their lenses to "ambient," letting Arcus read their pupils and pulse while they pretended not to notice.
Across the room, the Director's glass door was closed.
Her stomach knotted.
She opened the file.
Arcus had dressed its fear in charts.
Nodes and edges, confidence bands, color-coded veins.
It had taken last night's drone sweep and turned it into a diagram of unease.
*SUMMARY: ANOMALOUS VARIANCE CLUSTERS (K-L) PERSIST DESPITE UPDATED BASELINES. CORRELATIONS IDENTIFIED ACROSS:*
*– BEHAVIORAL NOISE PATTERNS*
*– INTERNAL LOG LATENCY*
*– LOCALIZED EQUIPMENT FAULTS*
In the center of the diagram, multiple lines converged on a shaded zone.
Veins Seven and Eight.
Mara's throat went dry.
The text scrolled on.
