MONITORING ROOM — 12:14 A.M.
No one reached for a weapon.
That was the first good sign.
No one shouted either.
That was worse.
The page with the leaked phrase lay on the table between us like a dead animal no one wanted to claim.
**future-bearing ledger strain**
Sera's phrase.
Sera's draft.
The one mirrored in the anonymous corrective notice from the western corridor.
Chen stood at the far side of the table with her hands folded behind her back and the expression of a woman who had spent half her life prosecuting procedural corruption and would now very much like the universe to explain itself.
Kassandra broke the silence first.
"Sit."
It wasn't a threat.
Exactly.
Chen looked at her.
Then sat.
Mira spoke carefully.
"For clarity: this is not yet accusation. It's a pattern match. One phrase appeared where it should not have. That phrase came from one of the distributed bait drafts."
Chen nodded once. "And the corresponding draft came to me."
I waited for denial.
