A reply appeared, not in chat, but as an edit to a system log entry from five minutes ago:
He was learning to rewrite the present.
Mira reached for the keyboard. Outside, the fluorescent lights hummed the same note they always had. But for just an instant, she heard a second hum—a half-second behind, like an echo from a world that hadn't yet decided to exist.
She typed: "Paul. Stop. We see you."
She looked at her own reflection in the dead monitor. AFES was still running, still watching. But for the first time, the red banner didn’t say discrepancy .