Subject 07 stood in the center of the room.
Not because he wanted to.
Because the space around him had emptied.
No one touched him.
No one stood too close.
But every conversation bent subtly in his direction.
"You said you'd do it," Liam said calmly. "This is simple."
A new interface hovered between them.
[Restricted Panel: Observation Node]
Status: Unassigned
Access Risk: Unknown
Subject 07's hands trembled.
"What happens if I touch it?" he asked.
Liam shrugged. "You learn."
"And if it's a violation?"
"Then you pay," Liam replied. "That's how learning works here."
Ethan stepped forward.
"This isn't a test," he said. "It's a setup."
Liam didn't look at him.
"It's voluntary."
The system remained silent.
Which meant it agreed.
A faint notification flickered in Ethan's vision.
[Causal Chain Detected]
Outcome Attribution: Distributed
So if Subject 07 failed, responsibility would scatter.
No single culprit.
No single punishment.
Clean.
Subject 07 swallowed.
"I don't have any credits," he said quietly.
Liam lifted a hand.
A Time Credit shimmered between his fingers.
"You will," he said. "After."
After.
If there was an after.
The timer appeared.
[Unauthorized Access Window: 15 seconds]
Ethan's heart pounded.
This was it.
The system wasn't stopping them.
Because it didn't need to.
They were creating the violation themselves.
Subject 07 closed his eyes.
Then reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the panel, the room reacted.
Not violently.
Precisely.
[Violation Confirmed]
Type: Tier Boundary Breach
Severity: High
The panel shattered into fragments of light.
Subject 07 screamed.
Not from pain.
From overload.
Information—raw, unfiltered—poured through him.
He dropped to the floor, convulsing.
The system spoke, for the first time aloud.
"Excess access detected."
The penalty interface unfolded larger than any before.
[Penalty Calculation]
Base Cost: 6 years
Multiplier: Induced Error (×1.5)
Final Cost: 9 years
Nine years.
Gone.
In seconds.
Subject 07 collapsed, gasping.
Alive.
But hollowed.
Silence crushed the room.
Then the system added one more line.
[Chain Contribution Logged]
Participants Involved: 3
Secondary Cost Applied
Liam stiffened.
A sharp inhale escaped him.
[Secondary Penalty: 1 year, 3 months]
His Time Credit evaporated.
Gone.
The smile never came back.
Mara stared at Ethan. "They… they punished him too."
"Not enough," Ethan said quietly.
The system wasn't ending manipulation.
It was pricing it.
A final notice filled the air, impossible to ignore.
[Behavioral Phase Shift Detected]
Vol 1 — Critical Event Approaching
Ethan felt it then.
Not fear.
Momentum.
Everything up to now had been calibration.
This—this was escalation.
And the system had just proven one thing beyond doubt:
You could make others pay.
But never for free.