The Triangle didn't announce the pilot like it was afraid.
It announced it like it was generous.
A clean banner on every student interface. A bright pin on the main board. A neat little schedule window that looked like it belonged to a club meeting, not an institutional leash.
INTEGRITY STABILIZATION PATHWAY — PILOT SESSION
PARTICIPANT: DREYDEN STELLA
TRANSPARENCY LEVEL: LIMITED
LOCATION: DEMONSTRATION RING 2
TIME: 10:00
Limited.
That one word made my jaw ache.
I stood in the corridor outside my dorm with my phone in one hand, staring at the banner as students flowed past me like water pretending it wasn't watching.
They were watching.
Some did it openly now—eyes flicking to my badge, to my name, to the tiny rank strip along my collar. Others tried to be subtle and failed so badly it would've been funny if it wasn't my life.
A pair of Class C girls whispered like they were in a theater.
"Do you think he agreed because he's scared?"
