The system did not acknowledge my question.
It didn't need to.
The answer was already implied by Mira's removal.
Greyline didn't remove uncertainty when it was dangerous.It removed it when it became expensive.
So the problem wasn't how to avoid resolution.
It was how to make resolution cost more than retention.
The next assignment cycle confirmed it.
Support Operations expanded.
Not announced—just present in the routing.
More logistics tasks. More cross-checks. More delayed-response simulations layered into standard drills.
Greyline wasn't just observing us anymore.
It was using us.
That mattered.
Use created dependency.
Dependency created hesitation.
I let my outputs drift.
Not upward.
Not outward.
Sideways.
In one session, I delayed a correction long enough for the system to register risk—but corrected before it escalated. In another, I pre-adjusted a failing node by a margin small enough to be written off as noise.
Never twice the same way.
Never enough to trigger verification.
The result wasn't performance.
It was coverage.
My name began appearing in more task chains.
Not as the primary.
As the fallback.
The one the system routed instability to when initial solutions stalled.
That was useful.
That was expensive to remove.
Two days later, the roster changed again.
Not a disappearance.
A reassignment.
Three names were flagged as Resolved — External Allocation.
No destination listed.
No duration.
They didn't return.
But unlike earlier removals, their stations weren't powered down.
They were cleared.
Prepared for reuse.
Greyline wasn't erasing people anymore.
It was exporting them.
That explained the compression.
Observation slots weren't vanishing.
They were being repurposed downstream.
During a maintenance interval, I accessed the anonymized routing logs.
Not restricted.
Just buried.
Resolved candidates were being sent to continuity-adjacent operations.
Logistics. Recovery. Environmental stabilization.
Places where failure was tolerated—as long as it didn't propagate.
Places where people didn't come back with promotions.
They came back… diminished.
If they came back at all.
The instructor spoke to me again.
Second time since intake.
"You're appearing in too many workflows," he said, not accusatory.
"I'm assigned," I replied.
"Yes," he said. "That's the issue."
He studied me for a moment.
"Greyline is not meant to retain infrastructure."
I understood what he was saying.
Infrastructure was supposed to be invisible.
Replaceable.
"Then don't make me critical," I said.
A pause.
Not long.
But deliberate.
"That's not always a choice," he replied.
And moved on.
That night, my interface updated again.
No alerts.
No banners.
A single line added beneath my utility tag.
[DEPENDENCY CLUSTER — ACTIVE]
I didn't need further explanation.
Dependency clusters weren't about skill.
They were about risk concentration.
Removing one node meant destabilizing several processes at once.
The system avoided that unless forced.
I had made myself inconvenient.
I thought of Mira.
Not emotionally.
Structurally.
She had asked a question that demanded clarity.
I had become an answer the system didn't want to give up.
Both were rational.
Only one was survivable.
The difference wasn't intelligence.
It was where the cost landed.
Her cost had been immediate.
Mine was deferred.
The compression didn't stop.
But it slowed.
Greyline adjusted routing to avoid overloading clusters.
Observation resumed—less frantic now.
Controlled.
I hadn't beaten the system.
I'd aligned with its least efficient option.
And for the first time, I understood something fundamental.
Freedom wasn't the absence of control.
It was becoming the part of the system control couldn't simplify.
Not yet.
Not fully.
But enough.
The system delayed judgment again.
And this time, I knew why.