Oversight broke protocol at 06:12.
Not publicly.
Not procedurally.
Internally.
The silent priority flag—one that had not been used in over five years—lit up across seven independent divisions at once.
CONDITION: LOSS OF BEHAVIORAL CONVERGENCE
STATUS: ESCALATING
RESPONSE CLASS: MANUAL OVERRIDE AUTHORIZED
Manual.
That word did more damage than any alarm could have.
For an institution built on systems, models, and predictive authority, manual intervention wasn't control.
It was confession.
The Triangle woke to a campus that felt… watched.
Not observed—watched.
Students noticed it in small ways first.
Security patrols took routes that hadn't existed yesterday. Instructors lingered outside rooms instead of inside them. Interfaces refreshed slightly slower, as if running through additional approval layers before displaying anything at all.
The illusion of normalcy remained.
But the pressure had direction again.
That was the difference.
