The door behind him clicked open. A woman in a grey suit stepped in, her face as forgettable as his own. She didn’t look angry. She looked relieved.

“LMS, expand. Authorization: Brent, Parker. Override code: Elena-1104.”

The screen flickered. A single file surfaced. A congressional aide’s resignation letter, flagged for “post-hoc sentimental decay”—a fancy way of saying the regret had been written after the decision, not before. Parker flagged it for review. Another day, another lie dressed as a lesson.