Three days after the peer protocol locked the lattice numbers into a stable band, the shortfall appeared in the medical logs for Districts 7 and 12. Both still ran on standard logistics. Residual-exposure cases that had previously moved on priority transit now sat in holding queues.
The delay was measurable: average wait times rose from under four hours to nine in District 7 and eleven in District 12. Local feeds began posting the counters next to the lattice map so anyone scrolling the open layer could see both data streams at once.
The cause was not a new failure or an external cut. It was the reallocation required to keep the peer-verified exceptions supplied.
Sensor components, calibration cycles, and transit slots that had once acted as buffers for the standard districts were now committed to the lattice nodes that had cleared verification.
The ledger matched the physical movement of parts and time. The human cost had simply been deferred until the buffers ran dry.
