Chapter 26: Signals and Shadows
It started small.
A student's access badge wouldn't scan in the south corridor. Haruto, typically composed, found his quarters locked from the outside for fifteen minutes without explanation. Emel's private locker was opened and resealed. She noticed immediately.
None of them panicked.
But they noticed.
I walked into the classroom to find the whiteboard already displaying a message I hadn't written:
"Observation ensures progress. Trust in oversight."
I erased it without comment.
The students stared, waiting.
"Today," I said, "we study silence."
They blinked.
"What kind of silence?" asked Juno.
"The kind where answers cost you something."
I passed out sealed envelopes. Inside each was a scenario. Real ones, redacted. The kind of files that only appeared in black-budget war rooms or covert corporate cleanups.
One student read aloud: "An internal whistleblower. Do you protect them or obey chain of command?"
Another: "A medical AI decides one life is statistically less valuable. Do you override it and risk everyone else?"
They didn't argue this time. They just read. Thought. Questioned.
I saw something new in them now — not just brilliance, but resilience. The seed of something dangerous and beautiful.
That night, I walked alone through the upper halls.
Near the comms tower, I saw someone waiting.
It was Cyrus.
He hadn't visited in weeks.
"I heard," he said quietly. "About the surveillance. The lists."
I nodded. "They fear I'll weaponize the students."
"Will you?"
"No," I said. "They'll weaponize themselves — if the world keeps trying to silence them."
He looked older than before. More tired.
"They're watching you too," I told him.
"I know. That's why I came back."
I studied him. Cyrus had once been a young man who asked me for clarity. Now he was standing in the shadow of what he'd built.
"I'll give them a reason to be afraid," I said.
He didn't argue.
Because deep down, he knew — the academy was no longer just a school.
It was a fuse.
And someone had already lit the match.
To be continued in Chapter 27.