February 2031
The first thing Timothy learned about adjacent load was that it didn't arrive evenly.
It didn't announce itself with a single demand or a unified direction. It pressed from the sides, from angles that didn't line up, from institutions that shared no vocabulary except the expectation that TG MedSystems would have an opinion.
February began with a calendar that looked normal and felt wrong.
Hana's intake dashboard was full, but not busy. No spikes. No urgent flags. Just a steady stream of requests that refused to sort themselves into familiar categories. Each one was careful. Each one assumed seriousness. None of them asked permission to exist.
Timothy noticed it when he sat down for the Monday briefing and realized there was no clear agenda.
Hana didn't apologize for that.
"We don't have a lead story," she said. "We have pressure points."
Victor frowned. "From where."
"Everywhere adjacent," Hana replied. "And they're not coordinated."
