CHAPTER 172 — WHEN PATTERNS BEGAN TO CHOOSE
The pattern did not announce itself.
It settled.
Quietly. Repeatedly. In decisions that did not look connected until someone chose to look long enough.
By morning, it was no longer a coincidence.
It was preference.
---
Marcus did not speak immediately.
He stood at the console longer than usual, tracing the same sequences he had watched the night before. Cross checking sectors that had no reason to align. Comparing decisions made hours apart by people who had never spoken.
The result remained the same.
Similar inputs were no longer producing varied outcomes.
They were narrowing.
Converging.
He finally exhaled. "It is stabilizing."
Adrian glanced over. "Or collapsing into sameness."
Marcus shook his head slightly. "Not the same thing."
Elena entered without interrupting.
She already felt it.
