MEV HOLT saw her father's name before she heard anyone say it.
The form put Darin Holt under hers in clean civic type, as if grief had a filing order.
MEV HOLT.
DEPENDENT WITNESS.
PRIOR CASUALTY CLAIM AVAILABLE.
DARIN HOLT: SUPPORTS EMERGENCY RESCUE AUTHORITY.
Mev made a sound that was not a word.
Jessa Venn caught her before she crossed the room.
"Do not hit the screen," Jessa said.
"It is using him again."
"I know."
"No, you don't." Mev's voice cracked hard enough to turn every nearby phone toward her. "It keeps putting him where he cannot answer. He died getting me out of Bay Twelve. He did not die so a form could make him vote people into a chute."
The form did not care.
QUESTION TWO:
DISTRICT UNABLE TO ANSWER IN TIME.
SUBSTITUTE SUPPORTING CLAIM AVAILABLE.
ANSWER SAVED:
YES.
Bay Twelve stayed gray on Soma's map.
Not black.
Black meant no route.
Gray meant the system could pretend there was a route if no one looked closely enough.
