The false room used Caleb's old mattress.
He recognized the gray cover, low iron frame, and burn near the right corner where a stream lamp had fallen during his ninth broadcast.
The room had been real once.
The bodies had been real in other places.
The hour between them had never happened.
On every phone above Annex Four, false Caleb sat with his knees apart while false Elara stepped between them. Her field coat slid from one shoulder. His hand rested at her waist.
The clip kept both faces visible.
It wanted witnesses.
Tali offered Caleb the phone.
"Watch or decline. Your call."
He watched.
The lie had borrowed a real want. Elara's coat on the floor. Her body close. Her hand choosing where his went. Refusing the Woman had never made those wants disappear.
The false room used them as proof that any image of desire must be permission.
Caleb studied his own copied hand at Elara's waist.
"My thumb is wrong."
Rina leaned closer.
"Wrong how?"
