Page 97 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Zhara raised a battered megaphone and didn’t
speak into it. She lowered it and nodded to Sera.
Sera spoke a single word that microphones hate.
“Choice.”
Half the electronics within earshot shut down.
The silence lost its balance and fell. The baby
finished touching her mother’s chin. The mother
laughed and cried at once.
Sofia’s voice returned, smaller now, a thread
trying not to break.
“You’re making it messy.”
Henry smiled without humor. “Yes.”
“Then the blood is on you,” she said.
“Already is,” Zhara replied, and shut off the last
remaining loudspeaker herself.
7. The Doctrine
Back in the chamber, Carolina scrolled a text file
that had arrived without sender over Zhara’s
private channel. A manifesto in clean serif.
The Mirror Doctrine (Public Draft)
Premise: Dissonance predicts violence.
Solution: Pre-emptive removal of dissonance at the
point of linguistic inception.
Method: Curator cadence, sentiment flattening,
memory hygiene.
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