Page 143 - SurprisingTruthFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Lina spoke first, her blue eyes narrowed to slits. "I
tracked your signature, Hypocrite. The Palliative is still
running, still telling people it’s safer to take the risk
than freeze. That was your betrayal. Why aren't you
dead?"
"Because the Shard spared me," Henry said,
pointing toward the sky where the massive geometric
form was clearly visible, dominating the dark haze.
"It's not God, Lina. It’s an automated Regulator. It ran a
diagnostic on our collapse and concluded that
Absolute Truth is a boundary violation that leads to
immediate planetary termination."
He looked at Vincent. "The Shard is offering us a
final choice: we willingly accept a structural lie to save
our species, or it enforces a Protocol Reset, eliminating
free will and turning the surviving populace into
stable, resource-conserving animals. Your beautiful,
pure truth is the reason we are about to be mind-
wiped."
Vincent looked up at the sky, his hands clenching
the worn cross around his neck. "If the choice is
between the noble death of consciousness and the
comfortable slavery of the lie, the struggle demands
death, Henry."
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