Page 143 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
“A buffer.”
“For lies.”
“For mercy.”
“That’s branding.”
“Yes,” Henry said. “I’m good at that.” She almost laughed.
Then didn’t.
He stepped closer to the screen.
“We do not erase the risk. We do not hide it forever. We reframe action and inaction together. We let the system recognize that refusing to act can be more false than an imperfect statement.”
Jinji sat back down slowly.
“That’s not truth verification.”
“No.”
“What is it?”
Henry looked at the stalled approval line.
Then at the city map, where Sector A had begun to turn red.
“A palliative,” he said.
Jinji’s hands hovered above the keyboard. “A palliative doesn’t cure anything.”
“I know.”
“It only reduces pain.”
“I know that too.”
“If we do this, Verax is no longer pure.”
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