Page 176 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

The Truth About Lying
that is not mercy. That is control. Sacred fiction only works when it is chosen, not when it is imposed.”
His hands were shaking.
“I have been wrestling with this since the Mandate began. I thought perhaps the capacity to lie was God’s gift, a cushion against unbearable reality. But now I see the deeper truth: the gift was not the lie itself. It was the choice. The freedom to decide when truth serves love and when it serves cruelty. You are taking that choice away.”
“I’m giving them back the ability to function!” Henry insisted.
“No,” Vincent said. “You’re giving them back the ability to avoid. There is a difference.”
Jinji pointed at the ruined servers.
“We were building a world where people found their own courage. You’re building a world where a machine tells people when they’re allowed to lie. That’s worse than the original sin, because you are doing it in the name of the Truth Collective.”
She leaned back from the screen, unsettled.
“I can track everything Verax touches,” she said.
“Except this.”
“This what?” Henry asked.
“It’s not coming from anywhere,” she said. “No origin point. No path.”
“It’s like...”
She stopped herself. “Like what?”
176