Page 226 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

The Truth About Lying
crying, people running for the exits as if they could escape what was coming.
Jinji’s hands trembled.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “The architecture was sound. The incentive structures were balanced. The feedback loops were...”
“Wrong,” Vincent said quietly. He was still standing, but barely. “We were wrong. I was wrong. I told myself that if we just had faith, if we just tried hard enough, God would provide a way. But maybe we are not supposed to survive this.”
“Stop it,” Logan said. He was looking at his phone, at the photo of his daughter. “Extraction won’t save her either. If we fail Graduation, we all fail. There’s no escape hatch. No backup plan.” He laughed bitterly. “I spent my whole career finding angles, exploiting loopholes, making the numbers work. And none of it matters. We’re all going to die because we can’t figure out how to be honest without destroying ourselves.”
Henry couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. This was his fault. He’d convinced them to try. He’d sold them on the possibility of Graduation. He’d led them here, to this moment, where they had one hour left and no idea how to fix what was broken.
The weight of seven billion lives pressed down on him. All those people who’d voted for Graduation, who’d trusted that humanity could prove itself worthy. All those children who’d never get to grow up. All because he’d been arrogant enough to think he could solve this.
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