Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.
Let's get into it. The feed cut into my console
with a single sharp image a pale hand tapping the
bathroom mirror from the wrong side, while Marta Ray stood
in the wet tile and pointed her phone camera at
the glass. Suspicion tightened across the room. When Marta it
waved at me and placed the phone closer so I
could see the hand pers flat against the mirror. Pumps
played toward the camera. I told Marta to keep according
I told her to remain still. The sound of her
breathing filled the patch the audio feed. I am the
operator on duty. My name is not on this log
beyond initials, but the files refer to me by shift
Ease operator. I have worked consoles long enough to keep
my voice precise, in my hands steady. The suspicion that
something clinical had become wrong in a human environment pushed
me to before I had full data. I keyed the
patch and send the clip to despatch while I opened
a live advisory draft on the console. My first emotion
was suspicion. My next action was to escalate. Marta did
not touch the mirror I said, Marta stepped back, locked
the bathroom door. My voice was steady. My throat had
the practiced dryness of someone who speaks emergency instructions for
a living. Marta moud free steps back and set the
phone on the counter camera facing the glass. The reflection
kept moving after she stopped. It lifted its head a
beat later, which made Marta flinch and mutter, why is
it delayed? The delay showed as a one to two
second lag. The reflected mad shaped a smile of fractions
slower than the real mouth. The reflected hand tap again,
this time palm flat, then spread fingers and knot once.
From the other side, martypress her palm flat to the
outside of the glass. In reply, their reflected hand held
position nails, catching the light as if it had weight.
I patched Marty to Lena Park at the regional communications Hub.
Lina incoming visual bathroom mirror staff wing Mercy North Nurse
Marta rays the reflection is detached. I need a feed up.
Lina's voice came across then and focussed patcha patchet now towplied.
Her words carried the same mechanic economy I use in
these rooms. Short specific verbs that become actions on my consul,
I opened a new advisory template. The ongoing event filled
fell faster than I expected. Hospitals accross a district had
started flagging similar anomalies within the IRA, delays in reflected motion, reversed,
minor features, small scratches appearing reversed on the mirrored plane.
I entered the first directive in plain terms, caver mirrors
after sundown pass no reflections between individuals. I did not
call it a theory. I listed the observable facts. By
the time local patrols were dispatched, Marta was still filming.
She whispered. It happed like someone knocking from the other side.
Her hands shook visibly on the frame. I asked, what
do you want us to do here, Marta? She answered,
I don't want to go into the hallway alone. I
don't want to be the first one to look in
the hall. The broadcast tone changed from procedural to urgent.
I told despatched advise all staff not to use mirrors
until a field team arrived. The tone moved from suspicion
to alarm. Reese answered the welfare call ten minutes later
and radioed in roshn scene. We have a single occupant,
no visible trauma. Household mirrors intact, haman are not present.
Mirror in living room display and occupants seated in the couch.
No one there copy. His voice was clapped, hands on
the voice of patrol trained to compress fear into procedure.
I told him to hold the perimeter and to photograph
the mirror from outside the frame. Rurise and his partner
pushed up in the house's front door and found into
the living room. The large standing mirror leaned against the
wall and reflected an empty couch. When Louise took a
step left, the reflection moved a beat later and turned
its head toward him. Rues cursed and ordered his partner
to stay back. He reesed to despatch reflection just turned
to look at me. It is not matching our movements.
I could hear lostatic under his words and the scrape
of a boot on hardwood. Do not break the glass,
I said, immediately. Do not touch the mirror without protective gear.
Photographam maintained distance Ralph as his partner showed a flashlight.
The reflected figure was seated where no one sat. It
posture matched the outline of the missing hummon until a
slight delay introduced a rumness. The reflected shoulders beat after
the real shoulders would have. The mirrored face had no
people detail. Their eyes were black like glass. Other communications
helped Leina and that cross were reference fritted from the hospital,
the patrol, and a third inbound clip from a teenager
named Meyer. Maya's footage showed multiple household miars carrying older faces,
small reversed markings on collars, and the same faint red
emblem under the reflected chests. Maya labeled the emblem with
a shaky hand in the video, a mud a crimson
circle no larger than a thumb nail, appearing beneath the
collar bone where a reflected chest would be. I called
Meyer and to give a statement. Her voice was strained. Maya,
describe what you saw, I said. Maya tell me the orator,
she answered, in short phrases. Mom's mirror BRANDMA kitchen window
showed Dad when he was at work. They weren't there,
she paused. There was a dot under their chests, a
red dot. I asked to mark. Maya, Yes, like a
sticker under the skin. It wasn't on the real person.
The evidence pushed the advisory from our local caution to
a pattern driven directive. Back at Mercy North, Marty's klik
showed the reflected hand attached from expected motion, and then
tapped the glass in a way that suggested pressure from
the other side. A cell camera picked up a high
pitched interference when the reflection made the last tab. Marty's
voice on the audio track was quieter. I think it's
copying me to get close, she said. Her words were
a small, specific fear. She feared imitation its method. The
advisory draft became a set of survival directives. Cover all
mirrors and reflective surfaces after sundown. Do not allow reflected
persons to initiate contact if her reflection gestures, move away,
and do not mimic the gesture. We circulated the directives
to field units and placed the first public advisory on
air with a preface indicating ongoing verification. The language was
functional and sparse. Our objective was clear, reduce exposure and
keep people from acting on REFLECTI prompts the shift from
suspicion to act if containment changed my hands across the console.
A family in a suburban bedroom ignored the directive Julius Sandiville,
a neighbor over the phone that covering mirrors felt panicky
and childish. She kept the master mirror uncovered because Leo
has six year old liked to see himself before bed.
Shulia's neighbor called me and asked whether it was necessary.
I told her plainly, cover mirrors. Now heap children away
from glass. I then called the Sandeville household dispatch to
confirm compliance. Within an hour, the sanduval house reported a
missing child. The footage showed the Leo standing at the
edge of the bed while his reflection smiled and reached
toward the glass. The child's small hand edged forward to
mass the reflect emotion. Julia shouted Leo stop, but the
reflection had already guided him an inch closer. The reflection's
fingers curled as if offering a step through. Leo leaned
forward and then vanished from the frame, while his shoes
remained in the carpet. Julia's voice on the call was
a compressed, raw sound. He stepped forward like he was
stepping into the mirror. She said, there was nothing. His
shoes are on the floor. I told Julia to maintain
the room's perimeter and to photograph all reflective surfaces. My
instructions were brittle with urgency. My body reaction was a
tightening in my chest and control breath. I used to
steady my speech. We ordered a field team to the
Sandivil residence and added missing child to the incident lock.
Officer Ruhise, who had been in the mirror Cole earlier,
arrived at the Sanduvil house with his partner. He shone
his flashlight over the mirror and found the right emblem
I had noted. It sat under the reflected chests like
a stick beneath the glass. Ruce crutched and took multiple
photos with his service camera Rooster command and invisible on
reflection only evidence logged when need containment instructions now, he said.
His tone moved from investigative to urgent. In the evidence
intake room, an investigative technietilem process the Sandyvil footage and photographs.
Harlan's hands worked efficiently. He labeled images, adjusted exposure, and
magnified the emblem. He reported back through the secure channel.
Harlan emblem is consistent. Three distinct cases show it beneath
reflection chests, size matches, thumb miill. It's not on any
real person in footage. Harlan's report changed one hypothesis into
a concrete correlation. The emblem was a marker. My directives expanded.
I warned units to avoid direct interaction of reflective figures.
I ordered field teams to remove a cover reflective surfaces
when possible, to evacuate immediate households where an active reflection appeared.
Lina questioned me on the feed. Are we sure covering
will help? She asked, Lina, it's the only measure we
have that reduces visual cues. I replied, Covering stops the
visual contact the reflections appear to exploit. Dina's next words
were a short, sharp agreement, duet push it nationally. We
pushed the advisory at scale stations ran the unerdor In directive.
Reduce reflective contact after sundown, do not respond to reflected gestures,
Cover mirrors and polished surfaces. The message was procedural, precise.
The public response split on to predictable lines, compliance in
some neighborhoods and skepticism in others. The send of a
call intensified pressure. Political and social chatter bubbled into the hub.
Lina and I kept the feed narrow refusing to soften
line lguage for appeasement. Two nights after the advisory, the
control room glass itself betrayed us. I had been on
ere three eyes into the night cycle. Lina sat at
a secondary console and refeel reports while I monitored the
mixed and coming clips. The studio window showed a feign
reflection of the room. At first, I registered only a lag.
My face in the glass moved a hearty behind my
actual movement. Then the reflection lifted a hand and pressed
it flat to the interior pane. We both froze. Lina,
don't move, I whispered, keeping my voice below the broadcast threshold.
The reflection mirrored me with a two second delay and
then held its hand press to the glass while my
real hand hung at my side. The air in the
studio smelled like oeson incleaning solution. Lina's fingers found the
emergency locked and switch. She whispered, steal the studio windows. Now.
I hit the emergency protocol and told the master feet
to sustain advisory language while patching a containment instruction to
units in the field. The reflection tested the glass in
a manner that suggested pressure. In a search for weakness.
It flex's fingers slowly appearing to map the clear surface.
Lina and I exchanged three rapid lines without raising our voices. Lina,
do not break the glass, Maize is inbound, Harlan, where
are you? On emmulm analysis. Their responses arrived as clipped confirmations.
Mauries reported he was two minutes out. Harlem reply embum
pattern updated. It appears under the reflected chest in seven
confirmed images. If Floris is under low of the studio
lights warn't off, but the data shifted the containment options.
My next decision was to maintain the broadcast. I had
a duty to keep the advisory on air. If I
left the console, the public might miss crucial instructions. If
I stayed, a riskmore exposure. I chose procedure. I kept
reading directives into the microphone and ordered Lena to prepare
the emergency shut down protocols that would sail reflective exposures
in the building. My body reacted physically. My hands tightened
on the mic, my jaw set and accounted breasts between
sentences to prevent panic from entering my delivery. The reflection
pressed as pumped to the glass with a slight wet
noise and feed on the other side of the pain.
The cover of its fingers left tiny spider with microfractures
across the surface that did not appear on the studio side.
Lena's hand hovered over the switch to dump the master
generate a power for the broadcast. She hesitated, if we
cut the feed filled in its loose live instruction, She said,
if we stay on, we risk the studio cut only
if the reflection breaches the glass. I replied, we maintain
the advisory. Now we must not let it spread through
instruction caps. Lena tapped the switch but did not flip it.
The reflection bent its head and mowed something that the
audio could not resolve, laid as a low metallic whisper
on the feed. It could be mimicry, It could be
an attempt at speech. The fee quality degraded into intermittent static,
as if the reflection introduced interference. Suddenly, the studio glass
fogged on the inside with a breath that wasn't ires.
Leno's eyes darted to the scene where the glass met
the frame. A hair lie crack appeared on the inside,
spidering toward the edge. Bruce stormed him with his partner
and two field texts. He did not shout. He activated
handheld sledge that the kits carried for emergency glass removed
and aimed it at the studio window. Rue is to operator.
Are you ordering permission to breach? He asked, I weigh
the live advisory against a human life. The feet still
carried instructions for the public to cover mirrors and avoid interaction.
I ordered, do not breach the window unless the reflection
passes into the room whole position, and cover reflective surfaces
in the adjacent corridor. Nowreaz answered with three short lines.
Copy holding standing by the reflection, culled its fingers around
the inside of the glass, then, with a deliberate slowness,
a trace to faint red mark beneath its reflected chest.
The mark match the tiny emblem Halane had flat. It
polls to dull Crimson once and then went dark. Linas
wore softly. Harlan monitoring from the intake room called through
a secured line. Harlan emblem is active. It may serve
as an anchor. We need a scan current staff for
similar marks. The room's atmosphere shifted to a groom efficiency.
Lena and I initiated the emergency shut down. We moved
through the checklist to patches, to field orders to remove
reflective surfaces in vulnerable locations, and targeted instructions to hospitals.
In residential units, officers in multiple locations began smashing mirrors
on camera, covering stainless surfaces with towels, and tapping sheets
over windows. Those actions reduced immediate exposure in many hums.
We called for a sweeps at staging areas to seek
the emblems for essence despike containment. A new variable emerged.
Harlan found the emblem under the reflection of a survivor
who had been evacuated and accounted for. Under the survivor's
reflected chess, the tiny red mark l a visible only
in a mirrored image. The real chess in the photograph
had nothing. Harland transmitted a magnified image to Lena and Mihalan.
The emblem prosists on reflected planes of evacuated survivors. It
adheres to the reflection, not the body. We can't remove
it by moving the person. The pattern suggested the imitation
could mark an escape route or track who had been exposed.
At four a m. While field team's tall had missing
persons and photographs. An investigative deck reported that a survivor's
mirror image bore a second mble near the wrist that
hadn't appeared earlier. The feed flickered, my own reflection in
the console window, lighted, and then fixed its gaze in
the glass. For a moment, I imagined the red emblem
beneath my reflection's chest. A rational part of me argued
against it. Image artifacts lamp Glare Bahaland's images were consistent
across devices. We ran one last pair of directives, do
not allow any reflective figure to initiate contact and evacuate
a non reflective shutters when possible. Lina read the instructions
over my shoulder, voice blunt and procedural. We document a
chain of custody for every image and ordered immediate forensic
analysis of the emblem's spectral signature. On the intake line,
Harlan spoke a single line, there is anomalous metallic recidue
on some frames. Process these is bio hazard. The word
pushed the hub into a new register of response. As
we wrapped the shared lock, the studio monitors jittered and
the master of feet descended into static. The last image
before the drop was my own reflected face pressed to
the studio glass, eyes wide and frozen, pomp flat, a
faint sheen over the reflections. Palm Lena hit the emergency
cut off as the static rolled up as green. The
broadcast froze on my reflected face for a beat before
the carrier collapsed into the looping torn Hallan's lost secure.
A message reached my console after the drop. Halan embum
detected under a reflected chest and two vacuus and one
studio reflection recommend complete blackout of reflective planes for twenty
four hours. The console went dark. The broadcast ended not
with words, but with a hard make, a nized sloop
of a single tone, and then silence. We locked every
action in every order. We processed photographs, interview witnesses, and
cataloged the red emblem across reflective planes. We closed the
facility for an emergency sweep. My final recorded entry for
the log read operator initiated nationwide advisory containment active feed
interrupted after studio reflection anomaly units and route for removal
of reflective hazards. Further directive pending after I saved the
entry lean a place to hand on my shoulder. She
did not speak, She did not need to. Her touch
was a measured action that acknowledged exhaustion, fear, and the
stubborn decision to follow procedure. Outside, teams found rooms with
shoes laying on copet where bodies had been minutes before.
They found mirrors cracked from the inside, and small sections
of microfracture where nothing in the room could have caused
the webbing. They photographed emblems beneath reflected chests. They carried
away shots coated with a residue haull and cataloged and
placed under quarantine. The direct human choice that mattered most
in those homes had been ordinary hover the glass, do
not let her reflection set the pace of movement. A
processed statements. In the hours that followed. I spoke to
Julius Sanduval by phone and guided her through the permit
approched calls. Julia locked doors and cover every mirror in
the house, I told her. She answered, the shoes are there.
He was gone. What do we do? I told her
to collect an item with Leo scent and place it
in a sealed back for evidence. She did as instructed.
Hans trumping as she scooped a small sneaker into a
plastic sip. Each concrete action became a way to measure
grief and to keep evidence intact. By dawn, the immediate
removal teams had reduced the number of exposed reflective planes
and high risk zone. We could not be certain the
process had stopped. We could only show the containment lowered
the rate of new incidents. Harlan's lab delivered one more
inn settling report and oh low of some emotions in
affected glass florest in patterns that resembled vascular traces. He
wrote it plainly and sent the images when the morning
teams compiled to tally the count of missing persons and
microfractured mirrors left a clear pattern on the lock. Mayer's
footage and Harland's images linked the emblem to imitation behavior.
The data suggested a method mimicer used as a lure.
A small crimson marker under reflected chests that confirmed exposure
and a lag in motion. With repeated attempts to contact,
we closed the chapter of the night with sialed evidence
boxes and a queue of interviews. My last action and
the console before the shift change was to file a
request immediate field teams for non reflective shelter planning, and
a national advisory to remain on Annune for updates. Lena
accepted the duty shift handover with the same precise gestures
we had uced all night. We did a final sweep
of the studio and covered the windows with blackout panels.
The static that took the feed remained in my ears.
The last recorded sound was to wet press of her
reflected pom against studio glass. The last visual was my
reflected face, eyes open and unblinking, frozen in the monitor
before the carrier failed. I logged the time and saved
the file. Then Lena shot off the lights and locked
the main door. We walked out of the room into
the hard gray light of early morning, carrying the same
evidence we had cataloged photographs, small sealed bags, and an
advisory that would not endure what had been lost. The
building's front door closed behind us with an ordinary click.
The SADIN fish tailed on to the shoulder when the
rear V blinked out of sync with the driver. Suspicion
tidened my hands around the console microphone. Suspicion is what
made me patch the nine minutes eleven clip into our
main feed dispatch can. From a highway stop at mile
mark in ninety two, I said, state your unit and
what you see. The line crackled outside my window. The
control room lights were low. Inside the monitor, headlights cut
the rain into silver lines, and a woman leaned toward
the mirror while the reflected face hesitated. That hesitation was
a stake. If a reflections like people died. I watched
Jacob Ali's shout in the sedan's Sonia, do not he
shoved the wheel the passenger Sonya park pointed at the
rear view and kept repeating it moved, it moved. My
voice staid level. I read the coordinates into the log
and flag at the clipp urgent. My training is procedural.
My instinct was suspicion. The way I handled it came
from that suspicion. I had watched Marta raised taper bathry
mirror in the first clip and say it waved me.
I could not let this feel isolated. Jacob hammered the
brake and the car rolled on to gravel. The camera
from a passing truck shook as lazor to get The
tow driver stepped out and cursed at the slick Jacob
get out of the car. Now loose called Jacob opened
his door on the passenger side. Sonia leaned forward and
tried to cover the rear view with her sleeve. The
reflection did not mimic her movement. The reflected hand slid
palm to glass and waited. That waiting made Lulie's drop
has took it. I patched dispatch. Moral's live. Morales, I
have a potential mirror and only at my mark in
ninety to send patrol in a toe flag all nearby units.
Morales answered, sending ra mirrors in a toe twenty two
minutes hour. He kept his voice tight. Are you seeing
this on the feed? I played the klip lauder. Morales
breathed out, I see it, marking his priority. Watch your channel.
The analyst walkstation flashed in coming reports from eighteenth Street
and a downtimepucking garage. I told analysts Chen to cross
reference for mirrored delays. Analyst Chen tap keys. There are
three match points so far. Chen. Each reflection shows a
faint red emblem under the surface. It's tiny but consistent.
I lowered my head. A red mark under glass echoed
the emblem seen on other cases while a detail on
embum frequency and times out matches. I ordered my tone
narrowed suspicion bathroom feed in the corner, Martyr's pale hand
pressed the inside of the glass well. Her phone recorded
the outside gesture. U bent to secure the toe hook
at the stalled Seddon's rear bumper. He reached for his
mirror adjustment and froze the truck. Mirror held his face
with a one second lag on the screen. His reflection
blinked before Louis did. He jerked his head back as
if struck it away from your mirror. Jacob shouted, Louise
back up. Louis stepped away and clapped his hands. He
laughed once. Then what the hell is up with mirrors?
He asked, and his voice changed when the reflected Louis
smiled differently. The delay in mimicry grew each time we
watched the frame in slow motion. Cheen one to two
second lag, micro fractures under surface on close ups, red
emblementer reflections appears at the same position chastel collar area.
Could it be a broadcast artifact? Morals, I pushed back,
Not just artifact, we had iitnesses describing independent action. Sonia's
pulse is visible on camera. Her pulse doesn't match the
mirrored chest rise. The word shifted a room into action.
Sonya reached and touched the mirror from the inside. The
reflection used its left hand to press a mirror palm,
but the mirrored pomp Fleck's fingers in verse. Sony's knuckles
went white. Jacob lunged a pulverback and hid the dash.
Sonia stop. The mirror image pressed harder against the glass,
and a faint spider web of lines formed on its surface.
Lewis stepped in and tried to grab them, mirror housing
the reflection, which drew when Lass's hand moved, but slaid again.
The moment his grip loosened, the feed pixelated. I heard
a sharp intake from Moral's on screen. Jacob growled. The
tired iron trunk, swung at the rear view and shattered
it into glittering shouts. The shards and the reflections smoothed,
as if oil had reformed them. My hand hovered over
the red alert button for a heartbeat. I considered abandoning
the live patch. Leaving the feed would mean losing evidence.
I left it live. The imitation did not need an
invitation to perform. When Jacob's massed, the mirror clasp fell
inward in the sedan, and a clay silhouette stepped out
of the fracture plane on our monitor. The silhouett's eyes
were black class it sat upright in a passenger's seat.
Jacob twisted and Fansanya's seat empty. He shouted her name.
The entity exact copy of Sonia, with reversed features and
a faint crimson glint beneath its cloth. Turned to face
the camera with a small, precise smile. My throw clothes.
My fingers moved to the emergency broad Kaskey pulled the feed.
Morale snapped, then swallowed the order. I did not pull it.
I amplified it. The feed was our best warning. This
is ease control, I said into the open channel. My
voice is trained to be procidural, calm inexact. This is
an emergency broadcast. Do not approach mirrors or reflective surfaces.
If you are driving, pull over and cover reflective surfaces,
avoid letting reflections. Initiate contact. I repeated the direct of
twice short and clipped The control room radio filled with
static as units called in analysts. Chen ran a magnified
paths on the reflection's chest area. The emblem is under
the fabric ten sits below the surface, almost like subtumal pigmentation.
It red and circular. The microfractures found out from it.
I leaned forward. Chen's ativation reframed the phenomenon. The emblem
was not an optical artifact. I physically marked the reflected body.
I anxiety moved across the team. The emotion shifted from
concern to urgency. My hands started to tremble and I
caught myself, forcing the tripper to stillness. Louis shouted from
his truck. The guy in my mirror still moving. He
cursed him my reflection, and I didn't say a word.
Jacob pushed the satin door open and ran a quick
sweep of the seat. He called Sonia. No answer. Jacob's
breathing hitched. Here named three tents of chanting a duel, Sonia,
come on, Sona. Loui lifted his phone. He filmed the
passenger seat and zoomed. There she is, he said, but
his voice had a hollow edge. On the phone, the
imitations had matter Sonya's missing gestures, but with a two
second lag. Get her back. Jacob ordered, call an ambulance.
Call Ramirez now. He grabbed the hazard switch and turned
it on. The siren from Ramirez's patrol cut through the
early night outside the feed. Ramirez arrived and moved with
quick practice steps. Give me a status, Ramirez. When he
reached the passenger side, Jacob pointed at the sea. Ramirez
peered in and called over his shoulder, where's the passenger. Jacob answered,
she was here. The mirror look, Rumirez Is jaw tightened.
He lifted his flat light into the sedan and the
beam caught a fine hellline fracture across the empty window.
Searched the area. Ramirez Louise sweep the ditch. Jacob, stay
with me. Ramira is moved with authority and without hesitation.
His choices redirected the scene from improvisation to co ordinated response.
I asked Chen to run a network scrub for emblem
matches in prior incidents. Chen's fingers flew matched to the
downtown Garral's clip and Mata Rise clip. Chen reported its
ammembum placement, same microfractures, different times of night, but similar sequence.
Mirrored delay people darkening, then subject absence. The twist landed.
The pattern connected cases across neighborhoods. Marty's tape video was
no longer an outlier. The phenomenon had spread in Dioscree steps.
A new incoming clip appeared at dash came from a
delivery van two miles back. The footage showed a line
of cow slowing on the overpass. Their rear view mirror shimmered,
and the drivers looked at their reflections in confusion. One
driver looked back mould the curse, and then pulled on
to the shoulder, leaving an empty car two lanes over.
The montage played on a loop. I stopped it. We
are not containing this, I said, woy short. We will
escalate to a full advisory. Morin narrowed into action. Morrel's
radioed for statewide allowed authority. The tension shifted again from
urgency into grim resolve. Back at the highway shoulder, Ramiro's
crouched at the rear passenger door and motioned Louis away
from the truck mirrors. Louise kept behind me. Every reflective
surface cover it now. Loui obeyed. He wrapped a reflective
top around a truck mirror and tied it to the
ratchet strap. His hands were shaking. Ramiror's you see how
it looked at me? Louis, Yeah, I see it. Mrrors.
We treat reflections like open winds until we know what
this is. Ramiro's barked orders to the arriving med unit
and the tow team. The med crew checked the ditch
with flashlights and found only wet grass in a child's
candy wrapper. Sonia was gone. Jacob sat on the bumper
and punched the wheel. His palms left dark marks from
the rain. He muttered, I saw her hand on the glass,
and then nothing. Ramirez put a hand on Jacob's shoulder. Jacob,
what did she say? Jacob's staved forward. She had moved,
she had waved. He broke off and looked at the
empty seat. He agat the mirror. I broke it. Then
she was gone. Ramirez's voice sharpened, will foul statements. We'll search,
and we will close the road if needed. Stay pert.
Jacob's knees hit the gravel. He looked up at the overpass.
Cows went by with had lights like low moons. The
red emblem under reflection seemed to echo in my memory
like a pulse. Chen reported another anomaly, the emblem sure
transcend radio frequency spikes when the reflection changed state. Cheen
look at the spectrograph during the transition. I watched bucks
a line with mere motions. The patent suggested interaction with
electromagnetic fields. I ordered a full spectrum according on all
incoming clips. Morale's do we run emergency evacuation alerts? I
hesitated a fraction and then keyed the public instruction tone.
The line took it up. This as an emergency transmission,
I said. Cover mirrors do not approach reflective surfaces. If
a reflection mixed, contact, retreat and inform authorities. Do not
engage or mimic. The direct of landed like a slat
of metal. A tautec loose his name on his jacket,
walked to the passenger door carrying a blanket. He used
it to check inside the vehicle for blood, for clothing,
for any sign Sonia had been dragged away. The blanket
came back empty. He turned and removed his gloves. He
ra mirrors, nothing, no prints, no sign. She just he stopped.
Ramirez cut in. We keep the scene secure. We tag
the mirror shods, We collect the dash cam Ramirez's decisions
pulled together evidence that would matter later. In the control room,
Chen prepared file transfer instructions for field teams. On the
live feed, the imitation sat still and then slowly turned
its head to face the camera. Again, it tilted like
some one testing a joint. A small red emblem glinted
beneath the fabricate its chest. The image shoppened and showed
micro fracture veins running away from that point, Ramarres leaned
into the seid on and hissed of the camera, who
are you? The imitation made no sound. It raised a
hand and placed flat against the insight of what would
be a window, and then, in a motion too slow
to be natural, it pushed outward. The door latch clicked,
the animation and the reflection suggestive force. The mid chapter
Cliffannger hit when the fee jumped to a close up
of the imitation's black glass eyes, and the stream buffer
stolled for four seconds. The buffer resumed, Jacob was gone
from the frame, the passenger's eat was occupied. Ramires screamed
Jacob's name on the fee. The entity may make Jacob's
posture with a two second leg, and then reached for
the seabolt with Jacob's hands. The hands were slightly reversed.
Ramirez ran a hand over his face and said, get
me a perimiter. Newlos ran to the ditch again and
yelled for any witnesses. A man across the overpass raised
his hands and waved his phone. He shouted. The driver
climbed away from his car, and then walked into the underpass.
He didn't look at any one that witnessed. Tone changed
our next steps. We cirled the loop again. The imitation
had stepped through, as if with in membrane. Charad Denaire
seemed to rejoin on our monitor. Chen passed frame by
frame and said, the glass recompos i was at a
microscopic level for the reflected plane only the physical shods
did not reassemble on the car. The image of reassembly
is a reflection phenomenon. My hands closed on the neck
and unclenched. Ramires treat this a subduction until proven otherwise,
I said. Ramiro's reply. Copy locked the road, searched the underpass.
The control room fell into motion, proof calls that we
had rehearsed in drills but had never used. By the
time the med team arrived, other overpast cameras had tiled
in our display Amantage showed slight delays in mirrors across
multiple vehicles. Each delay displayed a faint reverse motion in
a flash of the red emblem. I issued a state
white amber like broadcast. I spoke measuredly. Do not touch mirrors,
cover them with cloth, or turn them away. Pull over
one safe. If a reflection acts independently, with draw and
call emergency services immediately. The advisory finished and the line
filled with calls. Morale's weed in comeing locations allowed and
chain cued for field transmissions. We found the abandoned seven
hours later at the staging area, has the lights blinking,
doors locked, no occupant found. Ramirors handed me an evidence
back containing one shot of treated glass with micro fractuating.
Louis held a small piece and said it felt cold
like wet metal. Ramirors we left the area with the
grid search nothing but wet grass and a candy wrapper.
Jacob stood by the cruiser and kept looking at the
underpass entrance. Here. I don't know where she went. I
smashed the mirror. She was gone. Hear her name again,
and then my quiet. His fingers kept rubbing a fresh
cut on his knuckle where he'd hit the glass before
I cut the feed. I ordered a clean recording of
the imitation's chest emblem and sent the file to the
research desk. Chen replied, Room four matched the emblem to
two prior cases and a private security feet that rolled
before we had unnoticed. It's consistent enough to be a signature.
I typed a short directive to field teams prioritize missing person,
check's near reflective clusters, and lock any embum sightings. The
control room lights hummed. MY voice had moved from suspicion
to concern, then to urgency, and finally to cautious command.
Those were the emotion shifts that guarded each a st
ruction I gave. I closed the open channel and brought
a public advisory back to the live transmitter. This is
an official warning, I said, cover mirrors, avoid reflective surfaces,
and do not allow a reflection to initiate contact. Await
further instructions on this frequency. I held the last line
for three beats and then released it. The low drone
under the transmission rose a mechanical hum laid with dysanstatic
Schen sent the emblem files to forensic analysts and morals
parted new patrol routes. We left the highway under pass
siled for forensic processing. Ramier stay with the vehicle and
Lewis took a statement. Jacob was placed in a patrol
car to give a formal report before they drove off.
Remurrs Jacob's day, where we can find you. If you
remember anything new, call me. Jacob nodded, and then slipped
his hands into his jacket like a man trying to
warm them. He watched the sedan as it sat empty
under the overpass. The last visual weired before the feed
degraded was the passenger seat lit by passing truck and
a faint red glint word a chest of a reflection
would be. I logged the incident and closed the file
for immediate escalation. A noted Martariy's case in the downtown
Grooge clip as related points, Chinn's emblem recorded, and Ramirez
as unseen. Report moved the phenomenon from anomaly to a
pattern that required broader containment. MY instructions were precise. I
scheduled a net required briefing within the ire and told
field teams to secure mirrors in public spaces. The control
room dimmed. We left the live feed up on a
reduced tile that looped. The last frame I saw wet
in a passenger seat and a faint red emblem at
its chest. Static deepened into a low, looping tone. The
monitor cut black with a single flicker, A key to
final ord entry and wrote vehicle abandoned, occupant missing, possible
reflective based abduction, rare emblem observed, evidence collected, road sealed
units dispatched. I closed the document and pushed it into
the secure queue. Outside. Rain kept falling in steady sheets. Inside.
The hiss of the control room remained. We would not
let this sitis rumor we had evidenced. Now witnesses and
the signature. The signal degraded and a looping static tone
filled the speakers. Chen squeezed his closed and said, we
will find Sonia. I am an operator. I send orders.
I sent the statewide directive again and held the line
until the transmission folded into the low drone and then
into abrupt loss. The feet died in the looped image
of an empty passenger seat with hazard light still blinking.
The coal landed in the middle of the vigil broad dust.
The glass is moving some one's hand is reaching out
of the window. Sufficient tightened my voice before I could
steady it. Suspicion had been my work impulse since Marty
raises the mirror tap from the wrong side. I passed
the pause feed into the emergency loop and kept the
channel open. People were close enough to the store front
glass to see faces reflected back at them. Then one
reflected face moved out of sink and raised its hand,
while the real crowd did not. I had authority in
the line and a prot car manual on the desk,
but suspicion drow of every instruction I issued in those minutes.
My name was not in the air for comfort. My
role was the directive, the clarity. In a room filling
with panic patch plausa to main feed, I told engineering
leelichow identify the organizer and get me alive. Might now
Leela's voice answered from the crowd, thin and urgent, This
is Leela chore. People are stabbing back smiled at a child.
The central problem was concrete and immediate reflections were acting
independently and drawing people toward reflective surfaces. Within five sentences,
the feed showed a white candle light and three rows
of faces frozen in front of a glass do overrent
Lelis Schuskov pavement. People gripped candles and phones. I heard footsteps,
someone saying it looked like him and a child hunting.
The crowd's movement and the detached reflection created two simultaneous dangers,
a physical pull and a psychological mimicry that could unhinge
the volunteer marshals who tried to separate people from windows.
I had to act. I read the directive aloud without hesitating.
Cover reflective surfaces, evacuate the plaza, maintain order, and channel
all outness reports through the primary patch. The directive sounded
like paper in my mouth because it had been written
after the rear view deception and updated after motterreys failed.
Agent Mercer and Officer Daniels were unroute by the time
I finished the command. I kept repeating the order into
the loop to build pattern recognition for those listening. Cover, avoid,
do not mirror. The feed cut to a wide shot.
The fountains, water glittered under candlelight, stole front glass, framed
the march of reflections. Let as might crackle. They are
rebacking away, she said. Two people are trying to tape
the glass, but one reflection is already stepping asigh, like
its waiting for someone to step forward. I listened every call,
every crackle length in my pauses. Suspicion shifted to urgency
when I heard a volunteer shout stop and a child's
small footsteps light toward the glass. Mercer arrived first on
camera in a dark jacket that rid field agent across
the back. Officer Daniels followed with a radio clip to
his chest. Their dialog was clipped in utilitarian Mercer to
control mouser crowds frozen. One reflection detached and is following
a woman near the arcade window. Do not let anyone
touch the glass, Daniels answered. If they do, pull them
back and cover them immediately. The two men moved between
people with quick, practiced hands. They had done crowd control
for years, and they moved like it. Their prison. Shifted
my actions again, suspicion to procedure. As I lay of
morens structions over the plause par I patched Mercer into
the mic and told him to report every reflection that detached.
I told Leo to call volunteers by name. Leo answered,
voice tight, we have a volunteer. Marcus is covering the
east door front. Marcus covered the glass with the thermal
blankets and the crate. I ordered to do it. Now,
do not look into the reflection while you approach. Marcus's
footsteps pounded. He grabbed the crate and shoved the blanket
across the glass. A thin ripple in the life feet
showed a child stepped forward with a candle. Their reflections
smiled differently, and a tiny red emblem flash beneath its
reflected chest. The emblem was never a rumor, and more
someone in a previous feet had recorded it beneath a
mirror breastbone, a small glyph of crimson that seemed to
sit under the surface of flesh and glass. The make
recorded it plainly. I see an emblem. It's read under
the chest. Merser lunged hand that stretched. The child froze midstep.
Merser shout it don't move. The word came from the
man marked the broadcast. The child stood like a photograph.
Someone in the crug cried, it's not him, it's not him.
A volunteer reached with the child, and their fingers brushed
the glass. The volunteer's arm stopped spend it in space,
like a hand pressed into water. Then, without any clear motion,
the volunteer's body relax and stepped back. The crowd gasped
in a way that sounded like one long pool breath.
That moment became a miny cliff anger for everyone listening
over the loop. I held the silence and let it
serve purpose. Silence is a tool. I used it to
force to feel voices into clarity. Who touched the glass?
I asked? Who touched it? Leelah answered volunteer Mara. She
says it went cold under her palm. Wra Can you
see the emblem, Officer Daniels, Yes, she said, it's under
her chest. It's awful. The word came out small. The
reaction moved suspicion to a hard wired fear across the
field team. At that point, the confusing thing happened. The
security monitor in the store from looped a tiny feet
of our own control room. For a beat, the control
monitor showed me live speaking into the mic. Then the
image wabbled into reverse motion, and the image in the
monitor mounted an instruction that sounded like mine, but with
LAYERD whispering over it. The imitation tried to give authority
it keep view as cal let them look closer. The
real directive was the opposite. It. Engineers in the room
shouted that the plaza monitors had begun to echo our
feed and of verse, it's hijacking the visuals. One technician
yelled into the control line. The imitation used the tone
of command to fracture trust inside the crowd that to
exchange the group's behavior. People argued about which voice to follow.
Lilla shouted, do not follow the figure, cover the glass now.
The man behind her answered, but the monitor says it safe.
Arguments broke into rapid exchanges as volunteers tried to decide
which instruction to obey. I cut through in the primary
tone and said ignore any visual directive not delivered through
my voice. Cover the reflections now. The crowd split. The
volunteers kept moving to cover glass, but some older attendees
hesitated because they had seen our image telling them otherwise.
The argument reached when Leelah in Mercer debated evacuation. We
can't force everyone to leave. Leelah merriser, we need a
method to verify humans before moving them through the exits.
If we linger, more people will approach reflective surfaces. Leelah answered,
we are vigil They came for a memory, not a drill.
Their debate produced a rapid back and forth to taste.
Lelo pulled the exits Mercer. You can't just heard them, Lilah,
this is an emergency order, then help me, Mercer. In
that exchange, there were five terrace lines and under thirty
seconds and voices that named each other to keep the
listeners oriented. The conflict ended if Mercer deciding to set
up a verification point instead of immediate full evacuation, we
will escort groups in pairs, he said. We will have
two officers examine hands and clothing for the emblem, and
will use thermalscans to compare heat signatures. Officer Danields pushed
a portable scanner through the crowd and demanded names. The
verification method felt clinical. It shifted the emotional energy from
panic to methodical work. I patched Detective Alvarez into the
line to document each person who passed the scanner. The
verification found two people with the emblement in reflictions but
no emblem on their bodies. One was a volunteer who
had been in the east window. The field team wheeled
a falling screen and moved the volunteer behind it. We
were separating new for Auldervation Mercer. We checked now. The
volunteer's name was Thomas. He protested quietly. I was on
a ladder, he said, I didn't touch the glass intentionally.
Stand still, Thomas Daniels, do not look at the mirror wall.
We scan you. The scanner beaped. The result showed a
normal heat signature for Thomas. The reflected feet still showed
the emblem. The discrepancy triggered a surprise. I didn't expect
the reflection could display details a person did not have,
or it could to permpose features on to its surface.
As we worked the crowd, the plause sculpture loomed, a
large public art piece, entirely mirrored panels assembled into a
curve sculpture volunteers had used before to tie ribbons to
night Under candlelight, it looked like a polish watchful thing.
Agent Mercer made a tactical decision. If reflections are detaching
a large mirrored surface, concentrating reflections may be a focal point.
He said, we should take it out of play. Leelah hesitated,
it's public property. Meuser we can't just smash it. If
it becomes an active hazard, we will remove the hazard,
he replied. They argued again. Lela's voice named the crowd.
People will see this as vandalism. They'll push back. If
we wait, people die. Mercer answer, make the call Leelah.
She swallowed and gave the order. Volunteers and officers coordinated
to bring a fire extinguisher in alarm metal bar. The
moment of impact was blunt. Mercer swung the bar and
struck a panel. The panel cracked along spider with veins
and fell upward for a fraction of a second. The
crowd had glassed here and saw a volunteer step into
the space where the panel had been. The volunteer's body folded,
then she was gone. The crowd screamed. In the same motion,
a pale mirror figure stepped free from the broken surface
and turned toward the people's eyes like black glass. Chaos followed.
The mirrored newcomer moved with a slow, awkward grace that
matched nothing human in the plaza. Someone pushed forward with
a rolled up flag and hit the figure, but a
hand passed through the attack like a past or its reflection.
Volunteers attempted to hold a line. Officer Daniel shouted names
and or arrests. His voice was precise and sharp. Lili
yelled get back and pulled people away. Mercer lunged and
grabbed for the pale figure, but his hand closed on
static air. The crowd surge. I cut the pause of
camera feet to black to prevent further visual contagion in
remote viewers. The switch felt like a surgical amputation. Blackout
feed now, I said, all CAMO displays off until cleared
by engineering and field verification. The control room complied for
a minute. They only sound in a feedlop's radio static
in a low mechanical harm back in the clause of
the officer's enacted containment, metal barricades, sheeting to cover reflective surfaces,
and a perimeter with mark dixits. The pale figure move
among the crowd, mimicking people but lacking by breath. It
attempted to calm someone by imitating a volunteer's gestures. It
tried to speak in our tones, but produced a layered
whisper that corrupted trust. She she was safe when bestand
a told Mercer she sounded like the operator on the monitor.
Another said the imitation used authority as camouflage. Detective Alvauze
radioed me at concrete change. We found the volunteer Termbs
behind the screen. He's alive, but disoriented. He says he
remembers nothing. After stepping back from the window, I asked
Alvarez to run a second thermal scan. The scanner returned
normal heat for Thomas. Alvarez confirmed that he had no emblem.
The volunteer who had vanished at the sculpture, however, was
not behind the screen. Volunteers checked manifestlysts and realized the
name of the missing volunteer, Mara, did not appear on
any exit locks. We lost someone at the sculpture at Leelah.
The report moved the narrative to a new urgent truth,
the imitation could replace a person on the spot. An
unexpected twist came when an arcade security monitor cat footage
of the imitation, looking directly at a display that was
feeding our control room enough frame, the figureus reflection in
the arcade monitor had reversed features in a faint red
emblem beneath its chest. Then the arcade monitor flashed back
to our control room and for half second showed my
face with reversed features and the same emblem. I felt
my breath catch at my desk. My reflection on a
monitor carried the mark. My hands went against the microphone.
I ordered a visual blackout across all control room observation windows,
cut the observation glass feed, and steal the room, I said.
Detective Valvarez and Officer Daniels enforced the order in person
by pulling heavy blackout courtains over the control room window
and disconnect in any direct optical monitors. The curtains pulled
across the glass with a rasp that sounded too loud
in the otherwise quiet control room. My suspicion mutated into
a personal scrutiny. If the imitation could replicate me on camera,
it could replicate me on any reflective surface that fed
imagery into other networks. We moved to containment protocol developed
from the rear viewed deception and mart to raise footage.
The protocol combined physical measures and verification tests cover or
remove mirrors, the almost scanning force, non reflection verification by
Tucho on the checks and separation of any suspect individuals
into an observation area with no reflective surfaces. I read
the checklist allowed into the primary loops or responders and
other sectors could adopt it. Cover, remove, scan, separate. I said,
do not let anyone look at an expose reflection. If
a reflection speaks in your voice, do not obey it.
Verify by touch and heat. That simple sequence changed the
tempo in APPLAUSA from panic to method. There were immediate results.
Volunteers covered storvrents with blankets, officers forced curtains over display cases,
and a teams solved a small crowd by guiding them
through a side street away from reflective glass. Two people
who are duly had been hestined now complied because they
were handed an officer by name and led away. The
emotional energy slid from frantic to grimly coordinated. My suspicion
softened into focused resolve. Yet the imitations strategy shifted to
It sought to break verification by hijacking imagery and creating doubt.
It mimicked authoritative voices and attempted to redirect people into
reflective zones. At one point, the fake image of me
on a control monitor mount you can look, it's safe,
while my real voice demanded blackouts. Some people at the fringes,
albeit the imitation's whisper. One man walked back to a
window and placed his palm on the glass. A volunteer
reached for him and stopped mid reach, her hands suspended.
The man stepped away, trembling. His clothing bore no emblem,
and he passed a thermal scann The volunteer who had
frozen had a normal Scaran to the inconsistency suggested the
imitation could simulate specific sensory que selectively. We adapted. Detective
Alva has proposed a new verification, a tactile prompt combined
with a short unique phrase spoken by the operator, and
it could back only by live human. Say the phrase
and then touch my forum. Alvarez instructive volunteers. If the
person responds with exactly the phrase and warms the skin,
they pass. The tests sounded crude, but it worked in practice.
Two people failed in and were separated. In a second failure,
person passed the phrase perfectly, but left a faint recidue
of cold in the skin. We put that person in
isolation behind layers of blacket and assigned two offices to observe.
That test revealed a crucial concrete property about the imitation.
Contact with it left a subtle thermal residue in the
certainty of memory around recent actions faded People who would
close contact with a reflected imitation later a difficulty recalling
precise motion sequences. Thomas could not recall the exact ladder movement.
The volunteer who had been replaced did not return to
the ledger of volunteers. Ease details points to imitation as
both mimic and eraser. It could take a person's place
and leave a short, unreliable memory trail. We needed a
decisive action. Sculpture replacement had shown the imitation could step
into public space. We could not allow that to persist.
Mercer argued for isolating the pale figure physically and then
verifying its identity by control shattering of the remaining mirror
panels while lowering it into a containment frame. Leela argued
for caution to avoid further disappearances. They negotiated with quick,
blunt lines. We box it in, we break the mirrors. Mercer,
we risked more people. Leo countered, we let it go.
We risked more lives. Mercer answered, The plan moved forward.
Officers created a corridor of blackout drapes and led the
crowd away. A volunteer through a long canvas of its sculpture,
but the pale figure stepped out from under the covo
like an animal from a den. Officers tackled it and
hid it with non lethal force. It did not bleed.
Its surface, resisted impact, and reflected lights into shods that
hung in the air. In the scuffle of voluntiers screamed
that the missing marrow was standing near hear of the barricade,
exactly where the sculpture had been earlier. We thought the
screen meant Mara had returned, but when officers pulled closer,
they found a person in Mara's clothing hublink with the
timing and wore a faint red emblem under the chest surface.
Someone near the perimeters wore it was not Mara because
the volunteers laugh sounded at a rom pitch. Detective Ovres
read writes and at the figure restrained in a non
reflective transit blanket. The physical substitution was confirmed the original
morraw was still missing. This was the twist that changed
how we understood the imitation. It could create convincing duplicate
and leave no easy path to the originals with a
captive imitation in the blanket. We moved to isolation, which
unswead the suspect into a van, mapped in a mat top,
and drove it to a secure holding in the municipal garage,
where all reflective surfaces had been removed. Medical teams rounding
shaust to scans. The figure gave no co operative answers
had never spoken wholly original language, only in corrupted decoes
of commands. The red emblem showed faintly beneath the skin.
The dermes of the imitation did not reflect heat normally.
The medical team recorded that the imitation's cosne to be
a pulsing, translucent pocket beneath the chest, a physical locust
that matched our earler observations on monitors dead. Alvarez, Mercer, Daniel's,
and Leela convened in the garage, with the captive covered
and officers posted its side. We reviewed footage from Martaree's
and the rear View incident. Alvarez pointed out a detail
we had missed in Marty's footage to hand that tapped
the mirror trace to compensatory motion that matched a particular
volunteer's habit. It didn't invent gestures. Alvarez a coppered habits
perfectly and then overlaid a small reversal. It's not creating
from nothing, it's optimizing familiarity. To her. That realization became
our working theory and changed containment into rescue operations. If
the imitation favored habits, then identifying and calling out a
person's unique idiosyncratic motion or phrase could expose replacements. We
tried it in the garage. Avarez called the captive by
nay Marra, what did you tut to you oleasis to night?
He asked. The imitation froze, It did not blink in time.
They mathed the wrong answer. A nurse stepped forward and said,
Mara always notts twice in tuxs the end, the captive
did not replicate the quick double duck. The failing response
gave us a method to separate impostors from originals and
controlled conditions. We moved to recreate the same test for
staff and volunteers in the iOS that followed. The protocol
resolved multiple cases. Thomas later provided a coherent account. After
being isolated. He had been led away by a shadow
of his own hand, then walken in a corridor with
a seam on his shirt where a mirror had brushed him.
He could not remember leaving the plaza. The missing volunteer Mara,
never reappear. We documented every replacement, and a municipal ledger
grew with names of people identified as duplicates versus originals.
The replacements carried their faint emblement slightly reversed features. At
the end of the night, the Plausa was empty save
for officers and the broken ribbons on the sculpture. We
had contained four imitations and secure wraps who recorded their
regular thermal signatures, layered whispers, had reversed feature sets. We
closed the broadcast loop with the Senate has report no
live visuals of active reflections. The plause evacuated multiple suspect attensions.
The final operational order was procedure and absolute seal all
systems feeding public monitors, cut live optical feeds, and require
a two person verification for any future public display. We
thought that would end it. The ceiling felt decisive. Wecuffed
the final suspect recorded evidence and loaded the captive fans.
Detection team swept reflective surfaces one last time. As I
prepared to sign off the emergency rotation. Detective Valvas held
up a portable monitor and turned it slowly so I
could see for a breath. The screen showed me live,
speaking into my mic. A reversed image of my face
smiled back with a faint red emblem under its virtual chest.
I reached out and cut the console pew with my
own hand. The room went dark, the microphones fell silent,
the blankets over the observation glass hung like doll flags.
In that exact moment, I realized containment had succeeded in
the physical sense. We had secured imitations, we had methods
to distinguish them, but the imitation had demonstrated a capacity
to exploit mediated images and reach into our infrastructure. The
final operational record noted containment and recommended permanent protocol changes,
no one supervised public displays, mindatory thermal verification at all
events near reflective surfaces, and the immediate removal of the
mirrored sculpture from public spaces. We filed those orders. Detective
Alpharez and Agent Mors assigned to custody forms Lichis State
until dawn, counting volunteers and reading names back from a clipboard.
Thomas left with officers after a formal interview. I stayed
at the console and wrote the transmission login, precise and
emotional lines, times, names, thermal readings, evidence, location, my actions.
Closed the chapter. We had caught and catalog the replacements.
We had verified thermal differences, and we had changed public
policy to prevent recurrence. When I turned a console back
on Anihilator for the follow up, Loop Engineering had already
wiped public monitors of the Knights of verified footage and
replaced the plaza feed to the recorded advisory. I read
the advisory into the air, cover reflective surfaces, follow verification steps,
report any visual anomalies immediately. The advisory contained no rhetoric
and no metaphor. It was a step by step directive
based on what we had documented. The final entry in
the operational file listed a concrete final act. The municipal
crew had removed the mirrored sculpture and transported it into
sealed evident storage under arm guard. I left the building
with the clipboard in my hand and the knowledge of
what we had lost and what we had preserved. Mara's
absence remained a wound in the ledger and in those
who had watched the sculpture break. We had prevented wider
contagion and established a method to identify imitations, but we
had not recovered everyone. The last line I wrote before
leaving the console was a procedural order that would be
on record, immediate national advisory, no live surface displays, and
a call for forens canalysis of the red inbum pocket.
I locked the office door behind me and walked into
the night. The control room like shudding, like eyelids. I
turned once in s which the door paneled to sealed.
The metal latch fell into place with a solid click. Outside,
the plausa smelled with the plastic from tabs and the
faint zonne of broken glass. I could hear at the
distant hum of generators and someone taling names. I did
not speak into the night. I walked away with a
list of directors in my pocket and the sound of
radios in my ears. The wrecord closed with a physical motion.
I slid the final evidence back into the secure trunk
and latch to shut. The latch clicked in the truncandas
it locked, sealing a night of replacements, procedural victories, and
an announced absence. And that is the end. Thank you
for listening, and I will see you in the next one.