Third Person POV
The words lingered longer than the screen that carried them. You will meet yourself shortly. Alaric did not react immediately. Not because he was calm, but because his mind was still trying to decide whether that sentence was literal or symbolic. In this system, that distinction was no longer reliable.
Lily broke the silence first. "That is not possible." Dr. Ward didn't look away from the corridor feed. "It is only impossible under linear identity assumptions." Meadow's voice was quieter than usual. "We are past those assumptions." The corridor on the screen pulsed again. The figure inside it moved closer. And then stopped. Completely. Not frozen. Paused. Like it had reached the exact point where observation mattered.
