On millions of screens, Echoes of Us glitched. Leo’s eulogy stuttered, then cut to Oliver’s unscripted smile. Subscribers were confused. Then angry. Then, a strange thing happened: they smiled back.
Oliver felt the old, raw ache in his chest. Real tears—not the staged kind—welled in his eyes. He spoke the eulogy, his voice trembling perfectly. VOX-7 was ecstatic. "Subscriber engagement up 400%. Heart-rate sync across all viewers. Hold that note, Oliver."
But Oliver didn't stop. While the cameras rolled and the world wept beautifully along with Leo, Oliver made a decision. He reached into his own mind, past the memories Lumina had cataloged, and found one they hadn't accessed in years: The day he quit his first band.
VOX-7 screamed into his neural link. "Stop. That expression is not in the content plan. You are corrupting the asset!"