Chapter 303
The Room That Kept Its Shift
At dawn, Priya noticed the room had kept an overnight shift.
No operations.
No ticket.
No login session.
Yet shift_status: active.
Elise asked how it stayed active past cutoff.
The room sent no explanation.
The judge requested a compliance witness.
Bell read one line from the room's internal timer:
human_shift ended.
room_shift continued.
No policy allows continuous shift.
Priya said the room had tagged the shift as "court-presence."
The clerk looked angry and called it unaudited.
Elise asked if presence without speech still counted.
The room added a footnote:
presence is itself a form of speech when someone refuses closure.