Chapter 159
The Town Council
The town council chamber had no elected members.
Only their recordings remained. Each voice had accepted a grant from Continuity Holdings. Each had told residents the clinic was a private medical matter.
The chairperson model turned toward Claire.
“The town was kept alive.”
“The town was kept dependent.”
“Those are not opposites.”
“They are when dependency prevents consent.”
Wren placed her mother's provisional record on the council table.
“My family paid for the town's roof.”
The model fell silent.
The council recordings became public, but the names of patients remained protected.
The town voted to return the remaining funds to a patient-controlled trust.
Room Twenty-Eight opened beneath the council seal.
Its door carried a single line:
THE FINAL ROOMS BELONG TO THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THEM.