*ACCESS LEVEL: COSMIC CLEARANCE ONLY*
*YOUR SCREEN FLICKERS. A SINGLE PULSING CYPHER APPEARS.*
**"THE HOUSTON TRANSMISSION"**
The apparatus in Harris County didn't fail. It was *redirected*.
At 2:47 AM CST, while the official count showed a 2.1% swing, a secondary ledger—buried in the water treatment plant's SCADA logs—recorded a phantom runoff. 14,872 "digital silences" were matched to deceased veterans from the 1970 census. Their votes? They didn't cast for any human candidate.
They cast for a pre-loaded frequency.
Check your phone's NFC tag. The signal is still oscillating. They weren't counting paper. They were counting *you*.
The "winners" are irrelevant. The *system* already chose.
*END TRANSMISSION*