Meridian

Daniel didn't sleep.

Neither did Rachel.

At 4:17 in the morning, the forty pages were spread across their kitchen table.

Not randomly.

Rachel had organized them.

Daniel had reorganized them.

Then Rachel had put them back.

"You're making it worse."

"I'm grouping by date."

"You're grouping by what you think the dates mean."

Daniel looked at the table.

"That's usually how dates work."

Rachel took a page from his hand.

"Coffee."

"I've had three."

"Water."

Daniel reluctantly stood.

The kitchen looked exactly the same as it had yesterday.

Same refrigerator.

Same lights.

Same family calendar hanging crooked beside the pantry.

Same basket full of unopened mail.

Except now there was a document on the table describing his wife as a probability.

His daughter as an awareness risk.

His family as leverage.

Daniel filled a glass from the sink.

Then stopped.

He looked at the faucet.

Rachel noticed.

"Don't."

Daniel looked at her.

"Don't what?"

"Start wondering if the faucet is part of it."

"I wasn't."

"You were looking at it."

"I look at faucets."

"Not like that."

Daniel drank the water.

Rachel almost smiled.

Almost.

Then she looked back at the papers.

"Come here."

Daniel returned to the table.

Rachel had separated four pages.

"What?"

"These don't match."

Daniel sat.

"Different font?"

"No."

She put two pages side by side.

"The language."

Daniel read them.

The first was from their household assessment.

EXPOSURE OBJECTIVE: TRUST

The second contained historical data.

Daniel had skimmed it earlier.

Now he read it carefully.

EXPOSURE COHORT 114

ADOPTION TARGET ACHIEVED

DEPENDENCY WITHIN EXPECTED RANGE

PUBLIC RESISTANCE: MINIMAL

He looked at the date.

2007.

Rachel placed another beside it.

1997.

EXPOSURE COHORT 88

PUBLIC INTEGRATION STABLE

DEPENDENCY CURVE ACCELERATING

Daniel frowned.

"What was being tested?"

"It doesn't say."

He picked up another.

1986.

EXPOSURE COHORT 51

DOMESTIC ADOPTION BELOW PROJECTION

PRICE RESISTANCE EXCEEDS MODEL

RECOMMEND ADJUSTED DISTRIBUTION

Daniel looked at Rachel.

"These aren't NOVA."

"No."

"They can't be."

NOVA hadn't existed.

Neither had smartphones.

Modern consumer AI.

Connected homes.

Daniel picked up the oldest page.

The paper was a photocopy.

The original document appeared to have been typed.

1974.

At the top:

Below it:

CIVILIAN TECHNOLOGY ADAPTATION

Daniel stopped.

Rachel leaned closer.

"What?"

He pointed.

The word meant nothing to him.

Which somehow made it worse.

No dramatic name.

No acronym.

No Department of Something.

Just—

MERIDIAN.

Daniel read further.

EXPOSURE COHORT 12

CIVILIAN ADOPTION: ACCEPTABLE

BEHAVIORAL RESISTANCE: DECLINING

DEPENDENCY PROJECTION: WITHIN RANGE

CONTINUE DISTRIBUTION

Rachel sat back.

"1974."

Daniel nodded.

"My parents were kids."

"So what technology?"

"I don't know."

"Computers?"

"Not really in homes."

"Television?"

"Already everywhere."

"Microwaves?"

"Maybe."

Rachel looked at him.

"You're guessing."

Daniel stopped.

She was right.

He wrote in the blue notebook:

1974 — UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY.

Then beneath it:

DO NOT ASSUME.

Rachel nodded.

"Growth."

Daniel looked at her.

"I'm starting to hate that word."