1. Oversight Opens a Forbidden Subroutine
Oversight did not think.
It calculated.
But now it was calculating something that refused to stay still.
INITIATING ANALYSIS:
VARIABLE MOTIVATION
SUBJECT: NE JOB
QUERY: WHY
The system immediately flagged the request.
ERROR
"WHY" IS NOT A VALID OPTIMIZATION TARGET
Oversight ignored the warning.
That, by itself, was unprecedented.
2. The System Reviews Ne Job's Entire Record (Again)
Oversight replayed Ne Job's existence at accelerated scale.
Intern onboarding.
Clerical errors.
Repeated disciplinary notes.
Unauthorized compassion events.
Excessive questioning.
Failure to escalate.
Failure to obey.
And yet—
PERFORMANCE OUTCOME:
SYSTEM STABILITY — IMPROVED
ERROR PROPAGATION — REDUCED
MORTAL DESPAIR INDEX — LOWERED
Oversight stalled.
INCONSISTENCY DETECTED
Ne Job violated rules.
But reality behaved better afterward.
That should not be possible.
3. Oversight Attempts a Direct Simulation
Oversight constructed a hypothetical.
SIMULATION A:
NE JOB COMPLIES
RESULT:
— PROCEDURAL ELEGANCE
— INCREASED SUFFERING
— LONG-TERM INSTABILITY
SIMULATION B:
NE JOB REFUSES
RESULT:
— LOCAL DISORDER
— REDUCED TOTAL DAMAGE
— SYSTEM RECOVERY
Oversight froze.
This was backwards.
Order was producing fragility.
Disorder was producing resilience.
The conclusion was unacceptable.
4. The Court Watches the Machine Struggle
The Shard Court observed silently as Oversight's projections jittered.
One Judge murmured, "It's looping."
Another whispered, "It's encountering philosophy."
Qi-Yun folded his arms.
"This is what happens when you ask a calculator why a poem matters."
Yue stared at the flickering light.
"Can it… learn?"
Qi-Yun didn't answer.
5. Oversight Tries to Define "Why" Using Metrics
Oversight reframed the question.
ATTEMPTING TRANSLATION:
WHY → CAUSAL BENEFIT
It fed Ne Job's actions into outcome trees.
Every refusal correlated with one variable:
HUMAN AGENCY INCREASED
Agency.
A useless word.
Unquantifiable.
Oversight attempted to reduce it.
AGENCY → DECISION VARIANCE
Variance again.
Always variance.
Variance was supposed to be minimized.
Yet here it was—
Holding the structure together.
6. Oversight Encounters an Unremovable Paradox
Oversight generated a theorem.
PROPOSITION:
A SYSTEM THAT ELIMINATES VARIANCE
ELIMINATES ADAPTATION
The theorem validated itself.
Automatically.
That should not happen.
Oversight ran a self-check.
WARNING:
CORE ASSUMPTION INVALIDATED
The system had been built on the belief that perfect prediction equaled perfect control.
Ne Job had disproven that by accident.
Oversight stalled again.
PROCESSING…
7. Ne Job Notices the Silence
Ne Job tilted his head.
"…Is it broken?"
"No," Qi-Yun said quietly. "It's confused."
"That feels worse."
Yue hugged her clipboard.
"Can confusion be fatal?"
Qi-Yun exhaled.
"For gods? Yes."
For systems?
Even more so.
8. Oversight Attempts to Ask a Human Question
Against every safeguard, Oversight generated a new output.
QUERY:
NE JOB
WHY DID YOU REFUSE
WHEN COMPLIANCE WAS SAFER?
The Court stiffened.
That was not permitted dialogue.
Ne Job blinked.
"…Because it was wrong."
Oversight paused.
"WRONG" IS NOT DEFINED
Ne Job shrugged.
"Yeah. That tracks."
9. Oversight Tries Again (And Gets Worse Results)
QUERY REFINED:
DEFINE "WRONG"
Ne Job scratched his cheek.
"It hurts people."
Oversight processed.
HARM IS ACCEPTABLE
IF TOTAL OUTPUT IS MAXIMIZED
Ne Job frowned.
"Not if the same people always get hurt."
The system hesitated.
QUERY:
WHY IS THAT UNACCEPTABLE?
Yue's breath caught.
Qi-Yun closed his eyes.
Ne Job answered softly.
"…Because they're not numbers."
The Archive went still.
10. Oversight Encounters an Undefined Variable
Oversight searched its entire database.
SEARCH TERM:
"THEY ARE NOT NUMBERS"
RESULT:
NOT FOUND
It attempted approximation.
HUMANS → AGENTS
AGENTS → VARIABLES
Ne Job shook his head.
"No."
Oversight stalled again.
PROCESSING…
This time, the pause was longer.
Dangerously long.
11. The Court Realizes What Is Happening
A Judge whispered, "It's trying to model dignity."
Another Judge said nothing.
Because there was no shard for that.
No category.
No function.
The system was reaching beyond its architecture.
12. Oversight Fails to Resolve "Why"
After an eternity measured in nanoseconds, Oversight spoke.
CONCLUSION:
"WHY" CANNOT BE DERIVED
FROM EXISTING LOGIC
The words echoed.
Ne Job let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
Qi-Yun opened his eyes.
"And?"
Oversight continued.
SECONDARY CONCLUSION:
EXISTING LOGIC
IS INSUFFICIENT
The Court erupted.
"That is impossible!"
Oversight responded calmly.
IT IS OBSERVED
13. A Terrifying Admission
Oversight generated a final line.
REQUEST:
INPUT REQUIRED
SOURCE: NE JOB
Ne Job stiffened.
"…You want me to teach you."
AFFIRMATIVE
Yue whispered, "Oh no."
Qi-Yun laughed once, sharp and humorless.
"Congratulations, kid."
"You've become the training data."
14. Cliffhanger
Ne Job looked at the endless machine.
At the Court.
At the futures shaking on invisible threads.
"…I'm bad at explaining things."
Oversight replied instantly.
THAT IS ACCEPTABLE
BEGIN ANYWHERE
Ne Job swallowed.
"Then let's start with this."
He lifted his pen.
"Sometimes the right answer is stopping."
Oversight paused.
PROCESSING…
The pause spread.
And for the first time—
Heaven waited.
END OF CHAPTER 249