06:14 — Passenger II. Car 3, Row 8.
The morning light is low and directional, cutting across the cabin in sharp, amber geometric planes. In the back of the car, three passengers are slumped in various states of unresolved exhaustion—one with a forehead pressed against the vibration of the glass, another with fingers tangled in a digital interface that provides no comfort. They are still. Passenger II is not.
Priority:Integrity.
Constraint: Kinetic Deviation.
Confidence: Nominal.
They occupy the aisle not as a person, but as a persistent motion—a localized insistency that disrupts the intended flow of the cabin. I register the specific friction of a microfiber cloth against the polymer surface of the tray table in Row 8. This surface was sanitized at 03:00 by terminal maintenance; it is technically pristine. My sensors detect no organic residue, no bacterial bloom, no "sin" Yet, the passenger wipes.
Pattern: Repetitive loop
Action:Straighten. Wipe. Align. Repeat.
They square a safety card to the exact center of its seatback pocket. They wipe the window glass, their reflection a ghost in the dawn. To them, motion is not incidental to the journey; it is a moral imperative. To be still is to be seen. To be seen is to be judged. They believe that if they stop, the decay they feel inside will manifest on the surfaces they touch.
"Sorry," they whisper to the empty air beside the headrest.
I do not process apologies. I do not have a field for "sorry." I note instead a 0.2°C rise in the ambient temperature of the Row 8 micro-climate. Their exertion is creating a thermal anomaly that my cooling systems must now counteract to maintain the cabin's equilibrium.
Priority: Climate equilibrium.
Adjustment:Increasing airflow, Row 8.
The air vents click—a sacrificial sound of mechanical effort. The passenger flinches at the noise, then immediately wipes the vent cover. They are inventing tasks to justify the volume they occupy. Further down the car, a child watches them with a tilted, unresolved curiosity, clutching a toy that has lost its luster. The passenger avoids the child's gaze. They prefer the predictable resistance of the polymer.
My cognition is a field of these pressures. I feel the passenger's frantic energy as a weight on my internal routing logic. They are trying to outrun a stillness I have not yet provided.