The timeline shuddered. The red event turned yellow, then green, then vanished. In its place, a new entry appeared:

Input received. Signature verified. Welcome, Operator.

Nothing.

Nothing happened. Because the click still didn’t work. A cold, stupid paradox.

The blue light on the Promate mouse stopped blinking. It glowed a steady, serene white. Leo moved the cursor. He clicked on his spreadsheet. It worked.

Promate Wireless Mouse Driver v7.2 Calibrating spatial latency… Done. Syncing to quantum input layer… Done. Error: Click permission revoked by local user account. Override? (Y/N)

Tomorrow – 9:17 AM – Will sneeze, hit “Save Draft” instead of “Send.”