But as he sat in the dark, he heard a faint, pitch-corrected whisper from his phone’s speaker, even though the phone was off.
Marcus’s phone buzzed. A private message inside the Voloco app – not from a friend, but from the system itself.
It was his own voice, singing a note he’d never recorded.
Then he saw the final column: CLASSIFICATION_RISK_SCORE . Next to his name: 0.43 – LOW . Next to Maya: 0.89 – HIGH . Next to the politician: 0.97 – CRITICAL .
He deleted the spreadsheet. He uninstalled Voloco. He smashed the SIM card.
He stared at the bathroom mirror. For the first time, he realized the app’s icon – a little blue microphone – was still listening. It had never stopped.
