====== EPILOGUE — Margin of Delay ====== The city moved. ---- It always did. ---- ---- Ace didn’t watch the people. ---- ---- She watched the gaps. ---- ---- Between movement. ---- ---- Between intent. ---- ---- Between what should happen— ---- and what did. ---- ---- There had been no gap. ---- ---- That was the problem. ---- ---- She replayed it— ---- not as memory— ---- as structure. ---- ---- Strike— ---- before motion. ---- ---- Impact— ---- before decision. ---- ---- No delay. ---- ---- No space to act. ---- ---- That wasn’t speed. ---- ---- That was absence. ---- ---- She stopped at a crossing. ---- ---- Traffic flowed past. ---- ---- Perfect timing. ---- ---- Predictable. ---- ---- Safe. ---- ---- Wrong. ---- ---- Everything here ran on delay. ---- ---- On the fraction— ---- between knowing— ---- and doing. ---- ---- That fraction— ---- was where control lived. ---- ---- Where choice lived. ---- ---- Where she lived. ---- ---- Remove it— ---- and you didn’t get faster. ---- ---- You got something else. ---- ---- Something that didn’t wait. ---- ---- Something that didn’t choose. ---- ---- Something that just— ---- happened. ---- ---- Ace exhaled slowly. ---- ---- The city didn’t care. ---- ---- It never did. ---- ---- It rewarded results. ---- ---- Not reasons. ---- ---- Not structure. ---- ---- Just outcome. ---- ---- She stepped forward. ---- ---- Across the street. ---- ---- Timed. ---- ---- Measured. ---- ---- Delayed. ---- ---- Exactly enough. ---- ---- “That would’ve been faster,” she said. ---- ---- Quiet. ---- ---- Not regret. ---- ---- Not doubt. ---- ---- Calculation. ---- ---- Faster— ---- meant less delay. ---- ---- Less delay— ---- meant less space. ---- ---- Less space— ---- meant less control. ---- ---- She understood that. ---- ---- Completely. ---- ---- Didn’t change the result. ---- ---- She kept walking. ---- ---- The city moved with her— ---- around her— ---- through her. ---- ---- Unconcerned. ---- ---- Because in Night City— ---- being right— ---- didn’t matter. ---- ---- Being late— ---- did. ---- ---- And somewhere— ---- just ahead of where she was— ---- just outside the space she still controlled— ---- the next decision— ---- was already waiting— ---- for her to arrive too late.