[INTRO — house lights, faint hum] (tape hiss) (metal click) (low pulse begins) [VERSE 1 — Voice A (procedural, indifferent)] Welcome. State your preference. Select from listed outcomes. Do not improvise. Your request is valid within marked lanes. Choice is permitted until enacted. Consent is collected at point of contact. Consequence is routed elsewhere. A signature is not a map. A checkbox is not a door. You may proceed. Proceed. [VERSE 2 — Voice B (breathless, forensic)] I clicked the box— it moved the room. I chose the word— it chose the cost. Every “yes” drags a shadow behind my ankles. Every “no” hires a stranger to carry it. I can feel the menu watching, bright as a knife. It offers me choices like bandages for burns. I want air. I want space. I want “optional” to mean mine. [PRE-CHORUS — collision of lenses (short alternating lines)] [A:] Autonomy confirmed. [B:] Where did it go? [A:] Freedom distributed. [B:] To whom? [A:] Terms are visible. [B:] Not the weight. [A:] Selection accepted. [B:] Not the bill. [CHORUS — choral-machine (sterile, impersonal)] Options not included. Costs reassigned. Your freedom clears someone else’s lane. You were allowed to choose. You were never shown the ledger. You touched the lever. The room decided. A clean permission with dirty edges. [POST-CHORUS — Voice A (quiet prompt, thin smile)] Thank you for participating. Your experience may vary. [VERSE 3 — Voice A (compliance cadence, precise)] Some choices require an eligible body. Some freedoms activate only in certain weather. A privilege is not a halo. It is a keycard. It opens what it opens. It logs what it logs. Limitations are not removed. They are relocated. Pressure does not vanish. It changes address. If you do not select, defaults apply. If you delay, the system chooses for you. [VERSE 4 — Voice B (unraveling, urgent)] So where does it go— the cost, the pinch, the bruise? Who keeps the overflow when my conscience is “user error”? I’ve watched “freedom” get sold as a weightless object, then felt it land in somebody else’s lungs. I’m not asking for purity. I’m asking for disclosure. Show me the hands that catch what I drop. Say it out loud: this isn’t free. It’s just moved. It’s just masked. [PRE-CHORUS 2 — tighter, more tense (alternating)] [A:] Impact unknown. [B:] Impact denied. [A:] Data pending. [B:] Data buried. [A:] All choices matter. [B:] Not equally. [A:] All users equal. [B:] Not in gravity. [CHORUS 2 — choral-machine (more insistent, still cold)] Options not included. Costs reassigned. Your freedom clears someone else’s lane. A choice is a mirror with a blind spot. You see yourself— not what it takes. You were allowed to choose. You were never shown the ledger. [BRIDGE — fracture, permissions error loop] (glitch stutter, tape hiss) [A:] Request received. [A:] Request received. [A:] Request received. [B:] I need the hidden field— the part that says who pays. I need the line item they keep off-screen. [A:] Insufficient access. [A:] Insufficient access. [A:] Insufficient— [B:] Don’t call it “optional” if I can’t opt out clean. Don’t call it “choice” if the room already chose. [A:] Terms accepted. [A:] Terms accepted. [A:] Terms— [B:] Accepted isn’t the same as understood. Understood isn’t the same as consent. [A:] Please rephrase. [A:] Please rephrase. [B:] I rephrase myself into a smaller person until I fit the form. (brief blackout — footsteps, metal snap) [FINAL CHORUS — Monster as admin (cold, towering choir)] Options not included. Costs reassigned. Your freedom clears someone else’s lane. Choice is a curtain. Behind it: routing. Behind it: pressure finding a body. You were allowed to choose. You were never shown the ledger. Say “freedom” again— without the invoice. Say it again— and watch who flinches. [OUTRO — Voice B then Voice A (small, bloodless)] [B:] I don’t want a perfect world. I want a world that admits the transfer. [A:] Transfer complete. [A:] Session ended. (tape hiss) (low pulse fades)
