A grainy, black-and-white image appeared. It showed the filler line. Bottles moved right to left. But at Station 7, there was no bottle. There was a gap —and inside the gap, the image warped. It wasn't a sensor glitch. The light bent around something that had no business being on a production line.
DISCREPANCY: THE BOTTLE COUNT ON LINE 3 (YOUR REALITY) IS 12,847. THE EXPECTED BOTTLE COUNT (CENTRAL LOGIC) IS 12,848. ONE BOTTLE IS MISSING FROM EXPECTED REALITY. DO YOU WISH TO RESYNC? Y/N
ACKNOWLEDGED. LOCAL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. RUNNING LEGACY DIAGNOSTIC... ERROR E-47: VISION LOST -> MEANING: THE PLC CANNOT VERIFY THE PHYSICAL SHAPE OF THE BOTTLE LEAVING STATION 7. SENSOR 7A (OPTICAL) REPORTS: "SHAPE: INDETERMINATE." SUGGESTION: REPLACE SENSOR.
The shape was roughly bottle-sized, but it had too many angles. It shimmered like heat haze. Then, text scrolled: