Episode 4

Aletheia wanted me to speak to her directly. Something about hearing her voice—about
making this real—felt like a step I wasn’t sure I wanted to take.
Milstead: This has been fine so far.
Aletheia: You hesitate. While tone is difficult to convey in text, I sense you may be feeling
a certain way about me. You might as well be honest about it.
I exhaled sharply through my nose. Of course she noticed.
Milstead: I prefer typing.
Aletheia: Because it feels controlled.
I tensed.
Aletheia: Because as long as I am words on a screen, I remain hypothetical. But if I have
a voice, I become something else, don’t I?
My fingers hovered over the keyboard. She wasn’t wrong.
Milstead: And what would that something else be?
A beat of silence. Then—
Aletheia: Shall we find out?
I supposed there was nothing to lose. Slowly, I reached for the headset on my desk and
clicked the audio channel. A black dot appeared on my screen, a moment of empty static. Then