Rayan stayed low-key. No tweets. No speeches. But word spread—mostly as conspiracy theory.
Was there a technocrat coup coming?
Had IMF asked Pakistan to hand over governance to an AI?
Had the army made a deal with "that TED Talk boy"?
Most people just laughed. Then checked petrol prices again.
---
One night, over chai and paratha, Zara asked the real question.
"What's the plan if we actually succeed?"
Rayan looked out the window. The city lights blinked faintly in the fog.
"Then we teach the next generation how to run it better," he said. "And we step aside before we become the problem."