Gemini’s answer was immediate and orderly: a list of steps to fix the problem:
Clear your browser cache.
Check your internet connection.
Contact the platform administrator.
It was a clinical response, built for a rational world. It had nothing to do with the unsettling reality of the red text still blinking on my screen.
I followed the machine’s advice. I found a generic email address buried deep in the platform’s terms and conditions and sent a polite, measured note explaining the technical failure. I attached a screenshot of the error. Then I closed the computer.
Three days passed. Then five. Then a week.
This conversation continues in Part IV.
Technology is the setting. Humanity is the subject.