[Intro] The next word should have moved. It did not. The next word should have moved. It did not. [Verse] The screen displayed: "Together we—" then froze between "together" and the thing together meant to be. A technician pressed a switch. The LED mountain showed a glitch. My face appeared twelve metres wide, looking toward the words that died. A thousand people watched me know. [Pre-Chorus] No rolling line. No polished thread. No script tonight to hide behind. [Chorus] The teleprompter is dead, no silver sentence rolling ahead. The room can hear the words I kept myself from saying. The lights are on. The script is gone. [Verse] I said, "The company is strong," then stopped because it sounded wrong. I said, "I was not shown the scale." Priya looked up beyond the rail. I said, "I should have asked for more." Ben folded both his arms on Floor Four. No applause sign started there. No music filled the open air. [Pre-Chorus] No chosen line. No safety net. The room remembers what I said. [Chorus] The teleprompter is dead, the perfect leader lost the perfect thread. I blamed the filtered information, then admitted what I fed. I know the view. I missed the floor. [Instrumental Break] [Bridge] I built a room where no one brought a problem without "recommended thought." I signed the cuts. I praised the gloss. I called delay a learning cost. But I was also told untruths. Both facts can stand beneath this roof. A leader may be kept outside and still have built the wall in part. I cannot fix this with a phrase. I can begin with names and dates, with open doors and honest states. [Breakdown] [Communications] Wrap the message. Thank the crowd. [Victor] No. [Director] Return to confidence. Speak loud. [Victor] No. [Employees] What happens Monday? [Victor] I do not know. But Monday you will see the numbers before they change their clothes. [Build-up] The technician raised one thumb. The teleprompter flickered back with one command: RETURN TO SCRIPT. REASSURE. EXPAND. [Victor] Turn it off. [Final Chorus] The teleprompter is dead, leave the empty screen above my head. Let the room remember silence where the perfect promise bled. No prepared truth. No borrowed view. The teleprompter is dead. I cannot swear the future's bright. I can swear I saw the floor tonight. [Outro] The crowd did not erupt or cheer. A few hands rose. Victor opened the black notebook. The page was nearly full. At the bottom he wrote: "I built this distance."