"Yes," he said.
"The conditions are changing," she said. "Which means the protocols need to change." She paused. "I've been telling the Council's coordination body for twelve years that the conditions needed to change. I submitted twelve formal reports. Each one was received, acknowledged, and responded to in due course."
Elara looked at her with the recognition of one persistent person encountering another.
"I know what that means," Elara said.
"Yes," Administrator Pell said. "I thought you might." She looked at Adrian. "The transition documentation you sent me three weeks ago — the revised version that anticipated the four-segment integration outcome. How long before the event had you prepared it?"
"Two weeks," he said.
She absorbed this.
"You prepared for my reaction two weeks before I had the reaction," she said.
"We try to be useful in advance when possible," Elara said.
Administrator Pell looked at each of them in turn.
