[The Silent Threshold — Seventh Space — Day 67 — 4:20 PM]
The transmission had ended.
Or so it seemed.
The Fragment channels closed, corruption stable, Alex looking at the team with the expression of someone who had just received too much and needed time for it to settle.
Thirty seconds of silence.
Then F1 pushed.
Not the usual training push — the gradual, predictable kind Alex had spent months learning to hold. This one was different. Immediate. As if the channel the Threshold had opened during the transmission had left an opening that F1 exploited before it could fully close.
[F1 Corruption: 90.6% → 92.1%]
One and a half points in less than three seconds.
"F1," said Alex.
Seraph was already moving.
---
"Hold it." Seraph at one meter. "Where is it?"
"Ninety‑two. It rose on its own."
"Can you bring it down?"
Alex tried.
F1 didn't come down.
