She was looking at him with the recalibrating expression except this time it wasn't mild recalibration. This was fundamental recalibration. The kind that happened when someone encountered data that didn't fit any existing category.
"How," she said.
"Core attribute," he said. "The specific type."
She looked at him for a long moment. "And this core attribute," she said slowly, "is the reason Crane's formation modification is going to fail."
"Part of the reason."
"Part," she repeated. Her voice was doing something careful. "What's the other part."
"I'm working on that," he said.
She stared at him.
Doran said from the side, very quietly: "He always says that."
"Does it usually result in something," Astra asked.
"So far yes," Doran said.
Astra looked at Orion for another long moment. Something in her expression settled, the recalibration completing into a new model that apparently held together better than the previous one. "Alright," she said.
