The recess did not last.
It only pretended to.
Fang noticed the change first in the room's sound. The hearing chamber, which had held itself in a strained but stable hush, suddenly acquired a faint mechanical vibration in the floorboards beneath the table. At almost the same time, Pax's tablet flashed a warning across the mirrored log.
Direct route override in progress.
He looked up sharply. "That is not the review board."
Wolf had already turned towards the chamber doors. "No. That sounds much more like someone who has run out of patience and decided that procedure can be bullied."
Dr Sane's hand tightened on the witness copy. Senior Chair Voss, who had been conferring quietly with one of the clerks at the far end of the room, looked up in immediate alarm. Aven Myre half rose from their seat, then stopped as another alert lit across the wall panel behind the chair.
Archive seal breach attempt detected.
