Kharn's admission — the plain, unguarded uncertainty of a civilization that had never once had occasion to ask whether its own reality was conscious — sat with Timeline 48 for the better part of a day before the next development arrived. Rodriguez authorized continued negotiation with both Sohrn's and Kharn's civilizations to proceed on parallel tracks, and Coalition's expanded monitoring network continued its now-familiar work of scanning for elevated boundary readings across the planet's surface.
The Canadian event registered on Dr. Chen's instruments at a considerably lower intensity than either Jakarta or Moscow had produced — not the sharp spike that had preceded Draeth's violent arrival, but something closer to the gradual, measured signature Sekar's team had learned to associate with deliberate rather than accidental crossing attempts.
