The third stage arrived on what he estimated was the fortieth cycle.
Not because the fortieth cycle was the threshold the partnership's development required in the way that threshold crossings had required specific accumulations in the Middle Domain. Because the fortieth cycle was when the partnership's rhythm had developed enough coherence that the third quality's third stage was present in the expression-response sequence in the way that sovereign completion had been present starting from the third cycle.
The third stage built gradually through the cycles before the fortieth, the same way developed depth had built through the chamber's resonance cycles before the crossing, something accumulating in the partnership's own rhythm without the system producing contribution notations or near-threshold language.
The contact zone developed through the partnership rather than through the system's tracking mechanisms.
