DANA walked like someone had counted her bones and rented them back one step at a time.
The black order band around her throat showed clean Defense Force text.
ACTIVE COMPLIANCE.
SECURE MATERIAL WITNESS.
REMOVE UNREGISTERED FOUNDATION BODY FROM PROTECTIVE POSITION.
The foundation witness shifted in front of Cassius.
Not much.
Enough.
Chipped shoulder toward Elara. Mina Cho's copied page still under its sleeve. Its hand stayed flat against the lift frame, asking no one for permission to stand there.
Caleb's burned palm flexed.
"Elara."
The order band tightened.
Her jaw locked hard enough to show the muscle under her ear.
She raised the pistol.
Three inches low.
The muzzle pointed at the foundation witness's knee instead of its chest.
That was her.
That was not freedom.
That was a handhold on a cliff face, two fingers deep and bleeding.
The crowd behind Caleb saw only the gun.
Phones came up.
