Rook answered as though the question had waited for him all along.
“Because someone has to decide before the prison fails.”
Bram sat with his hands apart on the table. Sera’s question list lay beside the limited technical statement. The observer’s watch marked the remaining meeting interval. They were still inside the accepted terms, still speaking to the man who had confirmed that the reservoir consumed captive souls and withheld the data needed to check the remedy he proposed.
“Someone,” Bram repeated. “Why only you?”
“Because divided authority has brought us to a place where each useful action waits for another body’s permission. A barrier doesn’t become less urgent because three committees disagree about its supply. The prison doesn’t stop failing while you define the acceptable way to measure it.”
“Independent review isn’t a claim that time stops.” Sera kept her voice level. “It’s a way to find a mistake before the decision spreads it through every connected defense.”
“And delay is a decision too.”
“Yes,” she said. “We’ve said so publicly.”
