Rook asked who had connected the key.
The technician at the assessment station looked first at the artifact and then at the control interface. He had placed it in the contact assembly after the System registered it as a backup for stabilization. The display had described a diagnostic relation. It had not shown the shutdown path now visible through the lower lead.
“Did you read the warning?” the aide asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why connect it?”
“I thought the assessment assembly was isolated.”
“Was that independently checked?”
He did not answer quickly enough to leave anyone uncertain.
