The owner had brought his broken seal.
It lay beside the clean copy of his title, an ugly little ring of worn material which made several attractive arguments more difficult.
Lyra read the case instructions before touching either.
The adjudication round provided a dispute, prepared evidence, and a limited period for questions. The people at the case table answered from those facts. The model showed the routes and available capacity. A judgment would be scored for its reasoning and practical consequences, not its capacity to make everyone applaud.
The examiner showed the parties’ speaking order and the source packet. Lyra could request a particular document or ask a question, but the clock would not stop while she searched for a more comfortable fact.
A rival entrant had just left with a decisive answer which drew louder applause than its consequences appeared to deserve. She put that out of her mind. The adjudication belonged to the case she received, not the noise she wanted to equal.
The clerk placed a clean sheet beside her first notes, ready for a ruling which would carry her name even if she later disliked reading it.
She approved of that until she looked toward the audience and found several people plainly expecting applause to help.
