Seris sent Nate a message at seven thirty.
Come early.
Nothing else.
By eight, he was back inside Talent Services.
Gallery Four was already active.
Seris stood behind the observation glass while a technician tested the Awakening Array on the other side.
Nate stopped beside her.
"You know I have another interview today."
"At noon."
He looked at her.
"How do you know that?"
"Directorate schedules aren’t secret."
"Mine should be."
"It isn’t."
Seris moved one of the screens toward him.
"Did Renn offer you anything yesterday?"
"No."
"Good."
"You sound relieved."
"If she offered you a sponsorship after one conversation, I’d wonder what she wanted badly enough to skip the evaluation."
Nate looked through the glass.
"So why am I here?"
"Baseline."
The far door opened.
A young man entered with an Academy coordinator.
Nate understood.
"You want an ordinary rejection."
"I want several."
The candidate stepped into the Array.
His information appeared above the platform.
MARCEL TAN
STANDARD CLASS: FIELD RUNNER
Then the Skills.
LONG STRIDE
QUIET PULSE
RECOVERY BREATH
Marcel read them carefully.
Nate did the same.
Long Stride reduced energy loss during sustained movement.
Quiet Pulse suppressed part of the energetic disturbance caused by movement.
Recovery Breath improved physical recovery after heavy exertion.
All useful.
None worth a permanent Node.
Marcel spent almost two minutes comparing them before choosing Long Stride.
The other two dimmed.
Forsaken Claim responded.
QUIET PULSE
REJECTED SKILL WITNESSED
OPEN NODE AVAILABLE
CLAIM?
A second prompt followed.
RECOVERY BREATH
REJECTED SKILL WITNESSED
OPEN NODE AVAILABLE
CLAIM?
Nate refused both.
Across the glass, the rejected resonance traces weakened.
Quiet Pulse faded first.
Gradually.
Recovery Breath followed.
No sudden loss.
No response from Western Access.
Seris watched until both traces reached zero.
"Normal."
Nate nodded.
Another Awakening followed fifteen minutes later.
One Skill chosen.
Two rejected.
Forsaken Claim offered both.
Nate refused them.
The traces decayed exactly as the equipment expected.
Seris closed the feed.
"So it isn’t every rejection."
"No."
"It would’ve been easier if it was."
"Why?"
"Then I could blame the Array."
She collected the readings.
"Selective failures are harder."
Nate looked through the glass at the empty chamber.
"Stillpoint and Anchor Skin were both defensive."
"I noticed."
"Both resist movement."
"I noticed that too."
"Could matter."
"Could."
Nate looked at her.
"Two cases still aren’t much."
"No."
She left the gallery.
Nate followed.
His terminal vibrated before they reached the main corridor.
FIELD COMMAND NOTICE
WESTERN ACCESS SECTOR THREE
THIRD CIRCUIT SURVEY IN PROGRESS
ACCESS RESTRICTION EXTENDED
Nate opened the update.
"Still working."
Seris checked her own terminal.
"Another four hours."
"Anything?"
"Nothing they’re sharing."
The Third Circuit survey team had been working inside Sector Three since early morning.
Whatever data they were collecting had disappeared behind Field Command restrictions almost immediately.
There was nothing useful Nate could do from outside.
Seris noticed him still reading.
"You’re not entering Sector Three."
"I didn’t say I was."
"You didn’t need to."
Nate put the terminal away.
At eleven forty, he left for the Directorate wing.
Renn’s office was smaller than he expected.
One desk.
Two chairs.
A window overlooking the lower transport lanes.
She pointed at the empty seat.
Nate sat.
Renn opened his record.
"Medical cleared you?"
"For normal circulation."
"Field deployment?"
"No."
She entered something.
Then closed the medical section.
"Yesterday you asked what an Imperial sponsorship would cost."
"Yes."
"Good question."
She turned the terminal toward him.
Six headings appeared.
TRAINING PLACEMENT
MONTHLY STIPEND
SPECIALIST ACCESS
EQUIPMENT ALLOCATION
FIELD ASSIGNMENT AUTHORITY
INITIAL TERM: SIX MONTHS
Nate read the last two twice.
"You control assignments."
"During the sponsorship, the Directorate controls placement."
"Can I refuse?"
"Some assignments."
"Which ones?"
"Depends on the final contract."
"So I wouldn’t know until I saw an actual offer."
"Correct."
At least she didn’t disguise it.
"And after six months?"
"Renewal, transfer or release."
"Back to my current assignment?"
"If the obligation remains."
"So this doesn’t erase anything."
"No."
He had wondered whether Imperial sponsorship could simply make inconvenient parts of his record disappear.
Apparently not.
Renn leaned back.
"What do you want from the next two years?"
Nate looked at the terms.
"Better training."
"Specific."
"Better circulation control. More field experience. Equipment I can actually use."
"Second Circuit?"
"Eventually."
"Money?"
"Enough that being broke doesn’t decide things for me."
Renn paused before entering that.
Nate noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"People keep saying that."
"You keep asking."
"You recruit people."
"Yes."
"So answer."
Renn considered him.
"The stipend would be enough to live comfortably in most Imperial cities."
"Better."
He looked again at the six-month term.
"You had one of these."
Her hand stopped.
"A sponsorship?"
"Yes."
"Seris told you."
"One sentence."
"That’s more than she used to give people."
Nate waited.
Renn looked through the window.
"My province had almost no advanced instruction."
"How little?"
"One Second Circuit specialist within reasonable travel distance."
"And private training?"
"My family couldn’t afford it."
"The Directorate could."
"Yes."
"So you left."
"Within three weeks."
Nate studied her.
"Was it worth it?"
Renn took longer to answer than he expected.
"It changed my life."
Nate left it there.
Renn returned to her terminal.
"Varen is one possible placement."
"Field Command?"
"Possible."
"Talent Services?"
That made her look up.
"Why?"
"I’m already here."
"That’s geography."
"For now, that’s enough."
Renn studied him for another second.
"No offer today."
"I guessed."
"Your review remains open."
"What are you waiting for?"
"Your current field supervisor’s evaluation."
"Darek?"
"Yes."
"He barely knows me."
"That’s useful."
"How?"
"He hasn’t known you long enough to become invested in what you become."
Nate frowned.
"And if he recommends against me?"
"I read why."
Renn closed the file.
The interview was over.
Nate stayed seated.
"You’re not very good at selling the Empire."
"I don’t need you to like the Empire."
She opened the door.
"I need to decide whether Imperial resources spent on you would be wasted."
Nate stood.
Seris was back in Gallery Four when he returned.
The morning graphs still filled one screen.
She looked up.
"Well?"
"Still under review."
"What did she offer?"
"Nothing."
Seris nodded.
"Good."
"You really like that answer."
"A serious sponsorship shouldn’t happen because Renn liked you for twenty minutes."
"I don’t think she likes me."
"Even better."
Nate leaned against the console.
"She showed me the terms."
Seris stopped scrolling.
"Assignment authority?"
"Yes."
"Six months?"
"Yes."
"Then you understand what I meant."
"The cost."
She nodded.
Nate watched her for a moment.
"Why did you refuse yours?"
Seris kept her eyes on the screen.
"Not today."
"That’s becoming your favourite answer."
"No. That’s ’I don’t know.’"
He almost smiled.
Seris enlarged the Quiet Pulse graph.
Nate let the question go.
The resonance curve descended cleanly.
Nothing like Stillpoint.
She moved backward through the recording.
Then stopped.
Marcel had already chosen Long Stride.
The rejected Skills were fading.
Nate was visible as a reflection in the observation glass.
His attention remained on them.
Seris paused the recording.
"You watch the rejected ones."
Nate looked at the screen.
"That’s why you asked me here."
"Partly."
"Then why are you surprised?"
"I’m not surprised."
She looked at him.
"I’m noticing."
Nate kept his expression neutral.
"Most people stop paying attention once the candidate chooses."
"I don’t."
"I know."
Seris didn’t ask why.
Her terminal vibrated.
She opened the message.
The sender was Field Command.
She read it once.
Then again.
"What?"
Seris turned the screen toward him.
WESTERN ACCESS THIRD CIRCUIT SURVEY
SECTOR THREE RESPONSE LOST
NO SOURCE IDENTIFIED
Nate reached the final line.
LAST CONFIRMED ESTIMATED DEPTH: 203 M
"The estimate changed again."
Seris glanced at the number.
"What did the survey find?"
"Apparently nothing."
The survey had found no physical source before the response disappeared.
Nate read the notice again.
The last estimate was 203 metre
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