Chapter 194

CHAPTER 194 KAELOS "Do you regret it? The isolation study, the cascade, everything that led to needing the procedure? If you could go back and make different choices, would you?" I considered the question seriously, examining my response through the clear lens the framework provided. "No," I said finally. "Not the study itself, not the cascade, not even the suffering. Because all of it led to this—to proving that integration is possible, that Council and Collective can work together, that we don't have to choose between precision and autonomy. If I'd made different choices, I might have avoided cascade. But I also might have spent my whole life believing the gap between our systems was unbridgeable." "That's very philosophical of you." "I've had a lot of time to think," I said wryly. "And a framework that keeps me from fragmenting while I do it. Dangerous combination." Marcus smiled—the first real smile I'd seen from him since he'd arrived. "I've missed this. Missed you. Missed the ver