The response was delayed.
Not because they hadn't noticed—but because they didn't understand.
Across the network, diagnostic cycles multiplied. Review committees convened. Simulations were rerun with the same inputs and different assumptions. The model no longer converged.
It still functioned.
It just wouldn't agree with itself.
That was worse than failure.
Asher watched the confusion ripple outward. Not panic. Not retreat. Careful reassessment. The kind that came from people who believed the problem was subtle, solvable, and internal.
They were wrong.
Without the inherited permissions, their work had lost its leverage. Every change now required consensus from systems designed to resist unilateral control. Balance had teeth again.
They adapted anyway.
New proposals surfaced—smaller, slower, framed as research rather than application. Requests routed through legitimate channels. Oversight invited instead of avoided.
Asher noted the shift.
This was the next phase.
