The technician blinked, then brightened again, eager to perform and tell Aerenyx everything he knew.
"It means integration without collapse," he said quickly. "It means the subject doesn't just survive the compound load but holds a stable response pattern. It means we can push into refinement rather than adaptation."
"Refinement," Aerenyx repeated.
"Yes," the man said, nodding too hard. "Not just testing. Not just thresholds. Actual shaping."
Aerenyx let the word sit in his mind as he looked down at the platform.
Shaping implied ownership. Ownership implied arrogance. Humans always arrived at arrogance eventually, even when they started with fear.
He'd already seen enough of their process to know where it failed. They tested too loudly. They observed too shallowly. They were obsessed with outcomes and blind to mechanisms, which was why their "miracles" were always accidents they tried to claim afterward.
If he wanted to improve their results, he could.
