The message came through Morgana's relay at mid-morning.
Three words.
It is finished.
Satou read it at the command post desk. Put it down. Picked it up and read it again, which wasn't necessary — three words didn't require rereading. He did it anyway.
Then he went to find Lyra.
——
She was in the secondary briefing room with Kelvin, going over the eastern expansion's completion timeline. He waited at the door. She looked up, read his face, and said: "Kelvin, give us a moment."
Kelvin gave them a moment with the efficiency of someone who had learned that certain expressions on Satou's face meant the room needed to be empty.
Satou handed her the message.
She read it.
She was quiet.
"Ninety-five percent was four months ago," she said.
"Yes."
She looked at the three words again. Then she folded the message carefully — not the quick fold she gave operational documents, the deliberate fold she used for things that mattered — and put it on the desk.
