Geras closed Elias's notebook and tapped one finger against the cover.
"Your instinct score is the reason you are still alive," he said. "Your perception score is the reason I do not want you walking unsupervised through my base."
Elias almost laughed. Geras did not.
"That was a diagnosis with boots on," Elias said.
"It was an operational assessment, because you miss things until they try to kill you, then your body reacts before your mind catches up. That is useful in a crisis and terrible for patrol work."
Dot hovered above Elias's shoulder. "I have been saying his awareness needs repairs."
"You mostly call me blind with legs."
"That was the shorter and kinder version."
Geras leaned back. "The bioelectric suits help trained soldiers survive contact, but suits are tools, while shards are different. They choose people, alter options, and bring outside interest with them, which means we need people inside the program who are not only soldiers."
Elias heard the hook before Geras set it.
"You want me to help manage the other shard bearers."
"I want you to serve as an internal witness first. You are civilian enough to understand their fear and connected enough, through your father and today's attack, to understand the cost of pretending this is optional."
"That sounds like a polite way to say informant."
"Call it liaison if the word helps you sleep. I need someone who can talk to them before command only sees files, risk scores, and containment notes."
Elias looked toward the sealed door.
He had no uniform of his own, no military contract, and no reason to think the people in quarantine would trust him. He barely trusted the chair he sat in.
Geras opened another folder and slid a single page across the desk.
"There is another reason, because in five and a half months, the Chairwoman has authorized a restricted expedition back to Cradle."
Elias stopped moving.
Dot's wings folded tight against her back.
"Cradle is poisoned ground after everything that happened there," Elias said. "The public version says nobody goes back except drones and sealed survey teams."
"That remains true for the public version. The Chairwoman does not move resources without purpose, and she has not shared the full purpose with me yet. I know enough to say this: if you join the shard program and survive training, I can recommend you for that expedition."
The office seemed smaller after that.
Elias saw old casualty reports, archived speeches, his mother turning off the news when Cradle appeared on screen, and his father's name sitting in documents instead of a grave.
"You are offering me the place where my father died."
"I am offering you the chance to decide whether that place remains only a wound."
Elias hated the answer because it worked.
"Why not Elara, since she is trained, loyal, and already stronger than I am by a ridiculous margin?"
"Elara will be considered for command roles, but you fit a different need. The other bearers include civilians, soldiers, children, criminals, and people who may already be hiding, and if every offer comes from a commander, we get obedience from some, panic from others, and lies from the rest."
"You think I can make them talk."
"I think you know what it feels like to have your life grabbed without warning, and that matters."
Elias rubbed his thumb against the edge of the notebook.
"You understand this has a hundred ways to turn ugly."
"I understand that more than you do."
"Then make the program worth joining instead of just survivable, with housing for families, pay, medical care, education if people have kids, and real exit terms if they pass evaluation and are not active threats."
Geras watched him closely now.
Elias kept going because stopping would make the idea sound smaller than it was.
"Orders work on soldiers because they already bought into the structure. Civilians need a reason that is not just fear. If you broadcast the truth later, you need something to offer before people start running from you or selling themselves to whoever promises kinder cages."
Geras stood and crossed to a wall map. Several zones were marked in red around the initial impact region.
"We have confirmed twenty-six bearers out of an estimated hundred. Our search radius is still embarrassing. A public broadcast may find more, but it may also hand every hostile faction a recruiting list."
"The hostile already found me, so silence did not save the bus."
That one made Geras pause.
"Fair enough, and I will bring the incentive structure and controlled disclosure proposal to council tonight, but I am not promising approval."
"I am not asking for approval of my feelings. I am asking you not to build a program that makes its own enemies."
Dot nodded with unnecessary drama. "That was almost wise enough to record."
"Please write that down for later."
Geras returned to the desk. "There is one more issue, because the Doctor said daily reports would update your numbers. Failure to meet requirements may carry consequences, but he left the threat undefined."
"Undefined threats are still threats worth respecting."
"Agreed, and today you will start testing. Oliver will take you for identification stamps, equipment issue, and A Block assignment, where seven other shard users are housed. You will observe, train, and avoid provoking anyone into a death match over breakfast."
"That last part feels alarmingly specific."
"We are keeping blocks separated because a dead bearer may mean a lost shard, an unstable transfer, or something worse."
Elias stood with the notebook in hand.
"So I accept training, act as your civilian witness, and maybe earn a place on the Cradle expedition if I do not fall apart first."
"That is the clean version of events."
"There is always an unclean version."
Geras looked at the door. "Yes, and you are already standing in it."
Oliver knocked once and opened the door.
Elias tucked the notebook away, feeling the weight of Cradle settle beside the weight of the shard.
Dot's voice moved softly through his thoughts. "You are thinking about your father again."
"I never really stopped thinking about him," Elias said.
Oliver gestured down the hall.
"Processing is ready for you, Elias Kael, so try not to create paperwork before we reach it."