The hybrid translators spread faster than anyone expected. Within two days, crystal implants hummed in the necks and wrists of nearly every resident in the central districts.
Nodes no longer required physical contact or careful interpretation. Their voices arrived clean and immediate, layered into conversations like another speaker sitting at the table.
Atlas stood in the central chamber and listened to a debate between three district leaders. One Node voice cut through without prompting:
*Integration at seventy-three percent in the eastern groves. Resource flow stable.* No migraine accompanied the update. For once, the territory simply worked.
Clara leaned against the far wall, arms crossed. The new translator sat flush against her collarbone, a faint green line visible under the skin. "It's holding," she said. "Veyl's modifications actually improved the stability."
