The silence stretched between them across the rust-red canyon, thin Martian dust drifting lazily against their boots before Harper finally broke it. He had taken the quiet moment to process Stacy's points, recognizing the weight of what he had originally proposed.
"You're right, Stacy. It really isn't a good idea to do a stream like that," Harper said, his voice quiet over the comms channel.
"What made you change your mind?" Kristopher asked, turning his helmet toward him.
"Well, Stacy hit the nail on the head," Harper explained, letting out a soft sigh. "Think about it. Liam didn't build these exosuits and give us access to his tech so we could flex on world powers or play media games. He drew a line around us during that fifty-one-minute stream specifically to keep the political circus away from our lives. If we broadcast ourselves live from Mars without talking to him first, we aren't standing beside him—we're stepping outside the shield he built for us on purpose."
