The implications settled over the briefing room like weight. They weren't facing organizational opposition to the partnership. They were facing someone who'd been researching rift consciousness for decades. Who understood it better than anyone currently alive. And who was apparently willing to weaponize that understanding to destroy infrastructure that challenged their monopoly on knowledge.
"Why attack now?" Amaron asked. "If this researcher has been working independently for decades, why surface when the partnership was established? Why not remain hidden and continue their research without interference?"
"Because the partnership threatens their work," Lyris said. "If we succeed in developing consciousness cooperation protocols publicly, their decades of private research becomes obsolete. Their advantage disappears. Whatever they've been building becomes competing approach rather than unique capability. They're attacking to prevent that outcome."
