The question had been asked on day four.
The answer arrived on day five, beginning at 0700 and concluding at 1300—six hours that didn't feel like six hours from inside but that monitoring equipment confirmed as exactly that duration. Timeline 48 sat in the research complex, the same space the investigation had occupied for weeks, and received the most extensive communication Timeline had yet transmitted through the integration connection.
Rodriguez checked on them twice during the six hours. Found three people sitting quietly, eyes open, present but clearly attending somewhere else simultaneously. He left water and didn't disturb them further.
What arrived was experience rather than language.
