The room held Rodriguez's question in genuine, weighted silence for several minutes before anyone spoke — Rama recognized, watching the assembled council process what he had asked, that this specific framing had reached something the preceding hours' careful, technical deliberation hadn't quite fully articulated.
It was Sohrn who spoke first, her voice carrying genuine, considered weight. "I want to answer honestly," she said. "I believe my civilization's own historical decision, however genuinely necessary given our circumstances, failed to honor the sealed Timeline's original inhabitants adequately. We contained the threat. We never genuinely attempted to honor what those original people deserved — genuine consideration, sustained attempt at rescue, rather than convenient categorization as permanent, manageable danger."
