Isaac counted four times in six minutes.
Cameron’s proposed software adjustment reduced regulator activation frequency.
It lowered immediate vibration.
It also reduced pressure authority.
The system compensated by lengthening correction burns.
Longer burns meant higher propellant consumption.
Cameron described the cost as acceptable.
Isaac knew it was not.
When Cameron finished, Eleanor spoke.
“Isaac?”
Cameron interrupted.
“I’d like to note for the record that any analysis provided by a noncredentialed external source—”
“It’s already in the record,” Eleanor said.
Silence.
Isaac had no slides.
Adrian shared scans of three handwritten pages.
Page one:
Combined thermal-mechanical resonance model.
Page two:
Fuel consequences of Nexora’s workaround.
Page three:
Seventeen-parameter command sequence designed to shift regulator behavior below the resonance band while preserving pressure authority.
Cameron stared.
Isaac explained.
No theatrics.
No accusation.
“The Nexora sequence suppresses visible oscillation.”
“It does not remove the excitation mechanism.”
“It reduces valve cycling by limiting command response.”
“That moves the problem from structural fatigue into propellant consumption.”
He displayed the numbers.
“Current reserve under your proposed sequence is nine to eleven additional days.”
Cameron spoke.
“That assumes your pressure-efficiency model is correct.”
Grace interrupted from Houston.
“It is.”
The room went quiet.
Cameron turned toward his screen.
Grace continued.
“I independently ran the model against current telemetry.”
“The propellant draw matches Merritt’s projection within three percent.”
Another engineer from the contractor facility spoke.
“I see the same thing.”
Cameron’s expression changed.
Isaac continued.
“The alternative sequence modifies timing, not authority.”
“We force the regulator below the mechanical resonance band during thermal transition.”
“Pressure control remains available.”
“Propellant budget remains inside mission margin.”
Cameron leaned forward.
“This has not been peer reviewed.”
Grace answered before Isaac could.
“It is being peer reviewed now.”
Adrian spoke next.
“I ran the reduced model and the full-order simulation.”
“Both converge.”
Luis added:
“Controls checks out.”
Another voice came from the contractor site.
“Structural dynamics agrees.”
For the first time, Cameron looked less like an executive and more like a man whose room was moving beneath him.
His camera went dark.
The connection remained.
Four seconds.
Chair movement.
A door.
Then audio disappeared too.
Nobody commented.
Eleanor concluded the review.
Isaac remained connected after the others left.
Eleanor looked at him from her camera.
“You know this doesn’t end here.”
“I know.”
“I knew six years ago too.”
Seven days after Eleanor first entered Harlow, OBSIDIAN-7 deteriorated faster than expected.
Two automated altitude-correction burns occurred within four hours.
Each consumed almost three times the projected propellant.
Eleanor was awakened at 1:17 a.m.
By 1:40, she was in the operations center.
By 2:03, Isaac’s phone rang beside his bed in Harlow.
He answered on the first ring.
“What happened?”
Eleanor did not ask how he knew.
“Two burns.”
“Consumption?”
She gave him the number.
Isaac sat up.
“That cuts us to eleven days.”
“Our estimate is ten to twelve.”
“Nexora sequence is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Mine?”
“Needs final certification.”
“How long?”
“Under normal process?”
“Yes.”
“Three weeks.”
Isaac said nothing.
Eleanor continued.