The first sign came twelve hours after they returned.
Not a summons.
Not an announcement.
A cost.
Dreyden noticed it when his interface stuttered—not lag, not delay, but reprioritization. Background processes slid past each other like plates under pressure. He felt it the way you felt a room realize you were standing in the doorway: not hostile, just recalibrating.
He closed the interface without reading.
Costs didn't announce themselves honestly. You had to watch what stopped happening.
The Triangle did not retaliate.
That was important.
No demotions.
No warnings.
No sudden "policy clarifications."
Instead, access narrowed.
Not revoked—recontextualized.
A training hall he used twice a week was suddenly "temporarily reserved."
An equipment requisition cleared, then rerouted to a different wing with a polite apology.
A data vendor he'd used quietly for months stopped answering—not refusing, just… deferring.
He recognized the pattern immediately.
