Liam got his phone back twenty minutes after beginning the argument, which meant that, according to every standard of conflict he considered relevant, he had won.
The battery had reached twenty-one percent, the isolated Nurian charging unit had been placed beside it with three pages of operating restrictions, and Engineer Selkis had included a precise report detailing every conversion ratio they had tested, the minor temperature rise they had recorded, and the adjustments she recommended before the device was connected again.
Liam liked her already.
He now sat in the middle of the sitting room with the black lacquered case resting on the low table before him, his phone positioned on a stand to record the original configuration from above. The blanket remained around his shoulders, although he had exchanged Arik's lap for a heavily cushioned chair after promising the physician that he would stay seated.
The collar waited inside the unopened case.
