The text inside the envelope was a photocopy of something very old. Sera could tell from the way the texture showed through the reproduction that the paper in the original had been thick. And the hand was formal, pre-standardization script that took her a moment to adjust to.
She read it twice slowly. Then a third time fast.
Then she sat back and looked at the wall.
The document was exactly what Celeste had said it was: pre-council taxonomy, eastern archive provenance, a classification text predating the Lunar Council's founding by at least sixty years. The relevant passage was marked in pencil, in Celeste's hand, Sera assumed, small and precise.
‘The silver bond is not a contract between persons but a condition of nature, analogous to the pull of water towards its level. It cannot be
