Kellen gave him the blank stare reserved for people asking for a private shuttle and moonlight. "If possible. Sure. While I'm at it, I'll fetch you a clean stair and a signed welcome." He looked at Mara. "He talks like the old recordings."

"He's worse," Mara said.

Kellen's attention sharpened. "This him, then? The drop story?"

Mara folded her arms. "He says he fell out of time."

Kellen leaned back and said, "And you didn't leave him for the hunters. That's touching."

Mara said, "I nearly did."

Kellen rubbed his jaw and studied Elias properly. "All right. Say I believe maybe one part in ten. Enough to hear the rest. Why do you want archive paths?"

"Because whatever built this split between above and below was recorded somewhere. Because intake routes and memory control are linked. Because there may be a way to reach the authority systems from inside the archive structure." Elias leaned forward despite the protest from his ribs. "And because if there is still any record of origin policy, I need it."

"Need is expensive," Kellen said.

Elias opened his mouth to answer and had to stop for breath instead. The room swam for a beat, map lines doubling before they settled. He braced one hand on the crate until his vision narrowed back to one world. Then Kellen held out a hand. Elias hesitated, then passed over the charcoal copies from Annex B. Kellen scanned the pages fast, his expression changing only once, at the underlined line about truth and life. He laid the sheets flat with unusual care.

"That's real," he said.

Kellen said, "I know."