If he left now, he could expose this future. Maybe stop its line. Maybe not. But he would still not know whether humanity had fallen into this trap and climbed out again, or whether the rot kept going until there was nothing left to save.

Mara saw the numbers changing and went still. "What are you doing?"

"A short range test," he said, too quickly. "Forward only. Fast look. We confirm terminal trend, then return."

Elias said, "No." She put her hand on the frame, hard enough to make the machine shiver. "You promised six minutes. Not another obsession."

Elias looked at the machine and said, "If this is local-"

"You have proof. You have the machine. You have a way out." Her voice stayed low, which made it worse. "Stop trying to win an argument with the whole species while people are burning behind us."

Lina's name struck through him then, sudden and raw. For a second his fingers stalled over the keys.

Then the machine answered the half-entered command with a soft ready tone, familiar as a bad habit. Elias shoved past the pause, locked the deep-time range, and armed the jump as the archive alarm swelled around them.