Jonas moved in a little, hands in his pockets, watching the exchange as if it were a negotiation he had joined too late to stop. “Help me out,” he said. “Let’s say, against my better habits, that you’re right. Let’s say you can move something out of sequence and then back. What happens if the return misses? Not in theory. In liability. What exactly do I tell a court if a device comes back inside a wall, or doesn’t come back at all, or comes back yesterday and starts a chain of claims no insurer on Earth can price?”

Liora made a soft sound. “Please don’t say ‘chain of claims’ like that. I can feel my teeth clench.”

Jonas spread a hand toward the table. “This is me being charming. If I were billing by the hour, I’d be worse.”

No one really laughed this time.

Elias felt the room slipping again, not from lack of comprehension but from refusal. He answered Jonas because the question was concrete and that was a relief. “Then you tell the court there is no product. There is a proof of principle. No deployment. No public use. No exposure beyond this room.”

Dev folded his arms. “That depends on whether this room includes hidden systems you haven’t disclosed.”

Elias turned. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Dev said, “your permits were revoked for live temporal work. If this setup is only a harmless model, we’re having an expensive dinner around a party trick. If it isn’t, you may already be in breach.”