That was the real question. Elias forced himself upright, using the frame for support. His legs objected at once. He ignored them and bent over the machine. Dizziness washed through him. He waited for it to clear, then inspected the brake housing, the ring alignment, the coil seam where the smoke had started. A faint burnt smell leaked from inside the casing. The deep run had scored the return track. One retaining tooth on the timing wheel had almost sheared through.

He touched the control plate and watched the lag in the response. Counted. Measured by feel and motion what his instruments would once have told him in clean numbers.

"It can jump," he said at last.

Mara's face hardened. "But."

"But not many times." He looked at the wandering indicator line and did not soften it. "One reliable return window, if that. Maybe one full transit with a controlled destination and one chance to bring it back. After that I would be guessing with broken teeth and heat damage."

The chamber tone changed again, lower now. A panel on the far wall blinked from warning red to a pulsing amber strip. Containment had moved to some next stage. Not safety. Simply the next failure.

Mara stepped in close. "Then stop talking like a man with options. We have the core. We have copied pages. Lina is still missing unless you have learned to reverse fire while I wasn't looking. Lower crews or tower response will reach this level soon. So say it straight. What matters now?"