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The room crackles with tension.

Good again.

This is not Nareth-Kul.

No one here is collapsing under sudden existential exposure. They are arguing. Challenging. Breathing. Thinking. That matters.

A young League researcher stands near the center rows. “Director Prentiss, do these discoveries invalidate existing systems of meaning derived from Precursor traditions?”

There it is.

The real fear beneath all the others.

I look at the crowd carefully before answering.

“No,” I say quietly.

The room stills.

“Origins matter. History matters. Truth matters. But meaning is not erased simply because its origins become more complicated than we hoped.”

The words settle hard into the chamber.

I continue before fear can reclaim them.

“Every civilization in this room inherited flawed stories, incomplete histories, revised myths, political edits, mistranslations, and sacred interpretations shaped by imperfect people. That does not automatically invalidate the love, sacrifice, art, ethics, and communities built afterward.”

A Pi’Rell philosopher leans forward. “You speak as though meaning is constructed rather than discovered.”

“I think meaning is both discovered and created,” I say. “We inherit possibilities. Then we decide what to do with them.”

A Coalition theologian folds her arms. “That sounds dangerously close to moral relativism.”

“No,” I answer immediately. “Relativism says nothing matters inherently. I am saying meaning requires participation. Responsibility. Relationship.”

The room erupts again.

Arguments overlap.

Questions fly from every direction.

“Then who decides?”

“What prevents nihilism?”

“Would public disclosure destabilize Coalition religious structures?”

“Did the Precursors deliberately suppress these findings?”

“What else was found on Nareth-Kul?”

That last question lands like a knife wrapped in silk.

I feel Ghar tense across the chamber.

I answer carefully.

“Nareth-Kul contained information beyond what this initiative currently considers safe for unrestricted release.”