LyraI file three reports in three days, each one drier than the last. My father reads none of them closely enough to notice the pattern I am starting to worry might be obvious to anyone who actually looks."Anything of note?" he asks over breakfast, not looking up."Nothing beyond what I've already submitted.""Then keep observing."He returns to his data pad, the conversation already over.The report is filed. My assignment is complete. There is no reason for me to keep returning to the sublevel.Three days later, I find myself there anyway.I tell myself there may be something I overlooked. Something worth adding to a future report.The explanation survives exactly until I remember there is no future report due for another four days.Noah is sitting at one of the worn desks when I arrive. He is not doing anything remarkable.That is becoming the remarkable part.A smaller student sits beside him, shoulders tense with frustration as he stares at a diagram spread across his screen."I

NoahThe notice goes up on the Academy's main board on a Tuesday.By Wednesday, half the upper Classes are talking about it.The problem takes up most of the board. It is a resonance calibration equation that has apparently remained unsolved for six years, though the Academy has dressed it up as an opportunity rather than an embarrassment. The notice calls it an open challenge for students interested in "cross-Class academic engagement."Deacon reads the first few lines, looks at the equation, and immediately loses interest."That's ridiculous.""What is?""All of it." He points at the board. "The equation, the wording, the whole thing. They're basically daring people to embarrass themselves."I look at the notation again."I don't think that's what they're doing.""Of course you don't."He starts walking away."The Korrathi love this stuff," he says over his shoulder. "Give them something impossible, let an SS-Class student solve it in three days, then everyone gets to clap and preten