Elara blinked. She was back at her desk, the cursor still blinking. The PDF was closed. But on her notebook, in her own handwriting, were all the answers she needed—not memorized, but forged.

She smiled, opened Kalpakjian-Schmid-Tecnologia-Meccanica.pdf again, and began to read. For the first time, it didn't feel like a textbook.

"I didn't forget, Kalpakjian," the younger replied calmly. "I just thought we could cheat physics with a prettier grain flow."

He tossed her a digital caliper. A turbine disk lay on an anvil, its blades twisted into sad spirals.