For a very long moment Zanru regarded Stark. So he was listening after all; just not acknowledging. Zanru wasn't sure if it was a deliberate powerplay or just a sense of being over-focussed on what he wanted right now, or being over-focussed on the tech. The last, Zanru could understand; the second was young and selfish; the third was political in a way Zanru hated.

Zanru knew she was confrontational. That always made it a surprise when she didn't fight. Either it put people off-guard or it made them think they had some kind of hold over her. Pride. Stick in the grinder. "It's possible," she said, "but we can talk about that with the rest of the details later. Anything else?"