The passive read adapted to the basement rock on day seven.
Not suddenly—it had been adapting since they entered the complex geology, each day's travel adding to the Emperor Body's familiarity with the substrate's refolded, curved formation-layer character. But on day seven something settled the way capabilities always settled: what had required attention became available. The ambient noise of the deep basement rock resolved from interference into information. The carrier function stopped filtering and started reading.
Day seven baseline established. The basement rock reads differently from every previous substrate—not directional, not stratified, not compressed in a single axis. Three-dimensional formation structure in all orientations simultaneously. The passive read works by learning the pattern rather than the direction. New variant. New technique. Noted.
