Peter did not move after asking the question.
The operations floor remained dim around them, illuminated only by sleeping monitors and the pale light from Caro's workstation. Her screen reflected faintly in her eyes, but she was no longer reading it. She sat still for a moment, her hand resting beside the keyboard she had stopped touching the second she realized he had been standing there watching. Behind the active windows, the maintenance sequence continued quietly in the background, restoring executive recovery routes one by one without notification or visible credit.
Her answer came calmly.
"Nothing."
Peter looked at her for a long second.
It was not the word that bothered him.
It was how prepared she seemed to say it.
