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Not many months after the Aurora crisis, Dreyfus was summoned by Jane Aumonier, who lay immobilized in a medical facility, her head and upper body supported by an alloy framework. The room around her pulsed with images and data summaries. Dreyfus, weary from a routine inspection, approached her side. Aumonier, using a network of adaptive mirrors, aligned her eyes with his and praised his report on the Chertoff case, though she noted his recent overwork and stress. Dreyfus, defensive, claimed he enjoyed his job, but Aumonier pointed out his reluctance to take rest and his irritability, as observed by his colleagues.

Aumonier, recalling Dreyfus's service history, questioned whether the Chertoff case had been his first lockdown. Dreyfus, though reluctant, recounted the case: a small habitat with high-level vote-tampering orchestrated by Pietr Chertoff and his allies. Dreyfus, despite knowing some citizens were innocent, enforced a forty-year lockdown. He described the opulence of Chertoff's habitat and the subsequent anarchy and stabilisation. During a covert mid-term inspection, Dreyfus found the habitat in a state of dire poverty and encountered a man who, unaware of the true passage of time, hoped the lockdown was ending. Dreyfus, feeling conflicted, did not correct the man's misconception.

Aumonier, understanding Dreyfus's internal struggle, shared her own experience of a similar lockdown at Carter-Suff Spindle, where conditions deteriorated to cannibalism and the few surviving children were beyond rehabilitation. She remembered a disturbing bone statue made in her honor. Aumonier encouraged Dreyfus to take rest and assured him his conduct was satisfactory.

Before Dreyfus left, Aumonier revealed that she had regained some motor control, managing to close her fingers around his hand. The moment, though simple, was a significant sign of her recovery. "Open and shut," she said, a testament to both the severity of their work and the small victories they could still find.