Nissa stopped Chandra from turning the crowded exhibition into an immediate battle. Restraint saved bystanders, but it also allowed Tezzeret to stage his next move. He challenged Pia publicly and kept attention fixed on their confrontation while Consulate agents seized the Fair’s inventions in the name of security.
Work made openly and proudly disappeared behind official doors. Inventors who had competed hours before now shared the experience of being told their ideas were dangerous unless controlled by someone else. The confiscation converted scattered resentment into a common cause more effectively than any speech Pia could have planned.
Tezzeret’s authority grew until he installed himself as Grand Consul. Dovin’s belief in perfectible systems made him useful to the takeover, even when the methods beneath that order became impossible to defend. The Consulate had not abandoned invention; it had made permission the most important component of every machine.