Not that the apprentices were dim. They were often brilliant. One could read a memo, extract a schema, draft a patch, and produce a validation plan before a human had finished deciding whether the coffee was helping or merely participating. Another could critique the first with the chilly courtesy of a statistician finding a hidden variable. A third could write a report so polished that the unfinished machine began to look, briefly and dangerously, complete.

The Treasurer’s role now is to dredge the riverbed: test every gate, trace every current, and chart where the missing waters went. Only through structured forensic testing and transparent reporting to the Executive Board can the current run clear again.