That's right. It had to come from somewhere — and moreover, to be exempted from the rules that stripped us of our powers, then to some degree it must've been authorized.

But we were already at Barnes's twenty-count, this week. As far as we know, we all should be eligible for those seats at the table. Why bother to do it now? If it were about winning the contest, why not wait until we were all through the doors and then compel us to fail, leaving the puppetmaster the obvious winner?

[He shakes his head.]

One almost wonders if there weren't some sort of deal struck above and beyond just the so-called game. "Make it an interesting spectacle, and be rewarded for your efforts".