Kellan reached the edge of the debris zone just as the first block struck the floor.
The exercise used suspended stone-faced weights, each meant to fall inside a painted square after a warning tone. Contestants were supposed to cross between the squares, retrieve a marked case and reach the far platform. A safety net hung above the boundary where the weights stopped. At least, that was what the diagram at the station had shown.
The block that had fallen now lay partly outside its square. A competitor had stumbled beside it. Another stood farther in, one boot trapped between a broken piece of facing and the edge of a floor plate.
“Stop the mechanism!” Kellan shouted.
A judge raised a red flag. The warning tone continued for one long note and cut off. Above the trapped competitor, a second weight shifted on its suspension line.
Tali, the trapped contestant, looked up. “My boot’s caught.”
Her teammate pulled at her arm. Kellan waved him back. “Don’t drag her. Get her foot free.”
The man dropped to one knee. The floor plate had tilted, pinching the edge of Tali’s boot. He tried to lift it and could not find a grip. Kellan stepped to the boundary and planted his feet.
