The first charge was attached where a maintenance worker expected to find a cover plate.
Rehn stopped the joint inspection before anyone touched it. She had brought the control authority’s duty worker and her own current diagram. Juno carried the reader and a small inspection camera. Eli and Kellan stood behind the marked approach while Sera checked the public withdrawal route.
Nothing about the device looked like the part it occupied. Its fasteners crossed the existing plate rather than matching the old mounting holes. A narrow line ran from it toward a junction beside the auxiliary floodgate. Rehn pointed out the ordinary control run without moving either line.
“That belongs to the gate,” she said. “This does not.”
The duty worker backed away and called the control desk. His voice changed when he said possible explosive charge. Eli watched every person in the pocket become aware of the same short distance to the exit.
Kellan asked who remained beyond the next door. The worker named a maintenance pair and an operator in the upper room. Nobody had a current count for the lower service bay. Kellan went to establish it before the inspection advanced.
Juno set down her bag behind the protective return. She did not lean over the charge to prove she recognized it. The inspection camera gave her a view of its conventional assembly and the attached command lead. Rehn traced the ordinary control circuit on the diagram. The duty worker confirmed which section could be isolated under…
