The first person Juno sent out of the demonstration bay was the sponsor’s photographer.
He had stepped across the tape to get a better angle on the anchor. The test supervisor asked him to move. He took one more picture before answering.
“It’s not running yet.”
“It will not run with you there,” Juno said.
The man lowered his camera. A few delegates standing behind the rail looked away, as though being present made them responsible for his embarrassment. He returned to their side of the tape.
Kellan checked the empty floor once more.
The anchor stood on a marked mounting frame. Behind it, the test apparatus could apply a measured load to the assembly without using a neighborhood’s defenses as the experiment. It would not reproduce every condition at an actual gate. Juno had made the supervisor put that limitation on the demonstration sheet, beside the permitted range.
Eli read it from where he stood near the wall. Someone had asked whether his inheritance could hold the apparatus if it shifted. Juno had answered before he did.
