The first patient in the rescue drill was a sack of folded blankets wearing a numbered band.
Tessa checked the band before letting the volunteers lift it. The card attached to the sack described a person who needed transport and a place with power. A second participant walked beside the trolley, playing the relative who would accompany them. She had agreed to the role after asking whether the exercise would expect her to stay silent.
“It won’t,” Tessa said.
“Good. My aunt never did.”
Across the marked exercise floor, local commanders received their starting positions. The routes used cleared corridors and an adjoining yard, with simulated shelter entrances marked by boards. No actual patients had been taken from treatment to decorate a demonstration. The people walking the routes were workers and volunteers who had agreed to help find out whether the proposed arrangements could carry somebody like the person on the card.
Rook stood with the observers near the controller’s table.
Juno was checking the message recorders. Sera walked the first route with a local marshal, making sure that the exercise markers matched the route sheet. Kellan inspected the trolley’s wheels and then gave it back to the crew assigned to move it.
