Sera stopped at the end of the dry shelf and put her light down where its beam crossed the water. The local scout behind her kept one hand on the return line. Neither had rounded the turn. From the shelter, Eli could see the edge of her boot and the reflected light trembling against the low roof, but not the place she was examining.
“Shallow bed,” she called. “Fast water. No room for two abreast.”
The report came back through the contact keeper. Juno wrote the time beside the reading she had taken at the opening. A viable entrance would not reset their clock. Beyond the shelter, the brace observer still watched the damaged door; every person sent into the channel would remain someone who might need to return past that fracture.
Sera asked for a marked pole. She tested the bed from the shelf, found a smooth depression beneath the visible surface and moved her proposed entry a little to the left. The local scout repeated the test while she watched. Then both came back onto dry stone to discuss who should go beyond the turn.
Mira had been standing beside the receiving supplies. She stepped forward before the Aegis leader could assign a pair.
