Sera’s first signal allowed the small group to pass the low lip and stop on the near floor. It did not authorize a search farther in. Tessa went next, with Eli keeping the medical allocation clear of the wall. Lale followed only far enough to establish a better recording position. Through the opening, Eli could still see Juno kneeling beside her instrument in the chamber.
The rear space smelled of old dust and metal. An abandoned support frame stood against its far wall, with loose fittings below it. The voice-like fragment sounded from somewhere beyond the frame, then ended in the same abrupt fall that had troubled Lale outside.
Before anyone advanced, Juno called them back to the threshold for the channel report.
The Aegis engineer had completed his own second measurement. The earlier specialist’s meter had shown a response near the selected line. Now the engineer had checked a different accessible connection at the core base, using the same fixed reference while Kellan made a second small ordinary adjustment at the prepared support. The line’s response changed with it.
Juno drew the connection onto the shared sketch. Eli watched her leave several lengths broken where the structure hid them. A continuous drawn line would have made a claim the instruments could not yet support.
