The containment panel had been locked from the outside.
Bram found the bolt indicator first. He pointed it out without touching the control, then stepped aside so the facility technician could check the model. Beyond a narrow inspection slot, three faces waited in the dim room. A fourth person lay on a low treatment couch beneath a machine’s little green display.
“We’ve been calling,” a woman said.
Tessa put down her bag. “We found the route. Tell me who needs care.”
“Him. Rell. The medic left to get a carrying team before it shut.”
The room had been a protected holding space beside the work area. It contained spare blankets, a water cupboard, and the emergency equipment the facility medic had brought for a worker injured during the first disturbance. The equipment was working now. Its supply lead ran to a wall outlet behind the couch. Nobody in the room could tell Tessa how much reserve remained if that outlet failed.
A guard followed the team around the last turn. He had been collecting walking staff from the lower work areas and had two people already waiting behind him.
“Open it and get the standing ones out first,” he said. “We come back for the couch.”
