Juno recognized the shape of the problem before she understood the machine.
The outer stabilization wall carried load through a series of short assemblies set between larger structural members. Each assembly allowed a small displacement and then resisted it. The arrangement reminded her of the surface anchors, but resemblance was not a power path. She could see where a member moved. She could not see what supplied the resistance or where its reaction went.
Eren stopped her at the painted line before the nearest assembly.
“Monitoring point here. No cover removed.”
Juno set her bag down outside the line. “Who operates the point?”
A local engineer stepped forward. Her name was Pela. She checked the instrument Juno offered, asked what it sent into the surface under measurement, and made Juno show the passive setting before letting the probe approach. Eren remained beside the access fixing with its key in her own hand.
The permission was as narrow as the council had said. An exposed monitoring point. Noninvasive measurement. No alteration to the wall keeping occupied rooms in place.
Juno gave Pela her public failure reports before asking about a comparison.
