The measuring vessel stood in a frame that did not touch the shelter wall.
Juno checked that first. The adjustable comparison mount had taught them enough about slow return to abandon the surface coupling, and she would not let an experiment quietly put the rejected assumption back into a new shape. Pela showed her the vessel’s own support and the exposed measuring point connected to the gate machinery. Eren checked the separate frame before anyone brought an instrument near it.
“What does the scale represent?” Juno asked.
“Change at the connected reserve,” Pela said. “Within this range. It doesn’t identify the material in the reserve.”
“Can it distinguish a withdrawal from movement in the vessel itself?”
“Under the baseline conditions. We need to establish them again here.”
Pela explained enough of the response and calibration to make that answer testable. She kept unrelated construction details covered on the sheet. Juno asked about the scale, its delay, and the conditions that invalidated a reading. She did not try to turn those questions into a request for the protected network diagram.
The council’s observer stood where she could see the scale without relying on Juno’s description. Another observer kept the task sheet. The volunteer remained outside the marked test space while they established the baseline.
