The constructs moved on Rook’s command.
From the coalition’s observation position, Eli saw the first one take shape along the threatened boundary: a hard geometry of light and material force, distinct from the armed agents and the engineers crouched beside the apparatus. It struck toward an opening where pressure had begun to tear the visible surface apart.
The opening stopped widening.
A second construct reinforced the line. Dust fell from the edge, then settled where moments earlier it had been drawn toward the disturbance. A local defender called the change to the captain. Sera confirmed what she could see from the viewing slit. Juno’s independent pressure reading at that boundary began to decrease.
It was working there, for the moment.
Eli felt the admission in his body before Rook spoke. He had wanted the wrongness of the plan to make it fail visibly. Instead a real protective effect held in front of people who had reason to fear the breach.
“You can see it,” Rook said through the chamber panel. “The reinforcement is holding. Stop interfering with the operators.”
Juno read the meter and did not dispute the pressure decrease. She marked its location and interval. Then she read the independent draw signal.
