The scout corrected Sera before they left the first marked turn.
She had indicated a side passage from the old approach sketch. He said that after the last System activation, the far wall had shifted inward. The passage still existed. Its retreat recess did not. A person could walk through and discover only on the return that the place to step aside for a frame had vanished.
Sera lowered her hand.
“Show me from the safe side.”
They did not begin by walking into the disputed space. The local scouts took her to a viewing angle the council had authorized, with the captain’s route observer behind them. Juno came with a compact instrument under the permitted measurement scope. Eli remained at the staging station; his presence was not needed to make the survey feel more serious.
The shorter route looked attractive.
It cut the distance to the gate approach by enough to matter for an injured person. Its floor was smoother than the longer alternative. The wall bore old maintenance marks that seemed to promise a stable width. Sera could see how she would have chosen it if the sketch had been all she possessed.
Juno’s reading showed a pressure change near the narrowed recess.
