The recovered instrument arrived while the passage workers were eating. Eli and Bram carried it between them through the inspected entrance, stopping at the line the liaison had marked for technical equipment. Juno came behind them with the smaller receiver. She refused to let the case be called rescued until she had checked it again after the journey.
“It’s here,” she said. “That’s the part we know.”
A woman waiting with Mira’s scouts looked from the heavy case to the baskets of stone beside the wall. “Then why is it still here?”
The question came before Eli had set his end down. His shoulder burned. He wanted a drink and a quiet place to learn whether anyone had followed them. Instead he found Mira standing near the cooking room with two people who had helped prepare a reservoir approach. None had been assigned the settlement’s defense. They had nevertheless spent the last hour helping carry spoil because every available pair of hands had been asked.
“Where do you think it should go?” he asked.
“To the scouts. Toward the thing that’s actually failing.”
The liaison waited until they had set the case on its blocks. Then they asked the discussion to move out of the food line. The woman took her bowl with her. Eli left his untouched on a shelf and followed them to a small work space where Juno had permission to open the case.
