The neighborhood leader refused the first announcement before it left the clinic.
“No route notice until someone who relies on a chair has traveled it.”
Kellan looked at the wording he had already revised twice. It said inspection, conditional access, limited capacity. He had left out the protected approach. He had not called the tunnel ready.
The leader tapped the proposed contact line.
“People hear this and begin making arrangements. The last emergency map said accessible until we reached the stairs.”
Tessa took the page back. “Then come with us.”
The leader wanted a mobility advocate included, someone who would see more than a carrying crew’s confidence. The settlement agreed to the inspection party under its existing conditions: Tessa, Kellan, Juno with ordinary measuring equipment, the neighborhood leader, the advocate, a driver, and the settlement engineer. No passengers would be promised a route because the group could physically squeeze through it.
Eli helped load the empty stretcher before they left. He asked whether he was needed inside. Tessa looked at the party, then at the clinic tasks waiting behind him.
