Bram put both hands on the ordinary controls and waited for the engineer’s signal.
The weights were secured where passengers would sit. Each had been checked against the agreed load, then checked again after a worker moved one to clear the driver’s sight line. A shifted weight could make the rehearsal kinder than the convoy it was meant to represent. The settlement engineer had made them return it to the proper position and alter the packing around it instead.
Kellan stood beside the vehicle with a stopwatch. Two neighborhood observers waited at the entrance, able to see the crack markers through the agreed observation point. If those markers moved beyond the stated limit, the test stopped. If communication failed, the test stopped. Bram would not decide that a small movement was acceptable because the wheels still felt steady.
He repeated those instructions aloud.
Then the engineer signaled forward.
The first section made him want to drive faster. The passage offered no immediate resistance. The loaded vehicle moved with the dull, familiar certainty of wheels on a surface that appeared to hold. In the guild, a slow approach like this would once have drawn a shouted order. Keep moving. Clear the vulnerable section. Don’t make the next crew wait because you can imagine another risk.
