Eli could see the messenger’s lamp through the barrier.
It appeared for a breath, a small orange oval in a wash of distorted light, then vanished as the field thickened. He waited for it to return. The passage between them looked empty except for the barrier, and that made crossing feel like a question of tolerating pain rather than understanding a damaged structure.
The accompanying engineer caught the way he set his feet.
“Look above it.”
A narrow seam ran through the support over the field. Dust had collected along its lower lip. Each pulse shook a little more loose, and the barrier bent beneath it as if the force came from somewhere beyond the visible passage.
“What is it holding?” Eli asked.
“Possibly pressure from the adjacent junction. I can’t establish the whole path from here.”
One of the messengers behind him lifted a short cutting tool. He had used it to clear a fallen surface brace earlier in the day, and the success still clung to his confidence.
