The guard commander received the order beside a barrier repair that had not finished cooling.
His first question concerned the artifact. Could it be carried in an ordinary case? The answer from the technical office was incomplete: keep it intact, keep it away from unknown sockets, and do not attempt the sequence. Capture its holder alive because she might know more than the fragment recovered at the gate.
His second question concerned the people with her.
“Detain anyone assisting her,” the messenger said.
“Under the same handling instruction?”
“The instruction names Mira.”
The commander read the paper again. He had spent the last hour holding a useful line while repair crews worked under it. Rook’s startup had improved the visible barrier. He did not regard preserving the chamber as a pretext. A stolen mechanism that could threaten it was a safety problem as real to him as the brace warming at his shoulder.
One of his officers looked toward the maintenance district.
