The resident observer came out first, but she did not come back to the vehicle.
She walked along the public approach with the independent engineer and pointed to the shelter doorway. Eli could see them from the waiting corner. A line of people stood beneath its shallow cover, moving inside whenever a delivery needed the passage. On the inspection sketch the doorway appeared as a small square set beside the proposed installation. In the street it had voices, blankets, a child sitting on an overturned box, and a man who needed both hands to lower himself onto the step.
Tessa waved Eli forward when the group reached the public boundary. They had completed the installation’s immediate measurements and needed the actual route kept clear while the engineer checked the shelter edge. His assignment was to help a local worker move the empty carriers out of the approach. It did not grant him entry to the reserved security areas or turn him into an inspector.
The coordinator told the driver how much of the window they needed. He agreed to wait until the stated time and no longer. The next evacuation movement was already asking whether he would be available.
Eli lifted an empty carrier beside the local worker. The worker asked whether the inspection meant people would be moved out of the shelter.
