Tessa asked about the injured person before Juno connected the door.
“How much stays for someone who can’t walk?”
The independent supply sat between two packs on the checked landing. Its current state was visible on a second instrument, separate from the generator that would use it. The numbers already included their descent, the halted line checks, and the time spent reading the repair records. They did not yet include an injured person returning slowly through every awkward turn.
Juno sent the revised question to the surface engineer. She included Tessa’s assisted-return estimate, the physical line’s current length, and the minimum communications interval required to coordinate handoffs. The old quest network did not enter the plan as a free replacement if their independent equipment ran down.
The surface operator read each figure back. One duration had been entered from the earlier unburdened scouting estimate. Tessa corrected it before the calculation continued.
“That is how long we took to get in,” she said. “It isn’t the time to carry someone out.”
Eli watched the power margin shrink around the correction. It was not power being lost. It was power that had always belonged to a task their first estimate had understated.
