“Carry them through and come back for the chair,” the rescuer said. He kept his hands off the battery, but his eyes moved toward the panel opening. Outside it, another family was waiting for space to pass.
The resident looked at him. “That battery runs this too.”
A finger tapped the medical unit beside the seat. The medic bent close enough to read its display, then asked the resident how long its separate reserve would last. Bram heard the answer and understood why the resident had stopped them. Leaving the device until later might mean leaving a working part of the person’s treatment in a room they could never enter again.
“We take the battery with you,” the medic said. “Tell us the sequence.”
The resident named the drive connection first and pointed out the locking collar that kept it from pulling loose during travel. Bram repeated which connection he meant. The resident corrected him before he touched it.
“Under the housing. That cable goes to the display.”
Bram put down the tool he had been about to use. He could feel the captain watching from the passage while she made room for the next resident. He had strength available and no authority over the order in which it would help.
