The contact surface was cold under Eli’s palm. Nothing in its first touch resembled the identification of dead remains. There was no body here, no native certainty of a name and cause of death. The old junction’s instruments carried a narrow signal through the plate, and he was one imperfect listener among the people gathered around it.
The operator sent the prepared contact pattern. A pale line trembled on the instrument beside her. Eli felt something like attention turning toward a sound too distant to understand.
He described it without giving it a name.
The operator repeated the changed-risk notice in the practiced cadence. The gate had weakened since the earlier survey. The release window was shorter. Other people had taken the planned seal load, but uncertainty remained and another pause could occur. The bond could be removed if the captive wished to proceed under those conditions. She could ask them to explain again.
The response arrived late.
Eli felt a small tightening beneath his hand. The instrument registered it more precisely than his senses could. The operator waited, then looked toward Tessa rather than marking an affirmative.
“Unclear,” she said.
They had rehearsed that word. Now it occupied time in the actual window, with the brace holding at the inner gate and two crews maintaining their finite contributions. Eli made himself keep his hand relaxed. His urgency would not improve the signal.
