The watcher opened the shield over the hidden return and put his second instrument against the isolated side. Eli could see the mark left where the old caretaker’s fitting had joined the later conductor. Finding the path had made it impossible to look at that narrow strip as an ordinary piece of metal again.
“Isolated at this setting,” the watcher reported.
Juno asked him to compare the captive side. The low test signal reached it without appearing across the blocked return. The engineer then seated the manual conductor in its prepared join. Its guard lay open beside her wrist, ready to close if the watcher called a change.
The operator addressed the first branch.
One trace answered. The others remained distinct at their lower levels. It was the first time since they had discovered the shared connection that Eli could follow a response without wondering whether he had felt two people move together.
The voice came through in broken words. The operator asked for permission to repeat what she understood. It gave the same affirmative signal they had established during contact.
She explained that they could remove the involuntary bond and open the departure path. The supply was lower than first planned. They would pause if the measurements changed. She did not promise that they could undo the damage already done.
