Juno drew the new end of the working window below the old one.
The difference was small on paper. Eli could cover it with the width of two fingers. In the chamber, it was the time other anchors had spent carrying the silent station, the reduced contribution of the shift now connected there, and the pressure that had continued gathering at the inner gate while the repair crew worked behind a wall.
The restored signal had made people stand straighter. The new line made them lean toward the board again.
“We can’t recover this by shortening every contact,” Juno said.
A human technician glanced at the channel count. “We could close the inner gate now.”
Mira’s listening line remained open. Eli looked toward it before answering. She was still at the observation rail, close enough to report the gate, not yet committed to its deeper mechanism.
“Which channels would that leave attached?” he asked.
“Whichever haven’t cleared.”
