Juno moved the old sequence aside without discarding it. The revised order lay on her left, the earlier measurements on her right, and between them the diagram she had made by hand while the independent anchors came under load. The chamber display offered one elegant line of green marks. Her papers showed why three of those marks could not yet be trusted.
The first anchor operator reported from the surface. His measured load had risen and held. Another operator, at a separate point, read her own change. Juno compared their figures to the dungeon engineer’s measurement below. The results did not match exactly. They agreed closely enough to begin the limited separation they had prepared, with room left for the difference.
“First channel only,” she said. “Keep the return closed.”
The alternate at the live bridge control repeated it. Eli stood beyond the marked working edge, near enough to help at the mount when asked and far enough that a familiar voice could not be mistaken for his authorization. The physical rib brace bore the retrieval assembly. The winch remained stopped while they dealt with the next gate movement. A prepared line was not the same thing as an open order to pull.
