The unknown signal divided in two.
The contact operator lifted her hand from the instrument as if she had touched something hot. One line ran along the bypass trace; the other fluttered against the reservoir’s old route. For a moment both looked equally strong. Then the second vanished, leaving a smear the recorder could not resolve.
“Interference,” someone said.
Juno looked up. “What tells you that?”
“It split.”
“Show me the difference from a casing fault.”
The man opened his mouth, closed it, and pulled the test sheets toward him. He did not have to like the question to answer it. The assisting anchor had already given its warning. Outside the chamber, volunteers continued to provide the contribution they had agreed to, with no way to see the damaged signal for themselves.
Eli remained behind the shield. His supported connection could feel the bridge’s vibration, but it told him nothing reliable about the captive’s condition. The old impulse to declare what the sensation meant had become another thing he had to refuse himself.
