The last channels did not leave in a single rush.
Tessa had expected that. She still found herself waiting for a moment the instruments could name as the end, a clean line beneath all the people whose lives had been made into the reservoir. Instead the consultation team worked through signals of different strengths, some answering clearly, some arriving in pieces, some already too damaged to distinguish from the machinery that had held them.
Mira lay on the blanket beside her. The care worker watched her breathing and kept her injured shoulder still. Tessa could move between the medical space and the records table without leaving either entirely. She did so until the care worker put a hand on the box Tessa had nearly carried to the wrong side.
“Leave that here,” the woman said. “You need it for the hand dressing.”
Tessa looked at the box, set it down, and thanked her. Exhaustion did not wait until the crisis ended to become an error.
At the junction, an operator sent the choice signal.
A clear answer returned. The person wanted the bond removed. The operator repeated the distinction between release and contribution, received the same answer, and confirmed the path with her partner before Juno detached it.
