At three in the afternoon, the clockwork gear-catch atop the Courtesy Arch in Sister Merrow’s washroom emitted a ringing, three-tone chord that shook through the stone floorboards. The blue light around the portal shifted into a brilliant, crystal-clear indigo that filled the room with an aura of huge, humming balance.
On the brass status slate, the text line scrolled with amazing clarity. COURTESY BRIDGE · TRIPLE CONCURRENT ARRIVAL UNLOCKED. NINETY MINUTES ACTIVE. ALL ESCROWS DISCHARGED.
Varo Nenn and Sister Merrow stood by the hearth, holding clean linen towels and hot tea mugs. For three weeks, the bridge had allowed only a single worker to cross for twenty-four minutes at a time. A fleeting glimpse of foreign expertise snatched between lunch bites. Now, the banked reserve of three weeks of honest accounting had unlocked the full three-person team.
The indigo oval swelled to six feet in width. Across the threshold, standing side by side in the bright, modern breakroom of Harrowby, were Ada Morland, Jo Saye, and Imran Bell. They wore their heavy work jackets, their safety boots. Their tool harnesses, their faces focused with the solemn, disciplined determination of a heavy-duty disaster response squad.
‘Clear the threshold!’ Sister Merrow called out, holding her wooden ladle high. ‘The three of them are coming through together!’
