The iron pendulum inside the Simplex 2350 master clock sliced through the bottom of its swing with a heavy, oiled thud.
Julian Vance stood in front of the cast-iron housing, his shift card poised in his left hand.
The white cardstock of Form MRA-07 rested squarely in the machine’s steel slot. Beside him, Elena Rostova held the liquid nitrogen canister gripped tight by its reinforced wire handle, her thumb resting on the safety valve. Lin Mei had her Pickett slide-rule tucked into the breast pocket of her field jacket and a heavy brass flashlight gripped in her left palm.
Behind the wire-mesh gate of the infirmary pass-through, the four freshmen watched in total, motionless silence.
On Julian’s wrist, the luminous second hand of his Seiko 5 watch swept past the forty-five-second mark.
It was 12:59 AM and forty-five seconds.
“Ten seconds,” Lin Mei whispered, her eyes tracking the clockwork dial. “Watch the escapement gear.”
Clack-tick.
