The cold, heavy brass face of the notary stamp touched the nape of Julian Vance’s neck.
Julian did not move a single muscle.
The edge of the metal was freezing, coated in a sticky film of purple-black notary ink that smelled of copper filings and fermented iron gall. Through the collar of his utility jacket, the five-pound block exerted three pounds of resting mechanical pressure against his cervical vertebrae. A single tremor of fear or a sudden jerk of his shoulders would trigger the release pawl, driving seventy foot-pounds of spring-loaded kinetic force straight through his neck.
Beside him, Elena held her breath, her hand steady on the cryo valve, her fingers locked ready to vent liquid nitrogen if the machine dropped its stroke.
Lin Mei remained on her knees, her eyes fixed on the silver reflection in her dentist’s mirror between Julian’s boots.
The lead automaton’s spring-loaded feeler arm was vibrating.
Its silver-wire bristles swept back and forth across the white silk armband on Julian’s left sleeve, reading the raised black-ink letters of the Invigilator credential.
Then the bristles moved inward toward the collar of Julian’s jacket.
