Sella cleared a workbench in the disused storeroom. She pushed aside two crates of rusty fittings and set a row of short copper pipes on the table. Gu’s drawing lay beside them with yellow tabs at the points that had not been tested.
Pao, the veteran engineer, looked over the arrangement. He had come with a wrench in one hand and a tin of grease in the other. “The return pipe sits too close to the heat plate.”
Gu checked the spacing against his drawing. “The model doesn’t include the wider base used in the field version.”
“The heat plate won’t know that.” Pao tapped the copper with his wrench. “Move it before you spend the stone.”
Sella shifted the pipe a few inches. She measured the distance and marked the new position on the board. “That gives us room to check the collar without reaching across the hot side.”
Qinghe placed small markers beside three joints. She set a timer near the edge of the bench and made sure it was far from the spirit stone. Han waited by the door, keeping the room clear. Yan stood near the workbench, ready to supply power if the small stone failed to keep the flow moving.
