Gu He’s answer arrived the next day through the prepared relay, with a duplicate sealed against rain on the ridge road. Wei read both copies before carrying them to Iven’s messenger.
“Gu can read the outer channels without touching the Registry command seal,” Wei said. “He needs the barrier active and the city engineers present to choose the hour. He asks the council to select its own instruments and witness every reading.”
The messenger accepted the page. “Does he say what he can learn?”
Wei looked to Yan. “It may show a failure point. It won’t identify who caused it. A repair plan would need more measurements and the city’s own records.”
Yan wished Gu had found a way to remove the Registry from the system at once. He knew the answer was honest, though. A reading could locate a weakness; it could not write the city’s next decision.
The messenger carried the answer inside. Iven sent word that the council would consider the proposal after its engineers compared the copies with their books. He gave no date. The gate remained closed, and the camp stayed on the outer road.
Wei assigned one runner to the city and another to Sol at the bridge. If one road closed, the other could still carry a warning. Yan added the relay post to the route map and checked that the two couriers had different return paths.
