Inspector Vey returned to the prototype station with a second Registry engineer, a narrow-shouldered man named Halen. Vey carried a sealed folder; Halen carried a brass gauge of his own. Deyan checked that both instruments were calibrated against the stone bank before she began.
“You will call the sequence?” Vey asked.
“I will call it. The local keeper will operate the switch,” Deyan said. “Qiao will inspect the pylon, and Gu will compare the readings with the archive figures.”
Halen set his gauge beside the coalition instrument. “And I will keep an independent record.”
The team walked through the route before powering the anchor. The keeper named the release, the bypass, and the runner’s path to the neighboring station. Qinghe watched the neighboring barrier indicator. Wei waited beyond the marked boundary with a copy of the withdrawal signal, ready to send it if the local channel failed.
Deyan called for the first feed. The stone bank came up to the marked load. Both gauges climbed and steadied. She held the line for the planned count, then gave the stop signal. The keeper closed the local valve. The light went out, and the neighboring barrier remained unchanged.
Halen compared the two readings. “There’s a small difference.”
