The two white signals held at the neighboring stations. Wei checked the readings himself, comparing the hill station with the west node. Their barriers stayed lit through Long Reed’s shutdown. The local release had not collapsed the wider network.
He sent a runner to each keeper to ask for the current numbers and their status. The answers came back by separate routes. The lights were steady, no one had pulled the neighboring switches, and the pressure at both sites remained within the earlier range. Wei entered the results in the field record.
“That’s the question we needed answered,” he said. “The local line failed, but the others stayed independent.”
Gu had found the error. He spread the old diagram across the hall table and laid the failed junction beside it. The arrow on the copied schematic reversed the valve direction. The current had been allowed to draw from two neighboring anchors into Long Reed’s local pylon at once.
He studied the ink mark for a long time. “I approved this copy.”
Eri waited beside him. “Then write that in the report.”
Gu looked up. “I will. I want to compare the copy with the original archive before I sign it.”
