Sera refused to begin with the estimate.
“Show us the stores,” she said.
The heat board’s representative looked at the prepared table, the chairs and the clean common account. Then he closed the folder and took them below.
On the two hundred and thirty-sixth day, Iven followed him into Mercy’s reserve chambers with Sera, Vessa and Halwen. Sealed vessels stood in racks along the cool walls. Some held regenerative fluid already collected. Others contained the cultivated and processed material the old service used to keep filtration and heat conversion working. Fuel stores occupied a different chamber, counted in different units and useful only where machinery could burn or exchange their energy.
A full barrel of fuel could not replace a missing cartridge by being reassuringly full.
Iven checked the vessel marks against the rack. Vessa checked the service dates. Halwen inspected the rejected and degraded stock separately rather than let its weight improve the usable total. Sera asked what had actually left the chamber during the previous three measured days.
The representative brought the issue sheets.
They counted what was there.
