The pale hunter had torn the warning cloth into narrow strips.
They hung from the chamber rail, moving in the draught above the creature’s back. Its forelimbs rested against the newer metal housing, hooked ends planted where a person would have needed a climbing tool. Every few breaths, it dragged its weight downward and struck the same place with the side of its head.
Behind the housing, living tissue flinched.
Iven stopped at the upper door.
“Where’s the other?” he asked.
Kesh pointed without lifting her arm far from her body. The second guardian stood beneath the opposite access platform, almost invisible until the light caught its pale shoulder. It was watching the opening through which the clinical crew needed to pass.
Neither creature had followed them up the stair. That mattered.
The room served a local sensory branch beside the main organ approach. Sera’s staff used its readings to compare the deeper pressure changes with the damaged membrane’s attempts. The survey line had been clear yesterday. This morning the guardians had driven a technician back before he could reach the recorder.
