Rovan sent the employment contract back with one clause crossed out.
It was the five hundred and thirty-fifth day. The rupture had consumed the proctor’s original three-day offer. At the preliminary council sitting on the thirtieth, Veran had secured the continued reduced-setting safety work and a revised, limited trial allocation. The comparison would be made on what the crews could actually test, rather than on the deadline the emergency had made impossible.
The exclusivity provision remained. The crossed-out clause was the one requiring Iven to surrender any personal tools brought into the workshop for inspection. Beside it, in a different hand, someone had written: Unnecessary for a short consultation.
“That’s generous,” Neri said.
“He’s letting me keep my spanner.”
“I can see why you’re tempted.”
They sat at a small table in the room the union had found for Iven above its kitchen. Neri had her own lodging nearer South Bank while her crew worked there. Their shared home remained in Stonewake, a long journey away. Caldrin had given them two rooms, two schedules, and a habit of leaving notes where the other could find them.
Neri pushed a second sheet across the table. It showed her proposed settling chamber for the housing row, with a removable basket and a drain that could be closed without shutting the main line.
