The new door closed without being lifted.
Vesk tried it once, then again, then stood with his hand on the latch as if waiting for the building to remember its old habits.
The wright folded his arms.
“It will keep doing that.”
“I intend to make certain.”
On day seven hundred and eighteen, the keeper’s passage had a sound frame, a protected viewing opening and the latch he had requested. Its repair account had been paid from the assessed loss fund. The broken plate stood on the salvage rack with the cut strap still attached to one side.
Iven watched Vesk test the latch a third time and decided to consider his work accepted.
Above them, the return house’s crew were changing shifts. The incoming engineer checked the readings with the woman leaving; both signed the same sheet. The company still supplied some of the equipment and fuel under its valid contracts. Independent shops had begun delivering accepted replacements. Public authority remained with people whose keys opened the workplace.
