On the morning of day 1216, the door at the end of the service passage closed while eleven people were still inside.
Idri heard the chain run through its guide. She had brought two tenants to collect medicine from the upper rooms, with the watched route and the agreed time written on Lessa’s board. Jori and two regional workers were inspecting the central service floor. Five residents had come down from the cooler row with baskets, blankets and the caged bird. They were not trespassers hiding from a warning.
At the far end of the passage, the ordinary grille settled into its stone socket. A man in the service company’s gray coat put a locking bar through the guide. Idri called to him by the name on his work tag.
“People inside. Open it.”
“Supervisor’s instruction. Nobody crosses the installation until the operating boundary is marked.”
“This is the residential exit.”
“He said hold the boundary.”
“Then call him here and open the exit.”
