Lori cut the new sample on day 1592.
She did not cut across the whole bed. A narrow strip had remained growing since the original planting, and she took only the small extension whose thickness, texture, and recovery matched the baseline. The mother strip stayed rooted under its own cover. Beside it, the failed field-water batch remained plainly marked and unused.
Iven watched from outside the clean line.
“What happens if this fails?”
“We learn before we spend a whole bed.”
“Do we still have the dormant reserve?”
“Yes. Untouched.”
Lori lifted the sample into a little test housing. Its external supply was an ordinary regulated cell. A weight and gauge limited the input. She closed the physical blank before connecting anything.
